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The Samsung Bixby voice assistant has a Routines feature similar to iPhone's Shortcuts app. You can use it to automate dozens of system functions and make life easier. If you use a reading app on your phone, automate the brightness settings for reading. Or, automatically set your device to silent when at work. You can also create audio profiles for different Bluetooth devices or automatically disconnect from Wi-Fi if the signal quality drops.
Samsung's latest Good Lock module adds powerful new options to Bixby Routines
Routine + is brand new, and QuickStar has also received a minor update
Toward the end of April, the changelog for a Good Lock update hinted that we'd be getting a new module called Routine +. The name suggested that it would be linked to Bixby Routines, and that assumption was correct. Routine + is now available and brings tonnes of experimental new features to Bixby.
Google Assistant is rolling out a bare-bones clone of Siri Shortcuts
We're also getting more extensive food preferences
Haven't you always wished Google Assistant could do more with the apps on your phone? Not just launch them, but open specific sections or perform certain actions inside them? Even though Google has been talking about this kind of functionality for years, the reality is that these features have been limited and if they exist, they're nearly impossible to discover. We had to dig deep to find how the new Assistant on the Pixel 4 and 4a can do more in apps and in Chrome, but still, that's nowhere near what Apple and Samsung have been able to achieve with Siri Shortcuts or Bixby Routines — two features I've been eyeing with jealousy for a while. Now, Google is finally starting to roll out its own take on in-app shortcuts, though this is a very timid start. Additionally, Assistant is getting more extensive food preference selections.
Read update
Samsung introduced a new feature called Bixby Routines to its phones last year, allowing you to set up simple automated rules for certain actions — sort of like IFTTT, or a less powerful, built-in version of Tasker for Samsung phones. Though it is available on devices like the Galaxy S10, Note10, and Galaxy Fold, Samsung never brought the feature to the older S9 or Note9, even in recent Android 10/One UI 2 updates. However, we have verified that sideloading the latest version of the Bixby Routines app brings the feature to older devices, including the Galaxy S9 and Note9, and it also works for some on older devices like the Galaxy S8 running Android Pie.