Samsung is testing a major upgrade for Bixby that would let its voice assistant handle everyday jobs in the background, without waiting to be asked each time. The new capability is expected to arrive with One UI 9.5, the software update tipped to debut on the Galaxy S27 series early next year.
The details come from SamMobile, which examined an upcoming build of the assistant. Samsung has not officially confirmed the feature, so what eventually reaches phones may look different. Even so, the report points to the biggest change to Bixby in years.
How the New Bixby Would Work
The upgraded Bixby will be able to set up recurring tasks and carry them out automatically. In the example SamMobile tested, the assistant was asked to report the US dollar to Indian rupee exchange rate every morning. Rather than simply answering once, Bixby understood the request as a standing instruction and created a recurring task, which appeared in a dedicated Actions section of the Bixby app.
That task does not go live on its own. Bixby asks the user to confirm it first, and only then does it become active. Once it is running, the user can manage it from the Actions section, pinning important routines for quick access, pausing them temporarily, or deleting them altogether. The feature also keeps an activity log showing how each task was completed, and users can review past executions and return to the original conversation in which they created the task.
The ambition goes beyond repeating information on a schedule. According to the report, the new Bixby will be able to handle jobs such as booking a hotel room or scheduling an appointment in the background, without the user having to walk it through each step. The assistant is also expected to work with Samsung’s own apps, including Notes, Recorder and Calendar, so that tasks can draw on what the phone already knows about the user’s day. Reports of the feature have called it Bixby Work, while a follow-up report referred to it as Bixby Actions, and both descriptions point to the same idea: an assistant that remembers what it has been asked to do and keeps doing it.
That is a clear step away from how Bixby has worked until now. The assistant made its debut with the Galaxy S8 in 2017, and for most of its life it has answered questions and carried out single commands when spoken to. Samsung has been closing the gap on rival assistants through Galaxy AI, the AI features it began rolling out with the Galaxy S24 series in early 2024, and a Bixby that acts on its own would be the most visible part of that effort yet.
The shift also follows the direction the whole industry is moving in. Voice assistants are increasingly being rebuilt as agents that can plan and complete multi-step jobs rather than simply responding to one instruction at a time. If Bixby can reliably book, schedule and report without being chased, it would give Galaxy owners a reason to use Samsung’s assistant instead of another one.
When It Might Arrive With One UI 9.5
Samsung is testing the feature internally, and the new capabilities are expected to debut with the Galaxy S27 series running One UI 9.5 early next year. The Galaxy S27 has already been reported to receive certification from India’s Bureau of Indian Standards, a routine step before a phone goes on sale there.
Samsung began rolling out One UI 9, based on Android 17, to the Galaxy S26 series in September, and the next version is expected to bring more substantial changes, with the Bixby overhaul among the most significant. Reports suggest a beta programme for One UI 9.5 could begin in the coming weeks.
It is not yet clear whether the upgraded Bixby will also come to existing Galaxy phones, or whether it will be limited to the Galaxy S27 series at first. That question matters to the millions of people already using Samsung phones, and it is one Samsung has not answered. A separate, unconfirmed leak has raised the question of whether some Galaxy AI features could eventually sit behind a paid plan, but Samsung has said nothing official about charging for this Bixby upgrade.
For now, the report is best read as a look at what Samsung is building, not a promise of what will ship: internal testing can change, and the company has confirmed none of this. But the pieces fit a pattern, with a new phone range due early next year and a major software update to go with it. The S27 launch will show whether Bixby’s new working habits make it into the finished product.
