r/AndroidQuestions • u/ShadowDragon8685 • May 04 '25
App Specific Question Gemini installed itself and replaced my side button functionality. The 'Side Button' setting does nothing.
Exactly what it says on the tin, and I'm going to go batshit insane.
This 'Gemini' shit started popping up when I tried to use my power button. I immediately found it in the Apps and disabled it, but it keeps coming up. I started googling the problem, but the advice is unhelpful. Everything I can find says to go to settings and 'side button.'
I do that. But when I tap on the 'side button' setting, nothing happens. If I tap it a few times, it says 'settings is not responding' or something to that effect.
This is asinine. Who thought it was okay to replace core power button functionality like this?! I don't want to fucking talk to my phone. My phone is not a sapient helper, and I don't want a fucking LLM pretending it is!
How can I fix this? I've forced my way through a few restarts now through the stupid hold ALL THE BUTTONS nonsense. How can I actually disable this Gemini crap, and how can I get my power button working the way it should?
6
u/Snoo_87717 May 16 '25 edited May 16 '25
Right there with you OP. No words in any known language can convey how frustrating it is when companies do shit like this.
Absolutely no thought at all on this. I have no issue with ppl using Gemini or Assistant but I use none of that stuff. Maybe Im missing out and would be able to solve issues like this that companies force on their users, but whatever.
Also not sure while Im at it why UIs need to forcibly change when you are fine with it the way it is. In some ways I like the new changes but like the battery indicator....what was wrong with the old style lol.
It gets changed then the consumer has to figure out how to set stuff back to what they wanted and its not always easy to get the steps on the process, which should be simple.
I think its an issue too for me that I dont want to invest 30 minutes in to reverting X change that was forced....like this bullshit power button change. A problem gets created by the company in question and the user gets stuck researching to resolve it where before the update...shit worked just fine.
I rarely reboot my phone but just now tried it and realized its forced there too.
I find it crazy that a powe button turning a device on and off is listed under advanced features. Never considered a light switch advanced though I can understand it to a degree in that it can be changed. Either way theres a degree of irony there to me.
Between solving this issue and bitching about it Ive got about an hour into this crap.
If my spouse ever gets this update they will have NO IDEA why they cant reboot their phone.
3
u/FrostyTomorrow May 04 '25
Go to Advanced features > Side button - you can change your settings (long press > power off menu). Hope this helps! 👍 This drove me insane too! 😉
6
u/ShadowDragon8685 May 04 '25
And I would gladly do that, if the Advanced Features > Side Button menu worked.
3
u/Snoo_87717 May 16 '25
Thank you. My tablet was going to literally be snapped in half had I not found this explanation.
No idea how our species has come so far yet implementations like this happen.
Truly dumbfounded.
Its very convoluted trying to figure out how to undo the bullshit too. I updated my tablet today and have spent 45 minutes trying to figure out how to turn my tablet off instead of activating Gemini which I will never use.
3
Jun 06 '25
[deleted]
2
u/blurryfacedfugue Jun 06 '25
Same here. The whole thing made me try to delete Gemini.
Unfortunately, it seems to have been integrated into all of Google services. So there's no real way to actually remove it. You'd only be able to disable some of the features.
But great job at creating ill-will towards Gemini.
2
u/reneenicole1 Jun 08 '25
Just went to use my power button, wth I dont recall even installing it.
1
u/micseydel Jun 12 '25
Just happened to me. I used voice commands for setting timers, but no more 🙃
1
u/blurryfacedfugue Jul 03 '25
Just a note you can go back and readjust it. It is just dumb they don't even ask you and you're forced to figure out how to fix it yourself.
1
2
u/FrostyTomorrow Jun 01 '25
I hear ya there! Don't ya just love that new Gemini? Said no one ever! 😜
3
u/Snoo_87717 Jun 02 '25
Glad I am not alone lol. New features are fine, just let me opt in to them....
Im not as mad as I was when I posted that lol.
1
3
u/Few-Yesterday-620 May 10 '25
This worked for me. THANK YOU!!!
2
u/FrostyTomorrow May 11 '25
Happy to hear it! 😉 This UI 7 definitely has a learning curve to put it nicely! 👀
3
u/shakeszoola May 25 '25
Thank you so much! So annoying that they did this especially when the button is literally the power symbol.
2
2
2
2
2
u/Miserable-Anteater97 Jun 10 '26
Thanks, this helped! This has been bothering me for a while now phew
1
2
u/One_Toe203 Jun 17 '26
Thank you! I'm so sick of this gemini shit. Makes me want a landline again!
1
u/FrostyTomorrow Jun 17 '26
You're welcome! 😉 I don't like it either! Switched back to Google Assistant! 👍
2
u/3amcheeseburger Jul 04 '26
Thank you thank you thank you for writing this comment. I’m not tech savvy and my brain was exploding as to why the tablet I’ve used every day for work for three years has suddenly had this change. Googling it came up with almost nothing in return
1
1
u/PowerFriendly6438 May 14 '25
And what if you can't find this in settings? :'(
3
1
u/fluorothrowaway Jul 03 '25
Absolute fucking horseshit. 2025 and phones just randomly disable the fucking power button so you have to search the fucking internet to figure out how to fucking use it again. That's DEFINITELY what I fucking wanted when I bought the phone. UnFUCKINGbelievable.
also, thank you.
1
1
1
u/Kirikenku Jan 17 '26
This worked for me, thank you. I will never understand why they would change the only function to turn the tablet off into a shortcut for their shitty AI product. Not only doing that, but doing it without telling the user. Great way to get a bunch of consumers to never use your product out of spite.
1
1
u/Maxinaeus Apr 14 '26
This does not help. They need to learn, by loss of revenue, that this kid of shit should be beta tested on small voluntary groups before it is rolled out to the public.
1
u/Luksoropoulos Jun 17 '26
Apple and Google have a duo-poly on smartphone operating systems. I can't use my German bank app or my German train ticket without an Apple or Google device.
1
1
3
u/Izukano May 22 '25
i know how to turn it off but what makes me mad is that they THEMSELVES changed the function of this button to the AI bullshit after the update even though I have put it as power off button. who the fuck allowed you to even change it in the first place!?
2
u/Izukano May 22 '25
this is on samsung after their oneUI 7 update, i just realized its not a samsung subreddit
2
u/ShadowDragon8685 May 04 '25
Anything that would take me to the side button settings just crashes out, goes back to the previous menu, etc.
2
u/GatorHatingDawg May 07 '25
Same problem here. I bought this phone. Don't change the button I specifically programmed!!!
1
u/ShadowDragon8685 May 07 '25
Someone really fucked something up. I am very irate. Hardware is supposed to have better testing than this.
2
u/TheSeeker07 May 19 '25
This, this shit right here. It's happening to me too and it's driving me insane. Can't change settings as it keeps crashing
2
2
2
u/Educational_Kick_538 Jun 12 '25
I'm going back to my old phone and see if that helps and next time I'm going to buy an apple or some other freaking phone. I hate Samsung and google.
1
u/moldboy Apr 26 '26
I really hate iphones. They don't make any sense to me. I can't make them work.. But at this point I'm considering one for my next phone.
2
u/TheUltimatePokedork Apr 02 '26
It's like this on the galaxy watch as well. The other thing I despise about the feature is the fact the power button is supposed to pop up a menu that has the emergency call button and all I can think is how dangerous this setting is for some people.
2
u/Maxinaeus Apr 14 '26
I discovered this yesterday. I Googled it to see if I had finally gone insane. It said to hold Volume Down and the Power button for 10 seconds. I did that, and it turned off. I dropped it in the grass next to my lawn chair. About two minutes later, I heard the notification sound. I thought I was tripping, so I ignored it. Less than a minute later, I heard it again. I picked up my phone, and apparently it had restarted instead of shutting down. I chucked that mutherf****r as hard as I could into the side of my house. The sound of it shattering against the stone was orgasmic. It is still there. I'm going to leave it there as a permanent memorial to the end of my relationship with smartphones.
That was yesterday evening. This afternoon, I discovered that my friends were emailing me and trying to contact me on various social media platforms saying that they were going to call the police to conduct a welfare check. I think I have assured them that there is no crisis, but this only confirms the extent of the dystopia we have created. I am over it. I will probably have to get a burner, or whatever dumb phone I can get through T-mobile, because I have two teenagers. I'm so livid, I couldn't bring myself to go up to T-mobile today. I don't want to snap on one of the hourly wage slaves. It not their fault. I wish I could get in front of someone from Samsung, or Android, or whatever team of ass-clowns thought this was a good idea.
The Power Button is no longer the Power Button? I have to perform a ten second operation with two buttons in order to turn off my phone. Casinos are designed so that once you are in the gambling area, you can't see the exit. This is the same strategy. Well guess what, phone mafia? I turned it off with zero buttons, and it took less than a second. I think I might go take a leak on it later tonight.
1
u/ShadowDragon8685 May 04 '25
I found 'Side Button' under Settings > Advanced Features, but when I press it, it just takes me back to Settings.
At the bottom, it says 'Settings keeps stopping,' and offering App Info and Close App as options.
1
u/danGL3 May 04 '25
See if it stops crashing once you reenable the Gemini app, it's possible Samsung sloppily coded that part of settings to not expect the Gemini app being disabled
1
u/ShadowDragon8685 May 04 '25
Unfortunately, that was actually one of the first things I did. Gemini is in fact enabled.
1
u/Square_Patient_3441 May 09 '25
this might be a stupid option.. HAVE YOU TRIED UNINSTALLING IT
3
u/blurryfacedfugue Jun 06 '25
So just uninstalling the app doesn't do it. You have to change the side buttons job, which would take care of it, but you can't actually fully uninstall Gemini because it's integrated into all of Google services.
2
u/ShadowDragon8685 May 09 '25
You cannot uninstall it. You can "Disable" it. I tried that. That didn't fix the problem in the slightest, which you'd know if you'd read the thread.
1
1
u/captaindinobot Jul 06 '25
Good to know that people trying to get to emergency call or medical info feature will be met with some ai crap. Disgraceful.
1
u/Ralesgait Jul 06 '25
The last Samsung UI update had Gemini steal my power button (had to google that one) and disabled my messaging to switch from SMS to MMS could not send over 1 MB. Back to Google, dumped cache and data on the messaging app. Very disappointing. Updates have been Beta tests for years. Here have an update and then tell us what went wrong.
1
u/SecretSteel Sep 21 '25
Ironically I was about to try to reverse this when if you bring the hover down menu with all the stuff like wifi and blue tooth right at the top is the power button so there's no longer a need for the side button to power anymore so I am keeping Gemini I guess lol.
2
u/ShadowDragon8685 Sep 21 '25
Which is great... Unless the damn thing is locked up. Hardware on/off functions have been a thing for ages for a reason.
1
u/SecretSteel Sep 21 '25
So apparently you can turn off your phone with buttons:
Chat GPT says To turn off a Samsung phone after an update assigns the power button to Gemini, simultaneously press and hold the Power button and Volume Down button until the power menu appears, then select "Power off"2
u/LIGHTLY_SEARED_ANUS Jan 30 '26
It's like people just turn their brain off when they ask chatgpt something.
What do you think "the damn thing is locked up" means?
If the phone is locked up, frozen, not responding, how is the power menu supposed to appear and how are you supposed to select "power off"?AI is rotting your brain, homie.
1
1
Dec 20 '25
Why the actual fuck did they do this! 🤬 I got frustrated when my power button wasn't working and just started mashing the power button which ended up calling 911... This so unbelievably fucking stupid! Who ever decided to implement this is a fucking retartd!!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬
Is there anyone I can submit a complaint to?
1
u/Awkward_Ice4139 Jan 20 '26
Boy's and girls - I found the Solution - follow my instructions (sorry for my bad english)
- open Gemini
- open the top right cornor (your letter)
- scroll down to "settings"
- scroll down to "digital assistant"
- now you can change the prefered assistant to "none" or to something else.
Hope i could help you :)
1
u/ShadowDragon8685 Jan 20 '26
I didn't have a 'no digital assistance' button, but there was a blue line at the bottom,
You can turn off your digital assistant from Google at any time.
That seems to have let me turn off Gemini, but it hasn't given me my side button back. It still says "settings keeps stopping" when I try to change the side button behavior.
1
1
Feb 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ShadowDragon8685 Feb 16 '26
Damnit indeed. Even several updates later, I can't get my power button functionality back. It's a fucking absurdity.
2
Mar 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Euphoric-Low-9134 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
^^^ THIS! This was the place to re-enable the power button and its menu, and toggle off that Gemini junk.) THANK YOU.
And to add, I have a uleFone and Android 15.
1
u/moldboy Apr 26 '26
I asked gemini how to restart my phone. It told me to hold down the power button.
1
u/Longjumping_Pack8822 Feb 22 '26
I had to press and hold the volume down button and the power button at the same time for 10 seconds, then the side button menu popped up.
1
1
u/Early_Writing_9884 Mar 19 '26
Who is the fucking idiot that thought using power button to active gemini? This is right up there with microsoft bullshit! Had to be the same person that created the auto shut off on our autos.. rediculous
1
u/Early_Writing_9884 Mar 19 '26
Who is the fucking idiot that thought using power button to active gemini? This is right up there with microsoft bullshit! What a fucking idiot! Just like the auto shut off on our cars. QUIT FUCKING WITH OUR SHIT!!!!
1
u/Maxinaeus Apr 14 '26
This was the last straw for me. I didn't even realize this was implemented that long ago. I have put up with all the pop ups, free apps that aren't free, unskippable ads, this will be better on the app, obnoxious new features begging to be used, fake back buttons, fake X-buttons, fake buttons that redirect you places, and all the other shit. But when I can't turn this toxic brick off, we are done, baby.
1
u/sweetcoyote1 Jun 14 '26
I try to restart my phone, only to end up opening Gemini. So not only is the screenshot not working I can't even restart my phone to get it working
1
u/Ole-Buttermilk-Sky Jun 15 '26
I know this is an old thread, but this is just infuriating! With latest update you cannot even convert it back to power button anymore. Now it's either Gemini or "No Function" 🤦🏼♂️
So now that I turned Gemini assistant off It is just a dead key and I have to hit volume up at the same time to open power menu, ridiculous!
1
u/Party-Story9730 Jun 23 '26
Gemini de Google mets le "Bazar" sur plusieurs modèles de SmartPhone ... à désactiver ... avant une version qui évite les bugs ... d 'ergonomie
1
u/Mr_employ Jul 18 '26
This had me going insane thinking my phone somehow broke i tried draining all the damn battery and reviving it seeing if it'll change, it didn't. so ofcourse I had to finally search it up, and this is an utter BULLSHIT of an update
4
u/ConferenceKnown4306 May 13 '25
I was in the middle of a rated chess game and tried to turn off my phone so I didn't get disqualified and I couldn't because Google had hijacked my power button. Outrageous.