One UI 7 removed Android's standard Assistant/Gemini gesture.

[PeterPhamous]

Conflict: OneUI 7 Removes Standard Android Assistant Gesture—Forces Assistant on Power Button Long-Press Breaks Good Lock/RegiStar

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On recent One UI versions, specifically One UI 7, the default action for a long-press of the Power/Side Key has been set to launch the default Assistant: Google Gemini. While needlessly removing the previous, default gesture of long pressing home button/swipe up and hold home (Official Android standard gesture btw). 

This creates a major issue for many loyal users who rely on Samsung's own Good Lock suite, specifically the RegiStar module. For years, RegiStar has allowed us to customize this exact long-press action for incredibly useful shortcuts – toggling the flashlight, taking screenshots, launching specific apps, etc. These aren't minor tweaks; they are core usability features for many of us. In fact, Good Lock and modules like RegiStar are prime examples of Samsung innovation done right – they are thoughtful, genuinely useful, and empower users with choice and deep customization. Giving us this level of control is considerate and exactly the kind of added value we appreciate in the Samsung ecosystem. This new default, however, overrides our existing RegiStar settings, forcing the Assistant onto this button and removing functionality we actively chose and depend on, which feels counter to the spirit of user empowerment that Samsung and Good Lock represents.

Frankly, using the power button long-press for the Assistant feels less practical than using it for immediate actions like the flashlight. Voice commands ("Hey Google") are often faster and hands-free for summoning the Assistant anyway.

What makes this decision truly baffling is the simultaneous removal or sidelining of the previously standard Android gesture – the quick swipe up from the bottom corner. This was the native, de-facto method for years! It worked perfectly well, didn't interfere with any button customizations via Good Lock, and was intuitive for millions of Android users. Why remove a functional, non-conflicting, universal gesture in favor of one that causes direct problems? This change seems to have literally no upside – it doesn't help Google if accessing Gemini becomes harder for users who customize, and it certainly doesn't help us users who lose both our essential shortcuts and the standard, intuitive way to call the Assistant.

This leaves users who customized the power button without any convenient, quick gesture to access the Assistant overlay while using other apps. We are forced to choose between our essential custom shortcuts and the default Assistant access method, having lost the standard gesture alternative.

Considering the integration efforts for features like Gemini, it's frustrating that the implementation directly clashes with Samsung's own popular customization tools and removes established Android conventions, leading to a worse user experience for power users.

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TL;DR:

Request to Samsung: Please restore user choice and common sense. We need a way to:

1. Prevent the Assistant from taking over the power button long-press if it's already customized via RegiStar.

2. Provide and prioritize alternative, reliable methods to access the Assistant via gesture (like restoring the standard Android corner swipe/long press home/swipe up from home when using legacy navigation gestures, as an easily accessible default option) that don't require sacrificing our power button customizations.

Please allow us to use Good Lock's powerful features and access the Assistant conveniently using standard, non-conflicting methods. Don't force us to disable one for the other, especially when a perfectly good solution was already the standard, and tools like RegiStar exemplify the user-focused innovation we value from Samsung.

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P.S. Just to highlight the sheer irony here - this post was crafted with direct assistance from Gemini. And yes, because my sacred Power Button long-press is non-negotiable (hello, flashlight!), I had to launch the Gemini app manually like some second-class, non-default-device-assistant peasant app. Forced to needlessly compromise like some kind of fool with buyer's remorse for their Samsung purchase is entirely unnecessary and preventable; my disappointment and bewilderment truly made even greater knowing that Samsung forced these changes despite it having been revealed that "...Alphabet Inc. pays Samsung Electronics Co. an "enormous sum of money" every month to preinstall Google generative Al app, Gemini."

[meself]

Google assistant is being replaced by gemini

[PeterPhamous]

My post doesn't have anything to do with Google Assistant. Google Assistant is not even mentioned once.

[Robin621k]

I have found a very useful button to add to my screen for shortcuts to do things. It has many different things you can add.

I currently use it for screenshots the poweroff menu and Gemini.

You can move it around anywhere on your screen, make it almost transparent.

It is a game changer for me.

You can find it in the accessibility settings, interactions and dexterity . Assistant menu, turn it on, go to assistant menu items.
Then you can keep your buttons mapped the way you want to.

It takes a couple of days to get use to. Don't know how I lived without before.

[PeterPhamous]

So there is a more compact alternative you can use, with Samsung One-Hand Operations! You can assign device assistant to any number of edge swipe gestures. With the "quick tools" floating widget, you can populate it with whatever settings toggles you want, the entire widget can be invoked with a simple swipe from the edge

[yeye4547]

Bro you know you can change it from being Gemini

[PeterPhamous]

Change what? My post is in regards to Samsung removing the ability to launch the Device Assistant (Gemini for example), using the standard home button long press gesture.

[Robin621k]

The long home button was taken away in Ui6 because of circle to search, then they took away the awful corner diagonal swipe.

I like my new solution of adding it the accessibility assistant menu!

Especially when using share screen in the camera!

[CableComputers]

Well said!

I have used goodlock to set the side button as a custom shortcut to do a specific app action for a long time, and would launch my assistant with a corner swipe. I have voice activation disabled entirely and would prefer to keep it that way.

This change is one of a few examples of unnecessary removal of good features in this update (widgets when tapping the clock on the lock screen, the option to view your app in a page view instead of a scrolling list, etc.). I can only hope that these options come back to the settings or through goodlock in time.

Unfortunately something like this happens almost every time a significant OneUI update releases. I've stuck with Samsung for years now because I appreciate the amount of granular customization options that they provide in a polished Android endowment, even if it is through modules that you have to download separately. Unfortunately though, the more niche customization options there are, the more development overhead there is for them to keep those options available while not being buggy and causing issues for the average user. I can't help but wonder if the decision to take away some of these options is strategic in that it saves on dev time, and they know that the majority of users won't be impacted and only a handful of power users that use these options on a regular basis are going to feel the change.

There is hope though that they add these features back later. It seems reasonable that they may still be working on providing some of these extra options through goodlock, but that it was more important to get the stable release of the main update out first.

I am only speculating, of course.

[Chilbudius]

I fully agree with you on this. Bugs the **bleep** out of me when developers start removing features for the sake of changing something. My workaround for this is to set launching assistant as a back-tap action in registar. I sure would like the swipe gesture back, though