People using Samsung Galaxy phones often find themselves inadvertently summoning Bixby on their devices, but it's fairly easy to disable it altogether. Bixby is Samsung's virtual assistant that's baked into all its smartphones, including the latest Galaxy S22 flagship lineup. However, unlike Google Assistant, Apple's Siri, and Amazon's Alexa, Bixby has more detractors than fans. It's just as well that it can be fully disabled, at least in the newer Galaxy smartphones.
Bixby was originally introduced with the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in 2017. It is also available on Samsung's smart gadgets and appliances, including TVs and refrigerators. It is however not Samsung's first mobile virtual assistant, as that honor goes to the now-discontinued 'S Voice' that debuted alongside the Galaxy S III in 2012.
In newer Galaxy phones (Note 10 onwards), the side key that typically functions as the power button in most Android devices opens up Bixby by default. As explained by Samsung, it is fairly easy to deactivate that behavior by digging around in the phone's Settings menu. To do that, swipe down from the top on the home screen to show the notification shade, and then swipe down for a second time to expand the Quick Settings panel. Now tap on the power button icon at the top (right next to the magnifying glass icon) and select 'Side key settings' at the bottom. On the next screen, under 'Press and hold,' select 'Power off menu' instead of 'Wake Bixby.' This will ensure that the next time the side button is long-pressed, users will see a power-off menu instead of waking Bixby.
Disable 'Hi Bixby' Detection
Just changing that button isn't enough to disable Bixby on Samsung smartphones, as the software can also be activated by the phrase 'Hi Bixby'. To prevent that from happening, open up the Bixby app and tap on the hamburger menu (three parallel lines) at the top-left corner. Now tap the Settings button (gear icon) at the top-right corner on the slide-out panel and toggle off the 'Voice wake-up' option. It is also worth noting that Bixby doesn't work when not signed into a Samsung account, which means users not using any Samsung-specific features could just sign out to stop activating Bixby. To do that, hop over to the phone's Settings and navigate to 'Manage Accounts.'
The methods described above would help users disable Bixby on newer Samsung smartphones, like the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus, and S22 Ultra. However, some of the older Samsung devices like the Galaxy S10, S9, S8, Note 9, and Note 8 have dedicated Bixby buttons where the software cannot be fully deactivated using the first method. However, the signing out option works on all Samsung devices, so give it a shot and enjoy a Bixby-free experience on any Galaxy device.
Source: Samsung