When Samsung debuted the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in New York last month, one of the devices' new features was Bixby, a digital assistant that the South Korean company designed to work much like Google's Assistant. Following the unveiling, several people in the mobile tech community, most famously Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), wondered if the dedicated Bixby button on the right hand side of the phones could be remapped to serve a different purpose.

First one that makes an app to remap the Bixby button on the Galaxy S8 to Google Assistsnt wins my $$$

— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) March 29, 2017

That query was answered by XDA, with the developer detailing the process via the use of a third-party app called All in one Gestures. Since releasing the information, the same developer has announced that a soon-to-be-released firmware update from Samsung would effectively negate any attempts to remap the Bixby button.      

The move is by no means a catastrophic one, but it does show that Samsung isn't keen with anyone playing around with the software and hardware it has integrated into the Galaxy S8 and S8+. This won't stop users from opting for Google Assistant over Bixby though, it simply means access to other third-party digital assistants are a couple more steps away.