How to Stop iTunes From Opening Automatically.
If you don’t like that iTunes opens every time you plug your device into your computer, you can learn how to stop iTunes from opening automatically on your computer. In fact, your favorite music manager may appear multiple times.
Connecting an iOS device to a computer, having an app on the startup list, and accessing one of the app’s compatible media formats are some of the factors that get iTunes running on a Windows PC or Mac.
Fortunately, all of these triggers can be disabled to prevent iTunes from opening automatically on your computers.
Stop iTunes automatically opening when device is connected
If you use your iOS devices, such as iPhone or iPad, with iTunes on your computer, the app starts automatically when those devices are connected to your computer. This helps keep your device in sync with your computer.
You can turn off the sync feature and this will stop iTunes from automatically opening on your Windows computer.
- Open iTunes on your computer.
- If you are online. Windows, click the Edit menu at the top and select Preferences to open the Settings menu. If you have a Mac, click on the iTunes menu at the top and choose Preferences.
- On the next screen, click the tab labeled “Devices” at the top. This will allow you to manage your device’s iTunes settings.
- On the next screen, there is an option that says iPod, iPhone and iPad will not sync automatically. You need to enable this option and click OK to save the changes.
From now on, iTunes will not automatically launch on your computer because you have disabled auto-sync for your devices. However, you can still manually sync your devices.
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Stop iTunes automatically opening on Windows
When you install iTunes on a Windows computer, it actually installs a small utility in addition to the main application. This utility runs in the background all the time, and when it thinks the application should open, it launches iTunes on your computer.
You can disable the utility in the background, and then iTunes will not know when to start. And as a result, it won’t start.
- Right-click on the taskbar of your computer and select the Task Manager option.
- When it opens, find and click the Startup tab to view the startup utilities.
- Find a utility named iTunes Helper in the list, right-click it and choose Disable.
It will remain disabled until you manually open Task Manager and re-enable it.
Use noTunes to stop iTunes from opening automatically on Mac
For those of you looking to prevent iTunes from opening automatically on Mac, there is an easier way available. There is actually an application that will help you disable the iTunes auto-launch feature on your Apple computer.
It is called noTunes and is a free and open source application that allows you to turn iTunes auto-launch on and off with one click. It’s on the menu bar and doesn’t require any configuration at all.
- Download the noTunes app and save it to your Mac.
- Unpack the archive and run the application file.
- The application will go straight to the menu bar. Click on it and it will be activated.
- iTunes no longer automatically launches on Mac. To disable this feature, click the application icon again.
- Make sure the application starts every time the Mac boots. To do this, right-click on the application icon in the menu bar and select “Run on Startup”.
Prevent iTunes from auto-playing your music files
Since iTunes is not only a backup manager for iOS devices, but also a media manager, it is often set as the default media player for various music files. ITunes starts automatically when you open any of these files.
You can turn off this behavior by removing iTunes from the default media apps list on your computer.
For Windows users:
- Right-click any of the files that start iTunes. to start, select “Open with” and select “Choose another application”.
- Select any application other than iTunes from the list of applications on the screen, select the Always use this application to open .ext files check box, and click OK.
For Mac users:
- Right-click the file type that iTunes opens and select the Get Info option.
- Select a new application from the Open With drop-down menu and click Change All.
The newly selected application will now launch whenever you click on your files, and thus you stopped iTunes from automatically launching.
Disable iTunes from automatically starting when your Mac starts up
If iTunes is in the list of startup applications on your Mac, it will launch automatically every time your Mac boots. You can remove an app from the list and it will stop it from opening automatically.
- Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner and select “System Preferences.”
- Click Users and Groups on the next screen.
- Select your account in the left sidebar and then click Login Items in the right pane.
- In the list of login items, you will find the iTunesHelper application. Select it from the list and click on the – (minus) sign at the bottom.
The application should be removed from the list.
Turn off bluetooth to prevent your speakers from playing iTunes
While Bluetooth is not directly related to iTunes, it sometimes launches an app when a specific Bluetooth-enabled device is connected to your computer.
Leaving the service disabled while you’re not using it ensures that iTunes doesn’t open automatically on your computer.
For Windows users:
- Click the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar and select Open Settings.
- Slide the Bluetooth switch to the off position.
For Mac users:
- Click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar at the top and select Turn Bluetooth Off.
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