Bixby (software)

Bixby

Developer(s)	Samsung Electronics
Initial release	21 April 2017; 7 years ago (2017-04-21)
Stable release(s) [±]
Bixby Voice 3.3.36.2 / November 17, 2023; 10 months ago (2023-11-17)[1] Bixby Global Action 1.0.12.0 / August 10, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-08-10)[2] Bixby Home 3.5.11.7 / June 18, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-06-18)[3] Bixby Dictation 3.0.25.3 / July 11, 2023; 14 months ago (2023-07-11)[4] Bixby Vision 3.7.95.2 / November 2, 2023; 10 months ago (2023-11-02)[5] Bixby voice input 1.0.04.0 / August 22, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-08-22)[6] Bixby Wakeup 2.3.35.10 / January 5, 2024; 8 months ago (2024-01-05)[7]
Written in	Various, mostly JavaScript[8]
Operating system	Android, Tizen, Windows, Wear OS
Predecessor	S Voice
Available in	10 languages
List of languages English (American, British, and Indian), French, Korean, Chinese (China), German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (Brazilian)
Type	Intelligent personal assistant
Website	www.samsung.com/us/apps/bixby/

Bixby (Korean: 빅스비; RR: Bikseubi; Korean pronunciation: [pik̚s͈ɯbi]) is a virtual assistant developed by Samsung Electronics,^[9] launched in 2017 as a replacement of the S Voice assistant.^[10][11][12] It runs on various Samsung branded appliances, primarily mobile devices but also some refrigerators.^[13] The suite includes a voice assistant known as Bixby Voice,^[14] as well as contextual search and visual search features^[15] including tools like Bixby Vision, an augmented reality camera app,^[16] Bixby Text Call, a handsfree call answer feature,^[17] and others like Bixby Routines (now named Modes and Routines),^[18] and Bixby Home (now replaced by Samsung Free).

Functionality

Bixby Voice

Bixby can get tailored information about the weather, reminders of meetings, news articles, and others using artificial intelligence. It can learn individual voices, so it can personalize its answers.^[19]

Bixby Vision

Bixby Vision is an augmented-reality camera that can identify objects in real-time and potentially offer the user to purchase them online, translate text, read QR codes, and recognize landmarks.^[20]

Bixby Home

"Bixby Home" (which has been recently replaced with "Samsung Free" in the latest One UI software update)^[21] was a vertically scrolling list of information that Bixby can interact with,^{[clarification needed]} for example weather, fitness activity and buttons for controlling their smart home gadgets.^[20] "Bixby Touch" makes recommendations based on intelligent recognition. You can easily access services such as translation, online shopping, and media by touching the screen. This app is still in its development period and has not been publicly released yet.^[22]

History

The information screen of Bixby 1.0

On 20 March 2017, Samsung announced the voice-powered digital assistant named "Bixby".^[23] It was introduced alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ and the Samsung Galaxy Tab A during the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2017 event;^[24][25][26] although released for these devices, it could also be sideloaded on older Galaxy devices running Android Nougat.^[27] A while before the phone's release, the Bixby Button was reprogrammable and could be set to open other applications or assistants, such as Google Assistant. However, near the phone's release, this ability was removed with a firmware update, but can be remapped using third-party apps.^[28]

Bixby in Korean was launched on 1 May 2017 (KST).^[29] Bixby Voice was intended to be made available in the US later that spring,^[30] however, the release of the English version was postponed as Samsung had problems getting Bixby to fully understand the language.^[31] The English version was finally rolled out in July 2017^[32] and later that year followed by a Chinese language version.^[33]

In October 2017, Samsung announced the release of Bixby 2.0 during its annual developer conference in San Francisco. The new version was rolled out across the company's line of connected products, including smartphones, TVs, and refrigerators. Also, third parties are allowed to develop applications for Bixby using the Samsung Developer Kit.^[34] Bixby 3.0 was released with One UI 3 at the start of 2021.^[35] With version 3.0, Home and Reminders features were separated from Bixby.

In June 2021, screenshots surfaced for a replacement for Bixby. The three-dimensional virtual assistant, Sam, was popular on social media though it was not intended as a replacement for Bixby.^[36][37]

Most recently, in July 2024, Samsung confirmed that it plans to launch an upgraded version of Bixby later this year. This new Bixby will be powered by Samsung's proprietary large language model (LLM) technology, promising a significant boost to Bixby's capabilities with the help of generative AI.^[38][39]

Regions and languages

As of April 2018, Bixby is available in over 195 countries, but only in Korean, English (American), and Chinese (Mandarin).^[40] The limitation is that the models not intended for the Japanese market, like S10e, are not allowed to login to Bixby services from Japan; therefore Bixby becomes blocked. The choice of languages has since expanded: Samsung has deployed Bixby's voice command function in French,^[41][42] and on 20 February 2019 Samsung announced the addition of further languages: English (British), German, Italian and Spanish (Spain).^[43] On 22 February 2020, Samsung announced the addition of Portuguese (Brazil), for Galaxy S10 & Note10, in Beta, and later for other models.^[44]

Compatible devices

Flagship smartphones and tablets

Galaxy S

• Galaxy S7 (including S7 Edge and S7 Active, Bixby Home only)
• Galaxy S8 (including S8+ and S8 Active)
• Galaxy S9 (including S9+)
• Galaxy S10 (including S10+, S10e, S10 5G and S10 Lite)
• Galaxy S20 (including S20+, S20 Ultra, and S20 FE)
• Galaxy S21 (including S21+, S21 Ultra, and S21 FE)
• Galaxy S22 (including S22+ and S22 Ultra)
• Galaxy S23 (including S23+, S23 Ultra and S23 FE)
• Galaxy S24 (including S24+ and S24 Ultra)

Galaxy Tab S

• Galaxy Tab S4
• Galaxy Tab S5e
• Galaxy Tab S6 (including Tab S6 Lite)
• Galaxy Tab S7 (including Tab S7+ and Tab S7 FE)
• Galaxy Tab S8 (including Tab S8+ and Tab S8 Ultra)
• Galaxy Tab S9 (including Tab S9+, Tab S9 Ultra, Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE+)

Galaxy Note

• Galaxy Note FE (Bixby Home, Reminder and Vision only [Vision available on Android Oreo]; S Voice used instead)
• Galaxy Note 8
• Galaxy Note 9
• Galaxy Note 10 (including Note 10+, Note 10 5G, Note 10+ 5G and Note 10 Lite)
• Galaxy Note 20 (including Note 20 Ultra, Note 20 5G and Note 20 Ultra 5G)

Galaxy Fold / Z

• Galaxy Fold
• Galaxy Z Flip
• Galaxy Z Fold 2
• Galaxy Z Flip 3
• Galaxy Z Fold 3
• Galaxy Z Flip 4
• Galaxy Z Fold 4
• Galaxy Z Fold 5
• Galaxy Z Flip 5
• Galaxy Z Flip 6
• Galaxy Z Fold 6

Mid-range smartphones and tablets

Galaxy A

• Galaxy A6/A6+ (Bixby Home, Reminder and Vision)
• Galaxy A7 (2017) (available to users in South Korea only; Bixby Home and Reminder only)^[45]
• Galaxy A7 (2018) (Bixby Home, Reminder and Vision only)
• Galaxy A8 (2018) (including A8 Star; Bixby Home, Reminder and Vision only; S Voice used instead)
• Galaxy A9 (2018)
• Galaxy A20 (Bixby Home and Service)
• Galaxy A21s
• Galaxy A30s (Bixby Home, Vision, Reminder and Routines)
• Galaxy A40 (Bixby Home and Reminder)
• Galaxy A41 (Bixby Home, Vision, Routines and Reminder)
• Galaxy A50 (Bixby Home, Voice, Vision, Reminder and Routines)
• Galaxy A50s (Bixby Home, Voice, Vision, Reminder and Routines)
• Galaxy A51
• Galaxy A52
• Galaxy A52s
• Galaxy A53 5G
• Galaxy A70 (Bixby Home, Voice, Vision and Reminder)
• Galaxy A70s (Bixby Home, Voice, Vision and Reminder)
• Galaxy A71
• Galaxy A72
• Galaxy A73 5G
• Galaxy A80 (Bixby Home, Voice, Vision, Reminder and Routines)
• Galaxy A34 5G
• Galaxy A54 5G
• Galaxy A35 5G
• Galaxy A55 5G

Galaxy F

• Galaxy F62

Galaxy Tab A

• Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) (Bixby Home)
• Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017) (Bixby Home and Reminder only)^[46]
• Galaxy Tab A 10.5 (2018) (Bixby Home, Reminder and Vision)

Galaxy J

• Galaxy J4 (2018) (Bixby Home)^[47]
• Galaxy J7+ (2017)^[48]
• Galaxy J6 (2018) (Bixby Vision, Bixby Home and Bixby Reminders)
• Galaxy J6+ (2018)

Galaxy C

• Galaxy C8 (Bixby Home, Reminder and Bixby Vision only)

Smart speakers

• Galaxy Home^[49]
• Galaxy Home Mini^[50]

Laptops

• Galaxy Book series released from May 2021 onwards^[51]

See also

• Alice
• Alexa
• Clova
• Cortana
• Evi
• Google Assistant
• Haptik
• S Voice
• Siri
• Viv (software)

References

1. "Bixby Voice APKs". APKMirror. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
2. "Bixby Global Action APKs - APKMirror". APKMirror. Android Police. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
3. "Bixby Home APKs". APKMirror. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
4. "Bixby Dictation APKs". APKMirror. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
5. "Bixby Vision APKs". APKMirror. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
6. "Bixby voice input APKs". APKMirror. Android Police. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
7. "Bixby Wakeup APKs". APKMirror. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
8. Mark Tucker (26 October 2019). "Bixby Learnings from an Alexa Developer". Voicebot.ai. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
9. "Bixby". Samsung. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
10. Scott Adam Gordon (10 February 2017). "Galaxy S8's Bixby assistant to be based on S-Voice, not Viv Labs tech". Android Authority. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
11. Vincent, James (10 February 2017). "So, what is Samsung's Bixby AI assistant really made of?". The Verge. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
12. "Hi Galaxy, Samsung S Voice to be discontinued on June 1". GSMArena.com.
13. Carman, Ashley (15 May 2017). "Samsung's Bixby assistant is coming to smart fridges". The Verge. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
14. "What is Samsung Bixby & how to use the app service". Samsung uk. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
15. "Bixby : Samsung Virtual Assistant [ Full Guide ]". TTGADGET - Tips and Tutorials for Gadget. 23 March 2017. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
16. SamMobile. "Bixby Vision". SamMobile. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
17. Gray-Traverso, Zach (25 May 2023). "What is Bixby Text Call?". Android Police. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
18. "What is Samsung Bixby & how to use the app service". Samsung uk. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
19. "What is bixby in samsung a52?". Ask Sawal. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
20. Bohn, Dieter (29 March 2017). "Three things we know Samsung's new assistant can do on the Galaxy S8". The Verge. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
21. Dolcourt, Jessica (29 March 2017). "Samsung Galaxy S8's Bixby assistant needs to grow up fast". CNET. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
22. _HT03 (6 May 2023). "OneUI features you didn't know about (Part 1): Bixby Touch". r/oneui. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
23. "Bixby : A New Way to Interact with Your Phone". SAMSUNG Newsroom. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
24. Pham, Sherisse (21 March 2018). "Samsung's new AI assistant will take on Siri and Alexa". CNNMoney. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
25. Baig, Edward (20 March 2017). "Samsung promises its Galaxy S8 Bixby assistant will be 'fundamentally different'". USA Today. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
26. "Everything Samsung announced at its Unpacked 2017 launch event". VentureBeat. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
27. Schoon, Ben (3 April 2018). "Here's how to install Bixby and the Galaxy S8's new launcher on other Samsung devices". 9to5Google. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
28. Karner, Jen (29 March 2017). "What is Bixby and is it like Google Assistant?". Android Central. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
29. Mu-Hyun, Cho (1 May 2017). "Samsung launches Galaxy S8 Bixby voice command in Korea". ZDNet. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
30. "Samsung Galaxy S8 hits launch snag with Bixby voice assistant". CNET. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
31. Whitwam, Ryan (31 May 2017). "WSJ: Samsung's English-language Bixby rollout delayed because English is hard". Android Police. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
32. "Samsung Expands Bixby Voice Capabilities in U.S. English". news.samsung.com. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
33. "Nǐ hǎo, Bixby is Now Available in Mandarin Chinese in Malaysia!". news.samsung.com. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
34. Heater, Brian. "Bixby 2.0 takes center stage at Samsung's Developer Conference". TechCrunch. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
35. B, Subin (2 December 2020). "Bixby Update Brings New UI, Samsung DeX Support, and More". Beebom. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
36. Peters, Megan (1 June 2021). "Samsung's Alleged Anime Assistant Is Taking Over the Internet". Comicbook.com. CB. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
37. Finn, John (1 June 2021). "Samsung's Sam: Is The Virtual Mobile Assistant Real?". Screenrant.com. Screen Rant. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
38. "Samsung confirms an AI-enhanced Bixby upgrade is coming in 2024". Android Authority. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
39. Kharpal, Arjun (10 July 2024). "Samsung to launch upgraded voice assistant Bixby this year with its own AI". CNBC. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
40. Kharpal, Arjun (22 August 2017). "Samsung Bixby expands to over 200 countries in battle with Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri". CNBC. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
41. "Et la lumière fut : Bixby prend enfin en charge la langue française… en version bêta" (published 25 February 2019). 13 December 2018.
42. "Bixby est disponible en français sur le Galaxy Note 9, enfin !" (published 25 February 2019). 12 December 2018.
43. "Samsung Extends Global Reach of Bixby, Launches Support for New European Languages". Samsung US Newsroom. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
44. "Samsung Further Develops Bixby, Introducing a New Language and Setting a Foundation for Future Growth". news.samsung.com. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
45. Rutnik, Mitja (12 July 2017). "The Galaxy A7 (2017) features Bixby in South Korea". Android Authority. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
46. "User manual confirms Bixby for Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017)". GSMArena.com. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
47. "Buy Galaxy J4 J400FZDDKSA | Samsung Business Saudi Arabia". Samsung sa_en. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
48. "Samsung Galaxy J7+ Black: Price, Specs & Features | Philippines". Samsung ph. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
49. Ingraham, Nathan (9 August 2018). "Does Samsung's Galaxy Home stand a chance?". Engadget. Oath Inc. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
50. SamMobile. "Samsung Galaxy Home Mini". SamMobile. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
51. "Bixby now available for all Windows PCs - MSPoweruser". mspoweruser.com. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2023.

Preceded by S Voice

Bixby

Succeeded by None