How to Activate and Use Bixby Voice on a Samsung Device
Using Samsung’s Bixby Voice assistant, you’re able to control your Galaxy phone or watch without having to pick it up or press a button. Bixby lets you search the internet, play music, toggle specific settings, make calls, and reply to messages among many other basic functionalities.
Setting up and using Bixby Voice on any Samsung device is easy. Here’s how to activate and use it on your Galaxy phone and Galaxy Watch.
How to Activate Bixby Voice on a Samsung Galaxy Phone or Tablet
Older Samsung phones such as the Galaxy S10, S9, and S8 have a dedicated Bixby key. Samsung phones starting from the Galaxy S20 to the S23, the Note 10 lineup, the Z Series, and newer, use a Side key that you can customize for other functions besides launching Bixby.
To set up Bixby Voice alongsideother Bixby functionalitieson your phone for the first time:
How to Activate Bixby Voice on a Samsung Galaxy Watch
To activate Bixby Voice on your watch, you’ll need to navigate through a few Bixby settings first:
How to Use Bixby Voice on Your Samsung Devices
If you’ve never used Bixby Voice with your current Samsung account before, it’ll prompt you to register your voice the first time you press the activation button. Once you register your voice you’re able to start giving your Galaxy Watch or phone voice commands.
Some of the basic functions you may perform on your device using Bixby Voice include making phone calls and sending text messages, setting alarms, reminders, and timers, reading emails and text messages, checking the weather, and playing music.
By default, saying “Hi Bixby” will wake your device. For example, if you want to check the weather, say “Hi Bixby”, and once prompted to give a command, say something like “What’s today’s weather forecast”. Bixby will give you an instant response.
Turn Off Bixby Voice
It’s easy todisable Bixby Voice on your Galaxy phone. Tap thethree-dot menuicon, and go toSettings > Leave Bixby. Your personal data will be cleared and Bixby Voice alongside other Bixby functionalities will be disabled on all devices with your Samsung account.
On your Galaxy Watch, you can disable it by launching Bixby, tapping theDiscovericon, and navigating toExplore—it’ll then prompt you to open your watch’s Bixby settings on the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone.
You may notice that Google Assistant does a much better job than Bixby Voice if you’ve used the former before. However, you can alwaystrain Bixby Voice to be more responsiveto your voice commands.
What Bixby Voice Can and Can’t Do
Bixby Voice does a pretty good job in terms of contextual awareness and the ability to run specific basic commands. However, there are a few limitations worth noting. For instance, you can’t use Bixby Voice to compose or respond to a text message unless you’re using Samsung Messages as your default messaging app.
Unlike its main competitors like Google Assistant and Siri, Bixby Voice also falls short when it comes to voice recognition. It struggles with moderate to heavy English accents. Even so, Bixby Voice could be worth your while if you use most of Samsung’s native apps.
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