19 ms·

NoTunes is a macOS application that will prevent Apple Music from launching

325 points by faebi 2y ago

zimpenfish 2y ago
Ah, helpful. I've had to stop using my Bluetooth headphones with the laptop because you can't stop Music from launching. Infuriating that macOS doesn't have a toggle for that behaviour (but I can understand why.)
- jwalton 2y ago
  I'm sorry, I feel like I'm missing something here. I have an M1 Macbook Pro running Sonoma 14.1.1 (I need to update...), I have a nice pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones. I turn my headphones on and off multiple times a day, they connect to my Mac, Apple Music doesn't launch. What are you all complaining about? Edit: Just tried connecting my 3M Worktunes, and they didn't launch anything either.
  - TillE 2y ago
    Yeah I can't reproduce this with my AirPods Pro either. Simply connecting does nothing. I would assume something is causing a stray input as if you'd pressed the button on your headphones, which can launch Music.
    - macintux 2y ago
      I've definitely seen it launch as I put my AirPods Pro into their case (but not consistently), so maybe it is something with the pressure-sensitive stalks. Thanks, I hadn't considered that possibility.
  - kayodelycaon 2y ago
    There are some Bluetooth audio devices that send the play command when connected. I had a car that did this. It was absolutely infuriating.
  - sbuk 2y ago
    I’m beginning to think the same. Can’t reproduce with Apple (including Beats) or Sony. Would be interesting to know which headphones do exhibit this behaviour. This seems to me to be a headphone manufacturer SNAFU.
projektfu 2y ago
What does Apple gain by leaving off the setting to choose whether or not to open Apple Music? Surely their pro audio users don't want it popping up just because they connected headphones.
- zimpenfish 2y ago
  Probably umpteen thousands of customer support queries about why Music now isn't starting when they connect their headphones after someone toggled it and forgot (or someone else toggled it and didn't tell them or an MDM profile toggled it or...)
  - throwuxiytayq 2y ago
    Jesus, that's such a feeble, dull, uninspired way to make product decisions. I'm squirming from second-hand embarrassment just thinking that some developer has to live this nightmare.
    - zimpenfish 2y ago
      > Jesus, that's such a feeble, dull, uninspired way to make product decisions. At Apple scale, though, it's probably necessary.
  - projektfu 2y ago
    A quick review shows that Apple doesn't mind lots of questions if they don't bother answering them. How to keep a Mac Mini from going to deep sleep so it can be used as a little server? Answer: install Linux.
    - jeffhuys 2y ago
      Or one of the dozen “prevent deep sleep” apps…
    - RunSet 2y ago
      To keep a McBook from falling asleep when you close the lid, you need to buy and use a dummy HDMI connector that makes it believe it is connected to an external display.
nottorp 2y ago
Now I need one to prevent automatic clipboard sharing via handoff without turning off handoff completely. Believe it or not Apple, some people use multiple machines for different purposes and automatically passing my clipboard between them is an annoyance at best. I'm happy with it just being shared while I explicitly remote from one machine to another.
- gregoriol 2y ago
  Oh yes! That would be awesome! I often happen to erase something I copied on one device by copying something on another one... would be much better to have an AirDrop like feature where you can send a text to another device instead of automatic
  - boxed 2y ago
    The fact that macOS doesn't have a built in history for the clipboard is the problem there imo. I use pasteBot and I think macOS is broken without it (which of course means iOS is broken and cannot be fixed by a third party).
    - nottorp 2y ago
      I use JumpCut. I still don't want my stuff on one machine erased via the other unless i specifically connect them via vnc.
    - jeffhuys 2y ago
      It can. In the EU. AltStore -> Clip. No jailbreak, clipboard manager.
      - boxed 2y ago
        The blog post about it seems to imply you have to do an extra swipe down to put it in the clipboard manager for every copy...
- manmal 2y ago
pcdoodle 2y ago
I just found out I can't remove the Music app from my own computer (Mac)...
- sneak 2y ago
  You can disable all boot security and system integrity protection on a Mac and edit the filesystem however you would like.
- jeffhuys 2y ago
  You tried nothing and all out of ideas?
anArbitraryOne 2y ago
Yeah wow what a great operating system that needs a whole other program to keep a particular one from launching. I'm totally going to recommend MacOS to my mother, aunt, uncle, cousin, cybernetic dog and everyone else for the great user experience of being forced to do what apple HQ wants
- manmal 2y ago
  Will you be recommending Linux instead? Or Win 11, with ads galore? My question is only half joking, I‘m not aware of a good low maintenance alternative.
  - trustno2 2y ago
    It's GNU/Linux. And Copilot/Windows.
  - michaljanocko 2y ago
    I installed XFCE desktop on Manjaro (I believe) on my grandma's computer that I bought second-hand a couple years ago for about $60 (i5 6th gen, 8 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD). There have been zero issues. Windows was a nightmare because it was constantly breaking or needing an update and Macs would be wasted money in this case. The usage is pretty light: downloading and sharing photos from a camera, YouTube, email, news, some light spreadsheet accounting, and that's about it. Neither of my grandparents are tech-savvy (my grandpa still uses a feature) and yet they both learned all, that they need, in the afternoon I installed the computer. Zero regrets going for XFCE (or anything that can be stripped down just to the features they need) and buying a cheap computer. Going Windows → Manjaro/XFCE reduced tech support calls to me from 1–2× a month to once per year.
    - CoastalCoder 2y ago
      Similar experience for me with my mom. I set her up with a desktop machine running Pop_OS! with automatic updates. I did some minor hackery to get Windows' FreeCell working on it because she cares a lot about that. I installed tailscale for remote support, but haven't had cause to use it. In general it's working fantastically. The only issue is that the USB WiFi adapter drops out rather frequently. So my one hardware concession will be to replace it with one known to be more reliable under Linux. [0] [0] I know sometimes this can be fixed by choosing a more appropriate driver and/or Bluetooth device settings, but it's not something on which I want to spend a lot of time or headspace.
Brajeshwar 2y ago
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist Does this not solve for all activities, such as from pressing the right buttons by mistake?
- __alias 2y ago
  unfortunately this disables the media keys completely -- the point of the linked software is it still allows it for media players intended -- such as spotify; and blocks the apple media player from hihacking
  - nicce 2y ago
    I have just remapped everything with Hammerspoon. You shouldn’t need to do this but it works…
    - semi-extrinsic 2y ago
      Can you remap the entire keyboard so it's actually an ISO layout? I've been using Ukelele for this, but it's not optimal so I'm going to switch. Was considering Karabiner Elements, but i like Lua so maybe Hammerspoon is better?
      - nicce 2y ago
        It should be possible, but it will take some lines. Maybe helpful: https://github.com/hetima/hammerspoon-foundation_remapping/tree/master https://github.com/hetima/hammerspoon-foundation_remapping/t... https://github.com/RobotCharlie/key-remapping-hammerspoon/blob/main/init.lua https://github.com/RobotCharlie/key-remapping-hammerspoon/bl... https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon/discussions/3246 https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon/discussions/3246 About macOS in general if you use hidutil https://hidutil-generator.netlify.app/ https://hidutil-generator.netlify.app/ https://rakhesh.com/mac/using-hidutil-to-map-macos-keyboard-keys/ https://rakhesh.com/mac/using-hidutil-to-map-macos-keyboard-...
9dev 2y ago
Finally! This is so annoying for Spotify users. Every time the system starts up, and Spotify is configured to start at startup, but you haven't interacted with the window yet, then press the physical play button on the keyboard—instead of starting playback as you'd expect, the system starts Apple Music. It drives me mad.
- sneak 2y ago
  The launch of Apple music also sends your system serial number to Apple, so technically Macs all have a single hotkey to share their hardware identifier and IP with the mothership.
  - mvkel 2y ago
    Technically Apple sent their serial number to you. Either way you can prevent this by selecting "Don't Send" when you first set up your Mac
    - sneak 2y ago
      This is false. No matter what you do configuration-wise, macOS sends hardware identifiers to Apple, on each OS update (the ECID and others to the TSS server gs.apple.com), as well as when it registers for APNS. The obtained hardware-identifier-linked certs are then used continuously to access APNS. There is no avoiding it in the first instance (the OS update process), as it is required for updates if you have boot security enabled, and there is no UI to disable APNS.
      - jeffhuys 2y ago
        You were talking about the hotkey.
        freedomben 2y ago
        Good call. I agree generally with GP, but they definitely did shift the goal posts :-)
sneak 2y ago
If you download the free Apple Configurator 2 app, you can create a provisioning profile that disables Apple Music, too. It takes only a moment to install it on the local system, no MDM required.
knallfrosch 2y ago
I remember my Macbook 2019 Pro for its bad hardware: horrendous touchbar and terrible ports (no HDMI, no magnetic charging, no USB-A..) But the software wasn't polished either: You can't use it in closed ("clamshell") mode, because it shuts down and you can't configure it. You need a 3rd party software to keep it on. But you also can't keep it closed because then you can't reach the fingerprint sensor. You see: iPhones can't use fingerprint recognition because they don't have fingerprint sensors, iPhones use facial recognition. But Macs do have fingerprint sensors, but can not use facial recognition (for example using an IR camera like Windows Hello) It's amazing how MacOS lacks features that everyone knows Windows has supported since XP days. ("When you close the lid > Power down / Keep running")
- macintux 2y ago
  Lest anyone be misled: I assume the comment means that you can’t leave it in clamshell mode without an external monitor. I almost never open mine. There are three alternatives for the fingerprint sensor issue: - Apple Watch can replace most uses for it - One of Apple’s external keyboards has a fingerprint sensor - You can always just use your password
  - knallfrosch 2y ago
    - I don't own the $700 Apple smartwach, since I had an Android phone at the time and it has terrible Android integration - I already owned a mechanical keyboard and was unwilling to downgrade to Apple. - I don't want to use my password (?), since passwordless is kind of the whole point of biometrics. I forgot to mention that macOS didn't recognize the keyboard layout of my USB keyboard, something that Windows has done for the last 15 years automatically. The proposed solution was, I think, editing a text file.
  - bzzzt 2y ago
    > One of Apple’s external keyboards has a fingerprint sensor Which only works on the M1 and higher models, not the 2019 Intel MacBooks.
    - 2y ago
pawelduda 2y ago
Oh yes, one of my favourites
PaulHoule 2y ago
Reminds me of the last six months before I switched from JPEG to WebP on my web sites. I still had a 2013 Mac Mini that didn’t support WebP in Safari because Apple hadn’t built WebP into the system libraries and they chose not to support my machine. That was enough reason for me to not make the switch (any economic benefit is diminished if you have to keep two copies of each image.) I felt so infantilized because something that is just a userspace thing is locked to the OS. To their credit, Apple did eventually enable WebP for those mac’s but I hate being dependent like that and having to develop software for people who are likewise dependent.
tootie 2y ago
Been using this for years. It is great.
- sangupta 2y ago
  I discovered noTunes a few months back and it is one of the best installs of all time. It also goes to show how product/developer thinking not always aligns with how users want to use the product. And then, I start thinking why would a developer build such an annoying thing... unless marketing forced them to.
devilkin 2y ago
Every time I switch off my bluetooth Plantronics headset Apple music starts. Why? Because Apple. Another clear sign Apple doesn't really care about it's users, it really cares about the bottom line, and getting people to sign up for their services.
- danhau 2y ago
  To be fair, this could be the headset. Neither iOS nor macOS does this with my bluetooth headset. macOS IO is broken in other ways for me though. It doesn‘t wake up my external monitor after waking from sleep (lid closed, powered, external keyboard).
  - koromak 2y ago
    I have my lid open with my externals, I never seen my monitor alone fail to wake, but sometimes all displays refuse to turn on, even the laptop built in. Doesn't happen every time, but maybe 1/10 tries
can16358p 2y ago
The need for such an app is beyond stupid on Apple's side, and I'm saying this as an Apple Music user. I am an Apple Music user and I have Sennheiser headset that connects both to my iPhone and Mac. Great, no problem up to here. However, when I, say, browse Instagram on my phone, after closing it on my phone, Apple Music opens and starts playing. Every. Single. Time. I don't want a software that prevents Apple Music launch, I don't want to delete Apple Music (even if it was possible) as I sometimes DO use Apple Music on my Mac, I just don't want to to open and start playing the topmost song in my library on my Mac every single time after any inline media on Instagram stops playing on my iPhone. This bug has been present for many macOS and iOS versions for many years, and Apple does nothing about it. After reading it again, I think "beyond stupid" is an understatement. Unbelievable.
db3pt0 2y ago
Ah, this is a nice find! I've used Santa[1] to accomplish this with a silent block, which always felt like overkill when I was using it for solely that purpose. 1. https://github.com/google/santa https://github.com/google/santa
dukeofdoom 2y ago
So how do I prevent iTunes starting anytime I want to quickly listen to a music file. Its super annoying since it takes a while, pop ups, and i have to right click to close it. Preview doesn't work for some reason in my system. And i just want to play the track for a couple seconds to know what it is, then move on to the next one to find what I'm looking for. Itynes takes like a minute. And I hate it when apps ignore the x button from closing them.
- jrmg 2y ago
  https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/choose-an-app-to-open-a-file-on-mac-mh35597/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/choose-an-app-to-op... Look at the “Permanently change the app used to open all files of a particular type” section. Or just never open them if it fits your workflow - use Quick Look: select the file, press space, play.
  - dukeofdoom 2y ago
    Thank you so much, both ways worked.
eagerpace 2y ago
Will it also permanently delete that silly U2 album that keeps coming up too?
jpalawaga 2y ago
it's shocking apple gets a pass on this. Not only for anti-trust reasons (it's giving Internet Explorer), but also that this is starting to remind me of all of the junk/bad settings packaged on Windows PCs eons ago. Honestly, in some ways, a clean windows install feels like it less junk on it than a fresh Mac install. Maybe soon people will be building custom MacOS install media like folks did in the XP days, to trim the fat and make the default settings non-insane. Another example of this is Pages, which INSISTS on being the default CSV viewer, no matter how much I check the "use this application in the future box." My only alternative is to uninstall it completely.
- MatthiasPortzel 2y ago
  To your last example: checking the “Always Open With” box in the right click > Open With menu only changes the default application for that one file. To change the default for all files of that type, you have to open the info panel with command+i, and under “Open With” click “Change All…” (Or, I use the command-line tool duti.)
- resource_waste 2y ago
  > a clean windows install feels like it less junk on it than a fresh Mac install. If you have the choice between windows and mac, go with Fedora. I imagine you arent trying to run any specific software, so go with something that is 10/10 in quality rather than a 6/10 user experience, 10/10 profit maximization. I specify Fedora because Debian-family linux sends people back to Windows.
- dehrmann 2y ago
  > anti-trust reasons Desktop computing is a dying platform, so it doesn't really matter.
jrmg 2y ago
What’s the technical reason for the launch? Lots of people report Music launching when they connect a headset, but it doesn’t happen to me with my Mac and headset. Do some headsets (like many cars…) issue a ‘play’ command to the device after connection? Not trying to argue that Apple shouldn’t provide a way to stop this - just curious about why it happens at all.
- mateus1 2y ago
  From my personal experience, macOS will default to Apple Music even when there is a Spotify song on pause or a YouTube video open. They’re using “default to” as an effective nudge mechanism towards their moat.
- garciasn 2y ago
  My phone immediately starts playing some song in Apple Music that I haven't listened to in literal years every time it connects to my car's BT. I went through and did whatever it is that's supposed to stop this...but, it doesn't work. So, I sit there listening to 4 seconds of Beck while cursing each and every day.
  - jrmg 2y ago
    FWIW, it’s the car that’s issuing the play command. I don’t understand why cars do this. Doesn’t make it less annoying than it being the phone’s ‘fault’ of course. I did manage to stop this by making a shortcut that pauses media after a Bluetooth or CarPlay connection to my car. Sometimes get a second or two of whatever’s playing, but other than that it works.
  - kps 2y ago
    Apparently people work around this with an AAAAAAlbum containing 8 hours of silence.
    - EasyMark 2y ago
      might be scary if you're driving at night on a dark windy road and volume is high when the 8 hours is up....
nico 2y ago
Now I want this for my phone When I plug it into the car, it automatically starts playing the same song on Apple Music I want it to start playing Spotify instead, but that can’t be configured Either I turn off CarPlay altogether, or I let it do what it wants
- cnity 2y ago
  Reminds me of this gem: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32163667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32163667
- philo23 2y ago
  I vaguely remember reading about this issue in the past, it’s actually down to the way the software running in the cars radio is using a backwards compatible “iPod” integration. It effectively (against Apple’s recommendations) sends a “play music” signal as soon as you connect your device. Well behaved radios don’t send that signal immediately, and instead wait for you to hit play on your device, or on your cars radio/stalk.
- hedora 2y ago
  That sounds like a bug. Mine autoplays tidal, overcast or nothing, depending on what I was listening to last. I even trained siri to use tidal by saying “play artist on tidal” a few times. (Siri is completely useless for this use case, but it does not open apple music.)
- mnw21cam 2y ago
  Nothing to do with Apple, but I recently bought an old car. It has a radio. Whenever I turn on the engine, it switches on. Actually, no, it doesn't switch on, because I found that behaviour so annoying that I just unplugged the whole thing from the power. It's a fancy sat-nav touchscreen radio that can show a reversing camera, has loads of settings menus, but doesn't have an option to stop it being stupid. What gives? Who in the industry thought that this was what people really wanted?
- CharlesW 2y ago
  > When I plug it into the car, it automatically starts playing the same song on Apple Music My car (maybe most?) helpfully sends a "play" command when my phone connects via Bluetooth. iOS devices play what was last playing, or pass the event to your music app if you've played something else in the meantime. The fix in my case was a Shorcuts automation that gets triggered when the phone connects to your car. I set the volume to max and tell my favorite podcasts app to "Play". If I just wanted an app to always be considered the "last played" app, I'd do something like add a one second delay and then pause. If I used Spotify, I'd also delete Apple Music.
bangaroo 2y ago
superfocused utilities to provide inexplicably missing functionality in macOS are a time honored tradition, but this may be the absolute peak of that genre of app
- weberer 2y ago
  My nomination for that would go to AltTab.
  - krferriter 2y ago
    AltTab and Rectangle bring productivity on macOS up to an acceptable level. I assume anyone using macOS without them is in a constant state of frustration.
    - Lawand 2y ago
      The only extra thing needed is a Windows-style Taskbar such as the one I recently published :) https://lawand.io/taskbar https://lawand.io/taskbar
    - Brajeshwar 2y ago
      I bought Rectangle Pro because I liked Rectangle. The Pro came with the added benefit of assigning multiple custom window sizes easily without tinkering with the obscure Keys mapping.
    - nolongerthere 2y ago
      Someone gifted me a MacBook a few years ago, I was floored at the usability nightmare the OOTB MacOS experience is. Especially after being inundated with nonstop articles about how superior Macs are by every single tech reporter/blogger my entire childhood. I assumed MacOS was the pinnacle of OS UX, a very big letdown to learn it was far behind Windows in countless ways.
      - bangaroo 2y ago
        i mean, as a long-time user who's experienced a ton of ups and downs in the the macOS world, defected to linux briefly, and returned... it is still the best OOTB experience of any computer i've ever owned. the windows experience of 2024 is very similar to the experience of buying a gateway 2000 in the 90s to me. there's tons of bloatware, ads all over the OS, you're constantly being prompted to buy Onedrive and Office (what the hell?) a lot of the Things i've gotten used to on macOS that windows doesn't have, I miss a lot (consistent shortcut keys across apps fro all vendors, the speed and reliability of spotlight as an app launcher/switcher, the ease of previewing files in the OS without launching separate applications, the fact that for all intents and purposes you're in a *nixlike environment and have basically the full suite of tools available to you first class.) every time I go back to my windows 11 desktop after an upgrade I'm baffled by some other weird addition to the OS that I didn't ask for and don't want. In a way, I kind of appreciate that macOS tends to evolve slowly and doesn't do a lot of experimentation. When there's multiple valid ways of solving a problem, they'll leave it to utilities to provide those options. I kinda am okay with that. I used to think apple was extremely opinionated but it seems more and more like their philosophy with macOS is "leave it to the users to solve this problem." i'd also argue there's a ton of windows features missing, which extremely confusingly i have to add manually by installing powertoys (which means microsoft actively builds the solutions to these problems and then just chooses to distribute them in this bizarre, out-of-band way? it makes no sense.) I won't deny there's a bunch of obvious stuff that i cannot understand - window snapping being a key thing, they've gone all in on their weird full-screen approach, which I don't vibe with. The fact that I need to buy an app (bartender) to hide icons in my menu bar in the year 2024 is pretty bonkers to me, and I cannot understand what motivates the complete lack of management tools for this, especially given how out of control it can get on a company-managed machine. finder is in need of a lot of love across the board. i'm also baffled by some of the stuff they choose to include - mission control is one of the single most confusing features they've ever added to the OS and i still have zero understanding of what the intent behind it was. i guess all this to say i feel like having a lot of experience with macOS, i much prefer opening a clean mac to opening a clean windows machine (linux obviously is its own can of worms where it can't really be evaluated by these standards) and i can't at all agree that UX-wise it's a letdown.
trissylegs 2y ago
Another frustrating behavior form Apple is: * My macbook will leave bluetooth on while it's closed and asleep. * My BT headphones will connect to my phone and laptop if they're both on me. (It supports 2 simultanous connections) * If I play music or podcasts I can pause through the headphones * If I try to play it again it the "Play" action goes the macbook. (Which is effectively off so nothing happens) * I now cant play anything on my phone. Hitting play on the app will fail. * If I open the macbook now it will open Apple Music * Otherwise I can hit the play/pause on my headphones then hit play on my phone it will work again. What a bizarre useless behaviour. Why not just turn bluetooth OFF when my laptop is asleep. (It will also remain connected to wifi hotspot prevent my phone from auto-disabling wifi hotspot which has caught me a few times)
- ohhai 2y ago
  Fix this with bluesnooze: https://github.com/odlp/bluesnooze https://github.com/odlp/bluesnooze
  - CharlieDigital 2y ago
    As a MBP user (for dev because the hardware is so good), it annoys me to no end that macOS comes up short in so many basic ways that requires patching with so many third party tools to make it not annoying. Even basic window tiling is just terrible and requires a third party add-on to make it functional.
    - Grimm665 2y ago
      Agreed, the Amethyst team is doing saintly work over there.
      - stevage 2y ago
        Man I really tried to like Amethyst, but I just...hated it. BetterSnapTool works well for me.
        2y ago
neontomo 2y ago
I had this app for ages but never set it up correctly. Protip: install via brew, change defaults to open spotify instead and hide icon. Instructions here: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes
tombert 2y ago
I've been using macOS full time for about four years. Prior to that I had been running some flavor of Linux for about a decade. I moved to macOS exclusively because I had had extremely bad luck with Asus hardware [1] and I wanted to guarantee that my next laptop had minimally-decent build quality, and I was working for Apple at the time so I had a considerable discount on Macbooks. I still really like my laptop (it's about four years old and the hardware is still ship-shape), but I've grown really frustrated with macOS. It's not horrible, it's still Unix so I still have a decent command line and access to good dev tools, but I feel like I'm constantly trying to work around the direction that Apple is pushing. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally launched Apple Music, and as apps like this show, I'm clearly not alone. Part of the issue isn't even that it's the default behavior exactly, it's that it includes all this crap I don't want. I don't want Apple Maps and Apple Music and all the other tiny little apps that depend on Apple services pre-installed. I wish there were a "minimal" macOS, that gave you a desktop and a terminal and a few other basic utilities [2], and that's basically it. It can't launch Apple Music if Apple Music isn't installed. Once the community fixes up the Linux support on the T2 Macbooks, I'm moving over to NixOS minimal full time. [1] I swore a blood oath to never buy an Asus product again; the laptop literally started to fall apart after only about a year of usage, and it was almost never transported anywhere (it lives right next to my bed). The plastic holding things together started to delaminate and I had to do a ton of surgery on it in the form of Gorilla Glue and clamps. Never again. [2] Disk manager, for example.
- JohnMakin 2y ago
  > [1] I swore a blood oath to never buy an Asus product again; the laptop literally started to fall apart after only about a year of usage, and it was almost never transported anywhere (it lives right next to my bed). The plastic holding things together started to delaminate and I had to do a ton of surgery on it in the form of Gorilla Glue and clamps. Never again. I know this is tangential but I've had to swear off high end laptops in general because of stuff like this, and I've seen it with many different brands - they'll jam a bunch of high end hardware into the literal cheapest, most badly designed case ever, and inevitably that is what causes the issues, not the actual hardware (with the exception of MSI boards, which always seem to have some inherent hardware issue). Never again.
mrweasel 2y ago
That really don't happen to me. Now if it could rip out dictation support that would be wonderful. It happens multiple times a day that macOS pops up "Would you like to enable dictation"... No, I would like to never ever talk to my computer.
- EasyMark 2y ago
  maybe you can disable that key combination with karabiner elements or soemthing?
stevage 2y ago
So glad to discover this, thanks!
- faebi 2y ago
  You‘re welcome. The pain is real
robszumski 2y ago
Please do Xcode next!
- mdaniel 2y ago
  wouldn't $(sudo mv /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/MacOS/Xcode /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/MacOS/Xcode.nope) do that, while leaving the actually important SDK bits intact? I hypothesize `sudo chmod a-x` may work, too, but I don't actually know how much the .app bundles care about unix perms
crmd 2y ago
This is the kind of abuse of power that I wish antitrust regulators would focus on. Apple, Inc owns an operating system and a music app, and leverages its control of the OS to secure an unearned advantage for its music app over its rivals. Apple is not the only perp here, every single large tech company abuses platform power for competitive advantage in unrelated industries.
aldousd666 2y ago
I need one of these for the news app next.
ac50hz 2y ago
This could be a useful alternative: https://github.com/quentinlesceller/macmediakeyforwarder https://github.com/quentinlesceller/macmediakeyforwarder
tmaly 2y ago
Can we get an iPhone version? I have the same exact problem.
jawbah 2y ago
For me, this works for the "play/pause" button on the keyboard but not if you have your Airpods double-tap or squeeze gesture to also do "play/pause" - that also launches Apple Music! Has anyone else reproduced this?
martin82 2y ago
Awesome. Is there also an app that prevents Mail from launching?

325 points by faebi 2y ago

Ah, helpful. I've had to stop using my Bluetooth headphones with the laptop because you can't stop Music from launching. Infuriating that macOS doesn't have a toggle for that behaviour (but I can understand why.)

jwalton 2y ago
I'm sorry, I feel like I'm missing something here. I have an M1 Macbook Pro running Sonoma 14.1.1 (I need to update...), I have a nice pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones. I turn my headphones on and off multiple times a day, they connect to my Mac, Apple Music doesn't launch. What are you all complaining about? Edit: Just tried connecting my 3M Worktunes, and they didn't launch anything either.
- TillE 2y ago
  Yeah I can't reproduce this with my AirPods Pro either. Simply connecting does nothing. I would assume something is causing a stray input as if you'd pressed the button on your headphones, which can launch Music.
  - macintux 2y ago
    I've definitely seen it launch as I put my AirPods Pro into their case (but not consistently), so maybe it is something with the pressure-sensitive stalks. Thanks, I hadn't considered that possibility.
- kayodelycaon 2y ago
  There are some Bluetooth audio devices that send the play command when connected. I had a car that did this. It was absolutely infuriating.
- sbuk 2y ago
  I’m beginning to think the same. Can’t reproduce with Apple (including Beats) or Sony. Would be interesting to know which headphones do exhibit this behaviour. This seems to me to be a headphone manufacturer SNAFU.

projektfu 2y ago

What does Apple gain by leaving off the setting to choose whether or not to open Apple Music? Surely their pro audio users don't want it popping up just because they connected headphones.

zimpenfish 2y ago
Probably umpteen thousands of customer support queries about why Music now isn't starting when they connect their headphones after someone toggled it and forgot (or someone else toggled it and didn't tell them or an MDM profile toggled it or...)
- throwuxiytayq 2y ago
  Jesus, that's such a feeble, dull, uninspired way to make product decisions. I'm squirming from second-hand embarrassment just thinking that some developer has to live this nightmare.
  - zimpenfish 2y ago
    > Jesus, that's such a feeble, dull, uninspired way to make product decisions. At Apple scale, though, it's probably necessary.
- projektfu 2y ago
  A quick review shows that Apple doesn't mind lots of questions if they don't bother answering them. How to keep a Mac Mini from going to deep sleep so it can be used as a little server? Answer: install Linux.
  - jeffhuys 2y ago
    Or one of the dozen “prevent deep sleep” apps…
  - RunSet 2y ago
    To keep a McBook from falling asleep when you close the lid, you need to buy and use a dummy HDMI connector that makes it believe it is connected to an external display.

nottorp 2y ago

Now I need one to prevent automatic clipboard sharing via handoff without turning off handoff completely. Believe it or not Apple, some people use multiple machines for different purposes and automatically passing my clipboard between them is an annoyance at best. I'm happy with it just being shared while I explicitly remote from one machine to another.

gregoriol 2y ago
Oh yes! That would be awesome! I often happen to erase something I copied on one device by copying something on another one... would be much better to have an AirDrop like feature where you can send a text to another device instead of automatic
- boxed 2y ago
  The fact that macOS doesn't have a built in history for the clipboard is the problem there imo. I use pasteBot and I think macOS is broken without it (which of course means iOS is broken and cannot be fixed by a third party).
  - nottorp 2y ago
    I use JumpCut. I still don't want my stuff on one machine erased via the other unless i specifically connect them via vnc.
  - jeffhuys 2y ago
    It can. In the EU. AltStore -> Clip. No jailbreak, clipboard manager.
    - boxed 2y ago
      The blog post about it seems to imply you have to do an extra swipe down to put it in the clipboard manager for every copy...
manmal 2y ago

pcdoodle 2y ago

I just found out I can't remove the Music app from my own computer (Mac)...

sneak 2y ago
You can disable all boot security and system integrity protection on a Mac and edit the filesystem however you would like.
jeffhuys 2y ago
You tried nothing and all out of ideas?

anArbitraryOne 2y ago

Yeah wow what a great operating system that needs a whole other program to keep a particular one from launching. I'm totally going to recommend MacOS to my mother, aunt, uncle, cousin, cybernetic dog and everyone else for the great user experience of being forced to do what apple HQ wants

manmal 2y ago
Will you be recommending Linux instead? Or Win 11, with ads galore? My question is only half joking, I‘m not aware of a good low maintenance alternative.
- trustno2 2y ago
  It's GNU/Linux. And Copilot/Windows.
- michaljanocko 2y ago
  I installed XFCE desktop on Manjaro (I believe) on my grandma's computer that I bought second-hand a couple years ago for about $60 (i5 6th gen, 8 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD). There have been zero issues. Windows was a nightmare because it was constantly breaking or needing an update and Macs would be wasted money in this case. The usage is pretty light: downloading and sharing photos from a camera, YouTube, email, news, some light spreadsheet accounting, and that's about it. Neither of my grandparents are tech-savvy (my grandpa still uses a feature) and yet they both learned all, that they need, in the afternoon I installed the computer. Zero regrets going for XFCE (or anything that can be stripped down just to the features they need) and buying a cheap computer. Going Windows → Manjaro/XFCE reduced tech support calls to me from 1–2× a month to once per year.
  - CoastalCoder 2y ago
    Similar experience for me with my mom. I set her up with a desktop machine running Pop_OS! with automatic updates. I did some minor hackery to get Windows' FreeCell working on it because she cares a lot about that. I installed tailscale for remote support, but haven't had cause to use it. In general it's working fantastically. The only issue is that the USB WiFi adapter drops out rather frequently. So my one hardware concession will be to replace it with one known to be more reliable under Linux. [0] [0] I know sometimes this can be fixed by choosing a more appropriate driver and/or Bluetooth device settings, but it's not something on which I want to spend a lot of time or headspace.

Brajeshwar 2y ago

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist Does this not solve for all activities, such as from pressing the right buttons by mistake?

__alias 2y ago
unfortunately this disables the media keys completely -- the point of the linked software is it still allows it for media players intended -- such as spotify; and blocks the apple media player from hihacking
- nicce 2y ago
  I have just remapped everything with Hammerspoon. You shouldn’t need to do this but it works…
  - semi-extrinsic 2y ago
    Can you remap the entire keyboard so it's actually an ISO layout? I've been using Ukelele for this, but it's not optimal so I'm going to switch. Was considering Karabiner Elements, but i like Lua so maybe Hammerspoon is better?
    - nicce 2y ago
      It should be possible, but it will take some lines. Maybe helpful: https://github.com/hetima/hammerspoon-foundation_remapping/tree/master https://github.com/hetima/hammerspoon-foundation_remapping/t... https://github.com/RobotCharlie/key-remapping-hammerspoon/blob/main/init.lua https://github.com/RobotCharlie/key-remapping-hammerspoon/bl... https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon/discussions/3246 https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon/discussions/3246 About macOS in general if you use hidutil https://hidutil-generator.netlify.app/ https://hidutil-generator.netlify.app/ https://rakhesh.com/mac/using-hidutil-to-map-macos-keyboard-keys/ https://rakhesh.com/mac/using-hidutil-to-map-macos-keyboard-...

9dev 2y ago

Finally! This is so annoying for Spotify users. Every time the system starts up, and Spotify is configured to start at startup, but you haven't interacted with the window yet, then press the physical play button on the keyboard—instead of starting playback as you'd expect, the system starts Apple Music. It drives me mad.

sneak 2y ago
The launch of Apple music also sends your system serial number to Apple, so technically Macs all have a single hotkey to share their hardware identifier and IP with the mothership.
- mvkel 2y ago
  Technically Apple sent their serial number to you. Either way you can prevent this by selecting "Don't Send" when you first set up your Mac
  - sneak 2y ago
    This is false. No matter what you do configuration-wise, macOS sends hardware identifiers to Apple, on each OS update (the ECID and others to the TSS server gs.apple.com), as well as when it registers for APNS. The obtained hardware-identifier-linked certs are then used continuously to access APNS. There is no avoiding it in the first instance (the OS update process), as it is required for updates if you have boot security enabled, and there is no UI to disable APNS.
    - jeffhuys 2y ago
      You were talking about the hotkey.
      - freedomben 2y ago
        Good call. I agree generally with GP, but they definitely did shift the goal posts :-)

sneak 2y ago

If you download the free Apple Configurator 2 app, you can create a provisioning profile that disables Apple Music, too. It takes only a moment to install it on the local system, no MDM required.

knallfrosch 2y ago

I remember my Macbook 2019 Pro for its bad hardware: horrendous touchbar and terrible ports (no HDMI, no magnetic charging, no USB-A..) But the software wasn't polished either: You can't use it in closed ("clamshell") mode, because it shuts down and you can't configure it. You need a 3rd party software to keep it on. But you also can't keep it closed because then you can't reach the fingerprint sensor. You see: iPhones can't use fingerprint recognition because they don't have fingerprint sensors, iPhones use facial recognition. But Macs do have fingerprint sensors, but can not use facial recognition (for example using an IR camera like Windows Hello) It's amazing how MacOS lacks features that everyone knows Windows has supported since XP days. ("When you close the lid > Power down / Keep running")

macintux 2y ago
Lest anyone be misled: I assume the comment means that you can’t leave it in clamshell mode without an external monitor. I almost never open mine. There are three alternatives for the fingerprint sensor issue: - Apple Watch can replace most uses for it - One of Apple’s external keyboards has a fingerprint sensor - You can always just use your password
- knallfrosch 2y ago
  - I don't own the $700 Apple smartwach, since I had an Android phone at the time and it has terrible Android integration - I already owned a mechanical keyboard and was unwilling to downgrade to Apple. - I don't want to use my password (?), since passwordless is kind of the whole point of biometrics. I forgot to mention that macOS didn't recognize the keyboard layout of my USB keyboard, something that Windows has done for the last 15 years automatically. The proposed solution was, I think, editing a text file.
- bzzzt 2y ago
  > One of Apple’s external keyboards has a fingerprint sensor Which only works on the M1 and higher models, not the 2019 Intel MacBooks.
  - 2y ago

pawelduda 2y ago

Oh yes, one of my favourites

PaulHoule 2y ago

Reminds me of the last six months before I switched from JPEG to WebP on my web sites. I still had a 2013 Mac Mini that didn’t support WebP in Safari because Apple hadn’t built WebP into the system libraries and they chose not to support my machine. That was enough reason for me to not make the switch (any economic benefit is diminished if you have to keep two copies of each image.) I felt so infantilized because something that is just a userspace thing is locked to the OS. To their credit, Apple did eventually enable WebP for those mac’s but I hate being dependent like that and having to develop software for people who are likewise dependent.

tootie 2y ago

Been using this for years. It is great.

sangupta 2y ago
I discovered noTunes a few months back and it is one of the best installs of all time. It also goes to show how product/developer thinking not always aligns with how users want to use the product. And then, I start thinking why would a developer build such an annoying thing... unless marketing forced them to.

devilkin 2y ago

Every time I switch off my bluetooth Plantronics headset Apple music starts. Why? Because Apple. Another clear sign Apple doesn't really care about it's users, it really cares about the bottom line, and getting people to sign up for their services.

danhau 2y ago
To be fair, this could be the headset. Neither iOS nor macOS does this with my bluetooth headset. macOS IO is broken in other ways for me though. It doesn‘t wake up my external monitor after waking from sleep (lid closed, powered, external keyboard).
- koromak 2y ago
  I have my lid open with my externals, I never seen my monitor alone fail to wake, but sometimes all displays refuse to turn on, even the laptop built in. Doesn't happen every time, but maybe 1/10 tries

can16358p 2y ago

The need for such an app is beyond stupid on Apple's side, and I'm saying this as an Apple Music user. I am an Apple Music user and I have Sennheiser headset that connects both to my iPhone and Mac. Great, no problem up to here. However, when I, say, browse Instagram on my phone, after closing it on my phone, Apple Music opens and starts playing. Every. Single. Time. I don't want a software that prevents Apple Music launch, I don't want to delete Apple Music (even if it was possible) as I sometimes DO use Apple Music on my Mac, I just don't want to to open and start playing the topmost song in my library on my Mac every single time after any inline media on Instagram stops playing on my iPhone. This bug has been present for many macOS and iOS versions for many years, and Apple does nothing about it. After reading it again, I think "beyond stupid" is an understatement. Unbelievable.

db3pt0 2y ago

Ah, this is a nice find! I've used Santa[1] to accomplish this with a silent block, which always felt like overkill when I was using it for solely that purpose. 1. https://github.com/google/santa https://github.com/google/santa

dukeofdoom 2y ago

So how do I prevent iTunes starting anytime I want to quickly listen to a music file. Its super annoying since it takes a while, pop ups, and i have to right click to close it. Preview doesn't work for some reason in my system. And i just want to play the track for a couple seconds to know what it is, then move on to the next one to find what I'm looking for. Itynes takes like a minute. And I hate it when apps ignore the x button from closing them.

jrmg 2y ago
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/choose-an-app-to-open-a-file-on-mac-mh35597/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/choose-an-app-to-op... Look at the “Permanently change the app used to open all files of a particular type” section. Or just never open them if it fits your workflow - use Quick Look: select the file, press space, play.
- dukeofdoom 2y ago
  Thank you so much, both ways worked.

eagerpace 2y ago

Will it also permanently delete that silly U2 album that keeps coming up too?

jpalawaga 2y ago

it's shocking apple gets a pass on this. Not only for anti-trust reasons (it's giving Internet Explorer), but also that this is starting to remind me of all of the junk/bad settings packaged on Windows PCs eons ago. Honestly, in some ways, a clean windows install feels like it less junk on it than a fresh Mac install. Maybe soon people will be building custom MacOS install media like folks did in the XP days, to trim the fat and make the default settings non-insane. Another example of this is Pages, which INSISTS on being the default CSV viewer, no matter how much I check the "use this application in the future box." My only alternative is to uninstall it completely.

MatthiasPortzel 2y ago
To your last example: checking the “Always Open With” box in the right click > Open With menu only changes the default application for that one file. To change the default for all files of that type, you have to open the info panel with command+i, and under “Open With” click “Change All…” (Or, I use the command-line tool duti.)
resource_waste 2y ago
> a clean windows install feels like it less junk on it than a fresh Mac install. If you have the choice between windows and mac, go with Fedora. I imagine you arent trying to run any specific software, so go with something that is 10/10 in quality rather than a 6/10 user experience, 10/10 profit maximization. I specify Fedora because Debian-family linux sends people back to Windows.
dehrmann 2y ago
> anti-trust reasons Desktop computing is a dying platform, so it doesn't really matter.

jrmg 2y ago

What’s the technical reason for the launch? Lots of people report Music launching when they connect a headset, but it doesn’t happen to me with my Mac and headset. Do some headsets (like many cars…) issue a ‘play’ command to the device after connection? Not trying to argue that Apple shouldn’t provide a way to stop this - just curious about why it happens at all.

mateus1 2y ago
From my personal experience, macOS will default to Apple Music even when there is a Spotify song on pause or a YouTube video open. They’re using “default to” as an effective nudge mechanism towards their moat.
garciasn 2y ago
My phone immediately starts playing some song in Apple Music that I haven't listened to in literal years every time it connects to my car's BT. I went through and did whatever it is that's supposed to stop this...but, it doesn't work. So, I sit there listening to 4 seconds of Beck while cursing each and every day.
- jrmg 2y ago
  FWIW, it’s the car that’s issuing the play command. I don’t understand why cars do this. Doesn’t make it less annoying than it being the phone’s ‘fault’ of course. I did manage to stop this by making a shortcut that pauses media after a Bluetooth or CarPlay connection to my car. Sometimes get a second or two of whatever’s playing, but other than that it works.
- kps 2y ago
  Apparently people work around this with an AAAAAAlbum containing 8 hours of silence.
  - EasyMark 2y ago
    might be scary if you're driving at night on a dark windy road and volume is high when the 8 hours is up....

nico 2y ago

Now I want this for my phone When I plug it into the car, it automatically starts playing the same song on Apple Music I want it to start playing Spotify instead, but that can’t be configured Either I turn off CarPlay altogether, or I let it do what it wants

cnity 2y ago
Reminds me of this gem: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32163667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32163667
philo23 2y ago
I vaguely remember reading about this issue in the past, it’s actually down to the way the software running in the cars radio is using a backwards compatible “iPod” integration. It effectively (against Apple’s recommendations) sends a “play music” signal as soon as you connect your device. Well behaved radios don’t send that signal immediately, and instead wait for you to hit play on your device, or on your cars radio/stalk.
hedora 2y ago
That sounds like a bug. Mine autoplays tidal, overcast or nothing, depending on what I was listening to last. I even trained siri to use tidal by saying “play artist on tidal” a few times. (Siri is completely useless for this use case, but it does not open apple music.)
mnw21cam 2y ago
Nothing to do with Apple, but I recently bought an old car. It has a radio. Whenever I turn on the engine, it switches on. Actually, no, it doesn't switch on, because I found that behaviour so annoying that I just unplugged the whole thing from the power. It's a fancy sat-nav touchscreen radio that can show a reversing camera, has loads of settings menus, but doesn't have an option to stop it being stupid. What gives? Who in the industry thought that this was what people really wanted?
CharlesW 2y ago
> When I plug it into the car, it automatically starts playing the same song on Apple Music My car (maybe most?) helpfully sends a "play" command when my phone connects via Bluetooth. iOS devices play what was last playing, or pass the event to your music app if you've played something else in the meantime. The fix in my case was a Shorcuts automation that gets triggered when the phone connects to your car. I set the volume to max and tell my favorite podcasts app to "Play". If I just wanted an app to always be considered the "last played" app, I'd do something like add a one second delay and then pause. If I used Spotify, I'd also delete Apple Music.

bangaroo 2y ago

superfocused utilities to provide inexplicably missing functionality in macOS are a time honored tradition, but this may be the absolute peak of that genre of app

weberer 2y ago
My nomination for that would go to AltTab.
- krferriter 2y ago
  AltTab and Rectangle bring productivity on macOS up to an acceptable level. I assume anyone using macOS without them is in a constant state of frustration.
  - Lawand 2y ago
    The only extra thing needed is a Windows-style Taskbar such as the one I recently published :) https://lawand.io/taskbar https://lawand.io/taskbar
  - Brajeshwar 2y ago
    I bought Rectangle Pro because I liked Rectangle. The Pro came with the added benefit of assigning multiple custom window sizes easily without tinkering with the obscure Keys mapping.
  - nolongerthere 2y ago
    Someone gifted me a MacBook a few years ago, I was floored at the usability nightmare the OOTB MacOS experience is. Especially after being inundated with nonstop articles about how superior Macs are by every single tech reporter/blogger my entire childhood. I assumed MacOS was the pinnacle of OS UX, a very big letdown to learn it was far behind Windows in countless ways.
    - bangaroo 2y ago
      i mean, as a long-time user who's experienced a ton of ups and downs in the the macOS world, defected to linux briefly, and returned... it is still the best OOTB experience of any computer i've ever owned. the windows experience of 2024 is very similar to the experience of buying a gateway 2000 in the 90s to me. there's tons of bloatware, ads all over the OS, you're constantly being prompted to buy Onedrive and Office (what the hell?) a lot of the Things i've gotten used to on macOS that windows doesn't have, I miss a lot (consistent shortcut keys across apps fro all vendors, the speed and reliability of spotlight as an app launcher/switcher, the ease of previewing files in the OS without launching separate applications, the fact that for all intents and purposes you're in a *nixlike environment and have basically the full suite of tools available to you first class.) every time I go back to my windows 11 desktop after an upgrade I'm baffled by some other weird addition to the OS that I didn't ask for and don't want. In a way, I kind of appreciate that macOS tends to evolve slowly and doesn't do a lot of experimentation. When there's multiple valid ways of solving a problem, they'll leave it to utilities to provide those options. I kinda am okay with that. I used to think apple was extremely opinionated but it seems more and more like their philosophy with macOS is "leave it to the users to solve this problem." i'd also argue there's a ton of windows features missing, which extremely confusingly i have to add manually by installing powertoys (which means microsoft actively builds the solutions to these problems and then just chooses to distribute them in this bizarre, out-of-band way? it makes no sense.) I won't deny there's a bunch of obvious stuff that i cannot understand - window snapping being a key thing, they've gone all in on their weird full-screen approach, which I don't vibe with. The fact that I need to buy an app (bartender) to hide icons in my menu bar in the year 2024 is pretty bonkers to me, and I cannot understand what motivates the complete lack of management tools for this, especially given how out of control it can get on a company-managed machine. finder is in need of a lot of love across the board. i'm also baffled by some of the stuff they choose to include - mission control is one of the single most confusing features they've ever added to the OS and i still have zero understanding of what the intent behind it was. i guess all this to say i feel like having a lot of experience with macOS, i much prefer opening a clean mac to opening a clean windows machine (linux obviously is its own can of worms where it can't really be evaluated by these standards) and i can't at all agree that UX-wise it's a letdown.

trissylegs 2y ago

Another frustrating behavior form Apple is: * My macbook will leave bluetooth on while it's closed and asleep. * My BT headphones will connect to my phone and laptop if they're both on me. (It supports 2 simultanous connections) * If I play music or podcasts I can pause through the headphones * If I try to play it again it the "Play" action goes the macbook. (Which is effectively off so nothing happens) * I now cant play anything on my phone. Hitting play on the app will fail. * If I open the macbook now it will open Apple Music * Otherwise I can hit the play/pause on my headphones then hit play on my phone it will work again. What a bizarre useless behaviour. Why not just turn bluetooth OFF when my laptop is asleep. (It will also remain connected to wifi hotspot prevent my phone from auto-disabling wifi hotspot which has caught me a few times)

ohhai 2y ago
Fix this with bluesnooze: https://github.com/odlp/bluesnooze https://github.com/odlp/bluesnooze
- CharlieDigital 2y ago
  As a MBP user (for dev because the hardware is so good), it annoys me to no end that macOS comes up short in so many basic ways that requires patching with so many third party tools to make it not annoying. Even basic window tiling is just terrible and requires a third party add-on to make it functional.
  - Grimm665 2y ago
    Agreed, the Amethyst team is doing saintly work over there.
    - stevage 2y ago
      Man I really tried to like Amethyst, but I just...hated it. BetterSnapTool works well for me.
      - 2y ago

neontomo 2y ago

I had this app for ages but never set it up correctly. Protip: install via brew, change defaults to open spotify instead and hide icon. Instructions here: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes

tombert 2y ago

I've been using macOS full time for about four years. Prior to that I had been running some flavor of Linux for about a decade. I moved to macOS exclusively because I had had extremely bad luck with Asus hardware [1] and I wanted to guarantee that my next laptop had minimally-decent build quality, and I was working for Apple at the time so I had a considerable discount on Macbooks. I still really like my laptop (it's about four years old and the hardware is still ship-shape), but I've grown really frustrated with macOS. It's not horrible, it's still Unix so I still have a decent command line and access to good dev tools, but I feel like I'm constantly trying to work around the direction that Apple is pushing. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally launched Apple Music, and as apps like this show, I'm clearly not alone. Part of the issue isn't even that it's the default behavior exactly, it's that it includes all this crap I don't want. I don't want Apple Maps and Apple Music and all the other tiny little apps that depend on Apple services pre-installed. I wish there were a "minimal" macOS, that gave you a desktop and a terminal and a few other basic utilities [2], and that's basically it. It can't launch Apple Music if Apple Music isn't installed. Once the community fixes up the Linux support on the T2 Macbooks, I'm moving over to NixOS minimal full time. [1] I swore a blood oath to never buy an Asus product again; the laptop literally started to fall apart after only about a year of usage, and it was almost never transported anywhere (it lives right next to my bed). The plastic holding things together started to delaminate and I had to do a ton of surgery on it in the form of Gorilla Glue and clamps. Never again. [2] Disk manager, for example.

JohnMakin 2y ago
> [1] I swore a blood oath to never buy an Asus product again; the laptop literally started to fall apart after only about a year of usage, and it was almost never transported anywhere (it lives right next to my bed). The plastic holding things together started to delaminate and I had to do a ton of surgery on it in the form of Gorilla Glue and clamps. Never again. I know this is tangential but I've had to swear off high end laptops in general because of stuff like this, and I've seen it with many different brands - they'll jam a bunch of high end hardware into the literal cheapest, most badly designed case ever, and inevitably that is what causes the issues, not the actual hardware (with the exception of MSI boards, which always seem to have some inherent hardware issue). Never again.

mrweasel 2y ago

That really don't happen to me. Now if it could rip out dictation support that would be wonderful. It happens multiple times a day that macOS pops up "Would you like to enable dictation"... No, I would like to never ever talk to my computer.

EasyMark 2y ago
maybe you can disable that key combination with karabiner elements or soemthing?

stevage 2y ago

So glad to discover this, thanks!

faebi 2y ago
You‘re welcome. The pain is real

robszumski 2y ago

Please do Xcode next!

mdaniel 2y ago
wouldn't $(sudo mv /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/MacOS/Xcode /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/MacOS/Xcode.nope) do that, while leaving the actually important SDK bits intact? I hypothesize `sudo chmod a-x` may work, too, but I don't actually know how much the .app bundles care about unix perms

crmd 2y ago

This is the kind of abuse of power that I wish antitrust regulators would focus on. Apple, Inc owns an operating system and a music app, and leverages its control of the OS to secure an unearned advantage for its music app over its rivals. Apple is not the only perp here, every single large tech company abuses platform power for competitive advantage in unrelated industries.

aldousd666 2y ago

I need one of these for the news app next.

ac50hz 2y ago

This could be a useful alternative: https://github.com/quentinlesceller/macmediakeyforwarder https://github.com/quentinlesceller/macmediakeyforwarder

tmaly 2y ago

Can we get an iPhone version? I have the same exact problem.

jawbah 2y ago

For me, this works for the "play/pause" button on the keyboard but not if you have your Airpods double-tap or squeeze gesture to also do "play/pause" - that also launches Apple Music! Has anyone else reproduced this?

martin82 2y ago

Awesome. Is there also an app that prevents Mail from launching?