Samsung to end support for some AR features in Bixby

Samsung is discontinuing a few Augmented Reality-focused features in Bixby assistant. The company will take down Places, Makeup, Home Decor, and Styling features from Bixby by the end of this month.

Places AR filter showed map icons on Samsung’s camera to showcase local venues such as stores and landmarks. The purpose of the AR filter was to help users better navigate familiar places. Makeup, as the name implies, allowed users to put virtual makeup such as eyeshadow and blush, among other things. Home Décor and Styling are also self-explanatory.

AndroidPolice reports that Samsung has begun notifying users as well.

“Thank you for Bixby Vision. The AR features (Places, Makeup, Home Décor, Styling) on Bixby Vision will no longer be supported starting from the end of October,” said Samsung in its notification.

“The AR features that have been supported by each country may be different. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. Thank you again for using Bixby Vision. We appreciate your continued interest and support,” it added.

Samsung had launched Bixby in 2017 in a bid to compete with Google’s Assistant and Apple’s Siri. Since the launch, Samsung has aggressively pushed the service on its smartphones and other devices. One of the bold moves included embedding a dedicated Bixby launcher on the phones, The Verge points out.

Samsung, however, is now scaling back Bixby and is said to be in talks with Google to promote the latter’s services on its phones.