Samsung first launched Bixby in 2017.[11] Along with Bixby voice assistant, its other main component currently is Bixby Vision, acontextual and visual searchaugmented reality[12] camera app.[13] Formerly, the Bixby suite consisted of a number of other tools, but these have since been renamed, such as Bixby Routines (nowModes and Routines).[14]
Bixby's original logo, designed by Samsung and design firmPentagramBixby Home, the former information screen at launch of Bixby 1.0
On 20 March 2017, Samsung announced the voice-powered digital assistant named "Bixby" as a replacement of theS Voice assistant.[11][9][15][16] It was introduced alongside theGalaxy S8 and S8+ and theGalaxy Tab A (2017) during the Galaxy Unpacked 2017 event.[17][18][19] Although released for these devices, it could also besideloaded on older Galaxy devices runningAndroid Nougat.[20] Before the phone's release, the Bixby Button was reprogrammable and could be set to open other applications or assistants, such asGoogle Assistant. However, near the phone's release, this ability was removed with a firmware update. Remapping remained possible through third-party apps.[21]
Bixby was launched inKorean on 1 May 2017 (KST).[22] Bixby Voice was intended to be made available in the US later that spring.[23] However, Samsung postponed the release, as Bixby had issues understandingEnglish.[24] The English version was finally rolled out in July 2017,[25] followed by aChinese language version later that year.[26]
In October 2017, Samsung announced the release of Bixby 2.0 during its annual developer conference inSan Francisco. The new version was rolled out across the company's line of connected products, including smartphones, TVs, and refrigerators. Third parties were allowed to develop applications for Bixby using the Samsung Developer Kit.[27]
In 2019, UX developers at Samsung stated that they intended to useAR Emoji avatars as a personified Bixby assistant.[29] At SDC19, Samsung displayed the Galaxy Home Mini speaker, which also supported Bixby.[30]
Bixby 3.0 was released with One UI 3 at the start of 2021.[31] With version 3.0, Home and Reminders features were separated from Bixby. In June 2021, screenshots surfaced for what some thought as a replacement for Bixby.[32] The three-dimensional virtual assistant, Sam, was popular onsocial media, though it was not intended as a replacement for Bixby.[33][34] Bixby launched forMicrosoft Windows in October 2021, with distribution through theMicrosoft Store. This version of Bixby was optimized for Samsung'sGalaxy Book computers.[35][36]
Samsung launched an AI Bixby custom voice creator in 2023, allowing users to record their own voice commands.[37][38]
Most recently, in July 2024, Samsung confirmed that it plans to launch an upgraded version of Bixby later that year. This new Bixby would be powered by Samsung's proprietarylarge language model (LLM) technology, promising a significant boost to Bixby's capabilities with the help of generative AI.[39][40]
In January 2025, with the announcement ofGalaxy S25 and the One UI 7 update, Bixby was no longer the default voice assistant, having been replaced byGoogle Gemini. Despite this, Bixby still continued to be developed and expanded by Samsung and was revamped at the same time with new AI capabilities.[41] Samsung brought the "smarter" Bixby to Samsung televisions, allowing users to speak to their TV sets and control their homes with it.[42]
Bixby is a voice assistant developed by Samsung that provides device control, information retrieval, and task automation using voice input and artificial intelligence. It can answer contextual queries, adjust system settings, perform searches, and manage reminders or schedules. The service also personalizes responses by recognizing individual user voices.[44][45]
Bixby itself was also formerly called Bixby Voice to differentiate from other Bixby tools in the suite.
Bixby Vision is a visual recognition feature that analyzes images captured through the device camera and provides context-specific information or actions. It combines on-device processing with cloud-based AI resources to identify objects, detect text, and interpret scenes within supported applications.[46]
It comes pre-installed on Samsung Galaxy phones. It is considered to be the imaging component of Bixby.[47]
Bixby Home was a vertically scrolling home screen displaying cards of information such as weather, fitness activity, and smart home controls.[48] It was renamedSamsung Daily with the release of One UI 2.1 in 2020,[49] then replaced bySamsung Free in One UI 3.0.[50] Samsung Free was eventually discontinued in some markets. Its successor,Samsung News, now functions as a news aggregation service with optional home-screen integration similar to Bixby Home.[51]
Bixby Routines was an automation feature that allowed users to create custom rules based on triggers such as time, location, or device conditions. Beginning with One UI 5.0, it was renamedModes and Routines.[52]
Bixby Text Call, introduced in One UI 5.0 (2022) in select regions, enabled users to handle incoming calls via speech-to-text conversion and vice versa.[53] It is now named simplyText Call and can be found in the Phone app settings.[54]
Bixby Touch allowed users to trigger context-aware actions by touching on-screen content. It analyzed images, text, and other visual elements displayed on the device and provided related options such as translation, image search, product lookup, or other content-based information. Several of its capabilities overlapped with, or were later superseded by, features offered through Bixby Vision.
Other legacy components includingBixby Touch,Bixby Global Action,Bixby Dictation, andBixby Wakeup, formed part of the early Bixby suite and have since been phased out, though exact discontinuation details vary by region.[55]
As of April 2018, Bixby is available in over 195 countries, but only in Korean, English (American), and Chinese (Mandarin).[56] 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,[57][58] and on 20 February 2019 Samsung announced the addition of further languages: English (British), German, Italian and Spanish (Spain).[59] On 22 February 2020, Samsung announced the addition of Portuguese (Brazil), for Galaxy S10 & Note10, in Beta, and later for other models.[60]
^Minsky, Laurence; Westwater, Susan; Westwater, Scot; Fahey, Colleen (27 July 2023)."Glossary".Voice Marketing: Harnessing the Power of Conversational AI to Drive Customer Engagement.Bloomsbury US. p. 181.ISBN979-8-7651-8244-4. Retrieved19 November 2025 – viaGoogle Books.Bixby: Samsung's proprietary voice assistant
