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Samsung’s own virtual assistant, Bixby, has long lived in the shadow of Google Assistant and now Gemini. Despite this, it doesn’t want to give up on Bixby completely, possibly because a small number of Samsung users still rely on Bixby. In fact, with One UI 8.5, Bixby has received a significant boost in cognitive capabilities and fluency, bringing it on par with other AI assistants, especially for those who also use its SmartThings-enabled home appliances. Unfortunately for some of these users, as well as for others who actively use the assistant, Bixby may currently be experiencing unexplained issues.
Some users have reported on Samsung Community that there’s no voice feedback when using Bixby on their Samsung devices. The results are reportedly limited to notes in the form of text. The reports are scant and concentrated in Korea, but cannot be dismissed, given Bixby’s recent troubles with responding to voice commands.
A few others noted they had faced the issue previously but said it was rectified after updating One UI 8.5 to the latest version. Another one confirms it works just as well for them, even while running the third One UI 9 beta on their Galaxy S26 Ultra. The next update is also expected to enhance how quickly you can reach Bixby.
However, one particularly unfortunate Galaxy Z Fold 7 owner still cannot determine the root cause, even after updating both their phone and Bixby to the latest versions.
Samsung support staff hasn’t confirmed the issue but has asked the user to share a log of the issue they’re facing. Given the issue’s small scale, we can’t determine the exact cause, especially for the unlucky Fold 7 owner.
We couldn’t replicate the issue at our end either, as Bixby’s voice commands work just fine. To get further updates, we’ve written to Samsung and will inform you when we receive a response. Meanwhile, if you’re experiencing a similar issue, Samsung has a support page with basic troubleshooting steps that might help if Bixby can’t understand your voice commands.
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