Samsung Galaxy S8 Bixby Will Come With Facebook, Uber And Other Third-Party App Support

During its Unpacked event, Samsung proudly introduced its Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ handsets to the world while also shedding light on the voice service that it will be launching with the devices called Bixby. As expected, the voice assistant will come with support for various Samsung apps. Interestingly, there is now confirmation that third-party apps will also be supported by Siri’s rival.

On Friday, MobileSyrup reported that some third-party apps that will be supported by Bixby were leaked at Samsung’s Canada press briefing. Apparently, an early version of Bixby was showcased at the event and it included a list for all supported apps. The third-party apps that made it to the list were Facebook, CNN, YouTube, Uber, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare.

Also shown in the early version are the 12 native Samsung apps that will have Bixby support at launch, namely: Samsung Health, Samsung Themes, Samsung Internet, Alarm, Gallery, Reminder, Camera, Contacts, Calendar, Message, Email, and Weather.

Bixby is one of the selling points of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+, so Samsung is expected to bring the new digital assistant software to third-party apps eventually if it wants it to succeed in the long run. Android Headlines says more app support could play a big role in luring more consumers to the new smartphones. After all, in order for Bixby to outshine its rivals, it really needs support for more apps.

Bixby has its own dedicated button found on the left-hand side of the two Android flagship devices. It also comes with a Bixby Home feature where information cards showing notifications from supported apps are displayed. This feature can be accessed with just a right-swiping gesture from the phone’s home screen, where Flipboard was previously located.

Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ on April 21. Preorders for the two devices are already available from retailers and wireless carriers.