Sometimes we may want certain apps to launch automatically at startup, or don’t like a program to start itself at system startup. In this quick guide, we will share with Mac users several ways to manage app autorun. You can choose to enable app autorun or prevent apps from opening without your permission on Mac.
Allow or disallow apps to launch automatically from the dock
Run the app from the Launchpad if it is not already in your Dock. Skip this step if the app is already in the Dock. Right-click or use the secondary click(tap with two fingers), you will get a pop-up menu, choose Options > Open at Login. From now on, the app will launch automatically with your Mac system startup.
If you don’t want the auto-run of an app, right-click or press with two fingers on the app in the Dock to open the contextual menu, go to Options and disable the Open at Login option. Since then, the app won’t open itself automatically when you start your Mac computer.
Set login items from System Preferences on Mac
On Windows PC, those apps opening at system startup are called startup programs. On Mac, they are known as Login Items.
Click the Apple icon from the top menu bar, choose System Preferences from the drop-down menu. Then select Users & Groups and then switch to the Login Items tab.
The list of enabled apps will appear in the center pane. Click the Lock icon at the bottom left corner, enter your Mac password before you can make changes. Click Plus(+) from the bottom of the page to select new apps to add to this list.
To stop apps opening on startup on Mac, highlight an app in the Login Items list, click the Minus button to prevent an app from opening automatically at startup on Mac.
Hide Login Items at startup on Mac
If you want an app to launch at startup, but not to pop-up on the screen. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items, tick the Hide box next to the app you want to hide or run in the background.