In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to manage login items on macOS.
If there are certain apps or files that you always want open, you can configure them to open automatically when logging into your Mac. To do this, go to System Settings > General > Login items & Extensions, click Add, and select the item in the open dialog. To delete a login item, select it in the table and click Remove. Alternatively, items in the Dock can be added as login items by selecting them and choosing "open at login" from the "options" submenu in the item's context menu (accessed by pressing VO-Shift-M); uncheck this option to remove it.
In addition to login items, Login items & Extensions Settings allows you to manage background items, processes that run even if the app is not open in order to complete certain tasks or respond to changing conditions, such as checking for and installing updates. If there are certain apps you don't want to be able to run background processes, for example, if they're utilizing a disproportionate amount of system resources, you can toggle them off under the "App background activity" heading; however, keep in mind that disabling an app's background processes may cause the app to not work as expected, so you may wish to perform additional research before doing so to determine those processes’ functions. If, after uninstalling an app, its background items still appear in this list, you may need to manually delete the files that the app deposited, which can typically be found in the "Launch Agents" folders, one of which is in your user Library folder (~/library) and the other in the Library folder at the root of your startup disk (/library), as well as the "Launch Daemons" folder in the Library folder at the root of your startup disk.
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.
Tyler: Hey AppleVissers, Tyler here with a quick tip for how to manage login items on macOS. Login items, as the name suggests, are items like apps or files that open automatically when logging into your Mac. This may be useful if you, for example, have apps that you use constantly or always want open. So even if you restarted your Mac, those apps would be open and ready for you to use. While this feature may be convenient, the more items you have configured to open automatically might slow the boot process or login process. In addition, some apps insert themselves as login items or background items, which I'll explain later. And depending on your preference and use case, you may not want certain apps opening every time you log in. So in this tutorial, I'll demonstrate how to manage this. To do that, you'd go into System Settings, General, Login Items and Extensions. I'll demonstrate that now on my Mac.
VoiceOver: Menu bar, Apple app system settings, ellipsis, Dropbox, alias, system, window, sidebar, table. Row 10 of 37, general, selected.
Tyler: Okay. VLGlobe right for the scroll area. Scroll area. Interact.
VoiceOver: In scroll area. 16 items general.
Tyler: And since this is located near the bottom, I'll VLGlobe right.
VoiceOver: Transfer or reset button. VL left. Device, time machine, startup disk, sharing button, login items and extensions button. Login items and extensions.
Tyler: Okay.
VoiceOver: Login items and extensions.
Tyler: Here we are, VO Globe right to the scroll area.
VoiceOver: Login items and extensions, scroll area.
Tyler: Interact.
VoiceOver: Login items and extensions, scroll area. 60 items heading open at login. These items will open automatically when you log in. Table.
Tyler: So if I VO right to the table, then arrow through. Dropbox application. We have one item, Dropbox, because that is the one thing I have configured to open automatically. If I VO right. Add button. You can add an item, and I'm going to hit that now. And here we are in a standard Mac OS open dialog. And to make sure it's pointing to the applications folder, because I'm adding an app, I'll V-O left. Okay, applications. If it's pointing somewhere else for you and you want to add an app in the applications folder, just press Command-Shift-A. But I'm going to go back to the table. And I want to add Slack, so I'll just press the letters S and L. Press return. And now, if I VL left, we have Dropbox and Slack.
VoiceOver: VL right. App background activity.
Tyler: If I VL right again, there's a brief explanation. Yep, so some apps handle updates and other such tasks using background items. If you install an app or open one for the first time, you might get a notification that says something like background items added. This is where you'd manage that. So if I've got it right.
VoiceOver: Dropbox incorporated. Dropbox incorporated on Switch.
Tyler: Okay, Dropbox, that's on for me. Just press VS Space to turn it off. However, keep in mind that if you disable background items for an app, it may not work as expected. So for example, if background processes check for updates and those are disabled, the app might not update itself. If you're right. One item. One item. That's just saying that Dropbox has one child process. If you're right.
VoiceOver: Passwords. Passwords on Switch. One item. Podcast. Podcast on Switch. One item. Weather. Weather off Switch. One item. Zoom.us. Zoom.us on Switch. Three items. One item affects all users.
Tyler: Okay. When it says one item affects all users, that means even if Zoom wasn't configured as a login item, the background process would still start if another user logged in to this Mac. If I'm right? Adding extensions. Extensions. And extensions go a little beyond the scope of this tutorial. It's basically a way for apps to integrate with system functions. So that's pretty much the extent of login item settings. So I'm going to close out. Here we are back on the desktop. Now, say I wanted to add another item. I could, of course, go back into login item settings and add it. Or, there's another trick for items in the Dock. So say I wanted to add Zoom. I'd find it in the Dock, press V-O-Shift-M for the context menu, and choose Open at Login from the Options submenu. I'll demonstrate that now. Press Z for Zoom. V-O-Shift-M.
VoiceOver: Options. Open at Login.
Tyler: And now I've selected that, so Slack and Zoom are now configured to open automatically when I restart or log into my Mac. To demonstrate that, I'm going to restart now.
VoiceOver: Voice-O, enter password. Welcome to Mac OS. VoiceOver is on. Installer progress is not responding. Slack. Connecting. Zoom. Okay.
Tyler: So you heard some activity there. If I command tab. Zoom.us. Slack. Finder. Finder. Okay.
VoiceOver: Please check your network and try again.
Tyler: Okay. That's Zoom talking. But I want to quit Zoom. So I'll go to. Well, I want to quit that too.
VoiceOver: Close window. Quit Slack. Finder. Zoom.us. Zoom.us. Log in.
Tyler: And here we are back on the desktop. So because those were configured as log items, they opened automatically. Now, if I want to remove login items, I could go into System Settings, Login Items and Extensions, and remove them from the table, or I could simply select them in the dock and uncheck Open at Login from the Options submenu in the Contacts menu. So I'll press VOD, and then Z for Zoom, VOShift-M, and for some reason VoiceOver isn't reporting the state of the setting, but I'll hit the escape key. Try again. If you shift down. Okay, so open at login is checked. If I want to uncheck that, just press return. And I don't want Slack to open automatically either, so I'll find that in the dock.
VoiceOver: If you have Shift N, Options, Submenu, Options, Checkmark, Open and Login, Finder.
Tyler: And to verify that these are no longer configured as login items, I'll go into System Settings.
VoiceOver: Menu, System Settings, Ellipsis, Dropbox, Alias, System, Window, Sidebar, Table, Scroll Area, In Scroll Area, 16 Items General, Transfer, Divide Time Machine, Startup, Sharing, Login Items and Extensions, Button, Login Items and Extensions, Window, Toolbar, Login Items and Extensions will open automatically when you log in. Table, Dropbox, Application,
Tyler: Okay, so now the only item in the table is Dropbox. If you want to remove background items, so for example, after uninstalling an app, sometimes you could be looking through your list of background items and find that even if an app is toggled off, it may still appear in this list. That is because apps leave behind little files like for to us agents and daemons, assuming I'm pronouncing those words correctly. They are in your library folders and the location of these agents and daemons dictate their functions so in your user library folder which i'll demonstrate in i'll close out of this go into finder finder and i'm just going to go to folder with command shift g go to folder half slash lab and go tilde which is shift accent half a r y library Launch agents. So launch agents in your user library folder refer to background items that open automatically when you log into your Mac with your user account. Now there are other launch agents folders. So for example, in the system library, the library folder at the root of the startup desk, which I'll demonstrate. So I'm just going to hit slash library because it's the root.
VoiceOver: Half F-I-P-R-A-R-Y library. Launch agents folder.
Tyler: We have launch agents. Now launch agents here will open regardless of what user account logs in. So it's system rather than user specific. Go down. Launch daemons folder. Launch daemons. Those open even before login. So even before an account is logged into, daemon will run. which, whether things open before or after a login technically occurs, may be entirely transparent to the user, especially if FileVault is on or things are encrypted, so you have to enter a password to unlock the disk anyway. But either way, if you didn't want to see things like that in your list of background items, those would be places to look. In the two launch agents folders, one in your user library folder one at the library folder at the root of your startup disk as well as the launch daemons folder at the root of your startup disk there are launch agents and launch daemons folders in the library folder in your system folder but i don't believe third-party apps can interact with those and i don't think users can interact with those either by default unless you turn sip your system integrity protection off which I don't recommend unless you have a very specific reason to do so. But either way, that's a quick tip for how to manage login items on macOS. It can be helpful because, as I said earlier, some apps will insert themselves as login items or push you to have them open automatically so they're always in front of you, whether you like them or not. And also some users might find the somewhat cryptic background items added notifications annoying. So this is how you'd manage it. I hope you found it helpful. Peace.