How to customize your phone with Bixby routines

The Samsung Bixby voice assistant has a Routines feature similar to the iPhone’s Shortcuts app. You can use it to automate dozens of system functions and make life easier. If you use a reading app on your phone, automate your reading brightness settings. Or automatically set your device to silent when you’re at work. You can also create audio profiles for different Bluetooth devices or automatically disconnect from Wi-Fi if the signal quality drops.

Bixby is flexible, efficient and reliable. It does more than just a voice assistant, and if you own a Samsung Galaxy S24, you’ll get a supercharged, hands-free version of Bixby that’s more powerful, thanks to its integration with Galaxy AI. This guide will help you find preset Bixby routines, create your own custom routines, and show you the different ways the platform integrates with your other Samsung devices.

In March 2024, Samsung began rolling out Galaxy AI to the Galaxy S23, S23 FE, Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 series, and the Galaxy Tab 29. Some features may be limited to certain devices or regions.

How to create a Bixby routine

Before you check out our favorite routines, here’s how you can create one of your own. The Bixby Routines app doesn’t appear in your app drawer by default, so here’s how to add it.

1. Open it settings app and go to Advanced settings.
2. Scroll down to Modes of work and routines.
3. Touch Routines tab.
4. Touch More possibilities (three vertical dots), then tap settings.
5. Turn on the switch next to it Show modes and routines on the apps screen.

The so-called application Modes of work and routines it is now available from the app drawer.

1. Open Bixby modes and routines.
2. Touch Routines tab.
3. Touch plus (+) to add a new routine.
4. Touch plus (+) under If section to add triggers.

   

   

5. From the list of options, select what you want to start the routine. Repeat the steps 3 and 4 if you want more than one trigger.

   

6. Touch plus (+) in Then section.
7. Find the action you want the routine to perform when it fires. Repeat the steps 5 and 6 if you want the routine to perform multiple actions.
8. Touch Save in the lower right corner.

   

   

9. Name your routine and select an icon.

   

10. If your routine starts manually, you are prompted to add a widget to the home screen. Touch To add do so.

A multitude of triggers and actions are available. So whatever automation you need, there’s a good chance you can set it up with Bixby. Browse through each category and decide what you want to use. If you’re looking for something specific, use the search bar. If your routine needs to be activated manually, do it from the app or use the widget on the home screen that prompts you for it.

Use and customize preset routines

Samsung Bixby has a number of preset routines that you can use to do almost anything with little or no customization. Here’s how to find them on your phone.

1. Find and open Bixby modes and routines.

   

2. Touch Routines tab.
3. Touch Preset routines icon.

   

   

4. choose All the routines or category that is relevant.
5. Select a routine from the list.

   

   

6. Change it If activates if necessary.
7. Touch Save.

   

   

Take advantage of Bixby’s tight integration with Galaxy Buds and Samsung Galaxy Watch

If you’re invested in the Samsung ecosystem or use multiple devices like the Galaxy Buds or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, you’re in luck. Bixby routines work flawlessly to charge all our devices.

Using Bixby with Galaxy Buds

Let’s say you commute to work every morning from 7:00 to 7:45 and use Spotify to listen to music on your Galaxy headphones and Google Maps to track your next stop. The Bixby routine can be triggered when you connect the Galaxy Buds Pro during your commute to activate active noise cancellation on your earbuds, have them read your notifications, and make Spotify and Google Maps your lock screen shortcuts.

That’s not all routines can do on your Galaxy handset. They can also change your sound equalizer, switch game mode, block the headset’s touch controls, turn on voice detection, activate Bixby wake-up, and change your touch controls. The availability of some of these changes depends on which Galaxy headset you own.

Using Bixby with your Galaxy Watch

You can use theater mode as a trigger on your Galaxy Watch. For example, when you go to the movies and turn on Theater Mode on the Watch 4, the routine mutes all sounds on the phone, turns on Do Not Disturb, and turns off the always-on display. Turn off theater mode and the app reverts those settings to what they were before it was launched.

This routine is handy if you forget to mute your phone at the movies. You’ll still need to use theater mode to prevent your watch from shining through the movie.

You can change watch faces using Bixby routines, which is handy when you’re hitting the gym. For example, when you start your routine at the gym, your Watch 4 changes the face to something focused on fitness, with shortcuts to start tracking your workout with just one tap. When you’re ready to go home, the routine ends and your watch goes back to normal.

Bixby helps you control your phone

If you don’t have other Samsung devices, Bixby Routines is still worth checking out because of the number of system settings the app can control. Let’s look at three commonly used routines to demonstrate this.

You can create a charging speed routine to mimic adaptive charging on Pixel phones. For example, turn off all fast charging, wired and wireless, between 11:30 PM and 7:00 AM. That way, the phone slowly charges on the wireless charger while you sleep and quickly tops things off before you wake up. It’s not as flexible as Google’s implementation, which changes times based on your next alarm.

One UI doesn’t have an automatic power-saving mode that kicks in below a certain battery percentage. This is quickly achieved through routine. You can set a routine to activate power saving mode when the phone reaches 35%. You can also set the routine to change the screen timeout to 15 seconds so your screen doesn’t stay on for so long when unattended.

You can also set an anti-migraine routine that will be activated via a widget on the home screen. This routine includes a blue light filter to reduce eye strain, mutes all sound, and puts the phone on Do Not Disturb mode. Now that there is an additional dimming mode in Android 12, we hope the app will be updated to support it as it would be a perfect addition to this.

This routine may not be something everyone would use, but that’s why we’re including it. Most of us have at least one obscure use for our phones that few people care about, and Bixby routines can satisfy many of them.

What’s next for Bixby?

Bixby was launched in 2017. For most of that time, many Samsung users ignored the functionality, especially the voice assistant. It’s a shame that Routines is being put alongside it, because it’s a powerful, underutilized tool. If the success of Bixby Routines is anything to do with Bixby’s popularity, its relative obscurity may be coming to an end.

As AI technology has evolved, particularly voice recognition, we’ve seen significant updates and improvements to the Bixby offering. If you have a Samsung phone and haven’t explored all that Bixby has to offer, now might be the time to give it a try. You might be surprised how useful it is.