How to Stop Apps From Opening on Startup on Mac: Login Items and Background Items

To stop apps from opening on startup on Mac, open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions (called Login Items on macOS Ventura and Sonoma), select the app under Open at Login and click the minus button. Then switch off its background item, turn off the app's own launch at login setting, and untick Reopen windows when logging back in at shutdown.

Those four steps match the four ways a Mac starts apps at login. This guide covers each one with the menu names for every recent macOS version, then shows where the launch agents behind background helpers live.

Why apps and startup items open by themselves when you log in

Mac startup apps come from four separate places. Removing an app from one does nothing about the other three, which is why an app can seem to come back.

1. Open at Login items: apps, documents or folders that open each time you log in, added by you or by the app during setup.
2. Background items: launch agents, launch daemons and helper apps an app registers so it can work while closed, such as checking for updates or syncing data.
3. The app's own launch at login setting: a switch in the app that adds it back to Open at Login every time it runs.
4. Reopened windows: if Reopen windows when logging back in was ticked at shutdown, macOS reopens every app that was running.

Apple's article on apps that reopen at login adds a hint. If an app is not a login item but still opens when you log in, it may have installed other software that causes this, which is usually a background item.

How to stop apps from opening on startup on Mac: remove them from Open at Login

Start here, because this list holds the apps you see open after you log in. You need to be an administrator of the Mac to change it.

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click General in the sidebar.
2. Click Login Items & Extensions. You may need to scroll down.
3. Under Open at Login, select the app you want to stop.
4. Click the minus button below the list.

If you see a warning icon next to an item, Apple says it will not open anyway because it was moved or deleted, so it is safe to remove. The pane has changed names over the years, so match your version below (check it in Apple menu > About This Mac).

Apple keeps the full steps in its guides to opening items automatically when you log in and changing Login Items & Extensions settings.

If the app is not in Open at Login

This is where most people searching how to remove login items on Mac get stuck. If the app is not in the list but still starts, it is using one of the other three routes, so work through the next sections in order.

Turn off background items (Allow in the Background or App Background Activity)

Background items sit in the same pane, below Open at Login. The section is called Allow in the Background on Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia, and App Background Activity on Tahoe 26 and macOS 27.

1. Open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions (or Login Items).
2. Scroll to the background section.
3. Switch off the app's toggle, entering your password if asked.
4. Restart to confirm the helper no longer starts.

A toggle is sometimes labelled with the developer's name rather than the app's. To see what an entry actually launches, Apple's guide to managing login items and background tasks says to click the Information button next to it.

Think about what an item does before you switch it off. A cloud sync or backup helper keeps your files in sync while the app is closed, so turning it off pauses that work. For security software, the background item can be what keeps protection running.

Turn off the app's own launch at login setting

If an app returns to Open at Login after you remove it, its own setting is still on. Look in the app's Settings (or Preferences) for an option like Open at login, Launch at login or Start at login, and switch it off.

Steam is a good example: choose Steam > Settings, open Interface, and switch off "Run Steam when my computer starts". The Steam removal guide also covers its launch agent. Other apps word the option differently, so check the vendor's help pages if you cannot find it.

Use the Dock's Options menu

For an app in the Dock, Control-click (or right-click) its icon, choose Options, and untick Open at Login if it is ticked. This changes the same entry you saw in System Settings.

Stop macOS reopening the apps that were open at shutdown

Sometimes nothing is set to start at all. When you shut down, restart or log out, the confirmation dialog has a Reopen windows when logging back in checkbox, and if it is ticked, macOS reopens every app that was running.

1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down, Restart or Log Out.
2. Untick Reopen windows when logging back in.
3. Confirm.

Apple notes one catch. If your Mac was forced to restart, or you held Option to skip the dialog, it reuses your last choice, so untick the box once in the normal dialog and it sticks.

A separate setting stops apps restoring their own windows when they open. On macOS Ventura and later, go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock and turn on Close windows when quitting an application.

Skip startup items just once with the Shift key

To test whether a login item is the cause, skip them all for one login. At the login window, hold Shift while you click Log In and let go when the Dock appears. With no login window, restart and hold Shift from the progress bar until the desktop shows.

Starting up in safe mode also stops login items from loading, which helps when you are not sure whether an app is behind a problem.

Find the launch agents and daemons behind background items

If a helper still starts after all of the above, or after you deleted its app, look for its launch agent. These are small .plist files that tell macOS what to run. Apple's Terminal guide to launchd lists the folders.

• ~/Library/LaunchAgents: third-party agents for your account only.
• /Library/LaunchAgents: third-party agents for all users.
• /Library/LaunchDaemons: third-party system daemons.
• /System/Library/LaunchAgents and /System/Library/LaunchDaemons: Apple's own. Never change anything there.

1. Back up your Mac first, for example with Time Machine.
2. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, paste one of the three third-party paths, and press Return.
3. Read the file names. Most use the developer's reversed web address, such as com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist for Steam.
4. To confirm the owner, select a file and press Space for Quick Look, or run plutil -p on it in Terminal and read the Program or ProgramArguments line.
5. Only if the file clearly belongs to an app you already removed, drag it to the Trash. The /Library folders ask for an administrator password.
6. Restart the Mac.

If you are not sure what a file does, leave it and switch off its background toggle instead. That stops it without deleting anything.

See every login and background item at once (optional, Terminal)

Apple's deployment guide documents sfltool dumpbtm, which prints the status of all login and background items. It only reads, so it changes nothing. Do not run sfltool resetbtm, which resets the item data for every app.

When a startup item belongs to an app you already deleted

A background item or launch agent that outlives its app is a leftover. Dragging an app to the Trash removes the app bundle but not the helpers it registered.

The fix is to remove the rest of the app. These guides cover each app's helpers: Creative Cloud, Google Drive, Grammarly, Malwarebytes and GlobalProtect. Adobe warns that switching off Creative Cloud's background items on a working install stops updates, file sync and Adobe Fonts.

If a helper is running now and will not quit, see how to force quit an app on Mac before you remove its files.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do apps keep opening on my Mac when I turn it on?

An Open at Login item, a background item, the app's own setting or the Reopen windows checkbox is starting them. Check them in that order.

How do I stop apps from opening on startup on macOS Tahoe?

Open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, remove the app from Open at Login, then switch it off under App Background Activity. The LaunchAgents folders cover anything left.

How do I disable Steam's automatic start on my Mac?

Choose Steam > Settings, open Interface and switch off "Run Steam when my computer starts". Then make sure Steam is not in Open at Login.

How do I stop Discord from opening on startup on Mac?

Turn off the startup option in Discord's own settings so it does not add itself back. Then remove Discord from Open at Login and switch off its background toggle if it has one.

How do I stop Messages from opening on startup on Mac?

Messages is an Apple app and does not add itself as a login item. If it opens at login, the usual cause is Reopen windows when logging back in, so untick it at shutdown.

Removing other apps from this Mac

If the app behind a startup item is one you no longer use, removing it fully is the cleanest fix. The guides for Spotify, Dropbox and Ollama show what each leaves behind and how to remove it by hand.

If your app is not covered yet, email hello@uninstallonmac.com with the app's name and version and your macOS version, or use the contact page.