Stop the Apple Music app from launching • Hacker News Board

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#11

Post by imglorp » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #7

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this is the default behavior for a supposedly premium operating system.

It seems the fans are willing to put up with absolutely unlimited grief and inconvenience to drink the koolaid they're given. Some Apple PM made a edict 11 years ago that Music shalt be thine only audio experience on the platform. Lock it down, boys!

The rest of us ask for a customizable experience.

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#12

Post by tomComb » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

verdverm wrote: post #3

I've been using this for a while now: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes Source code for this one: https://github.com/FuzzyIdeas/MusicDecoy

It seems I need to leave this running for it to work? So it's not just a configuration changes.

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#13

Post by hmokiguess » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

for me it's when I open an audio file and it automatically launches it AND adds it to my music library, the adding to library is what I hate, then I have to delete it and specifically choose "Keep file"

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#14

Post by forsalebypwner » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

tomComb wrote: post #12

verdverm wrote: post #3

I've been using this for a while now: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes Source code for this one: https://github.com/FuzzyIdeas/MusicDecoy

It seems I need to leave this running for it to work? So it's not just a configuration changes.

When you first launch it, you'll notice a pop-up saying that this will automatically run when you login. There's no dock icon or menu bar icon. So no configuration changes needed.

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#15

Post by nottorp » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

Lovely. I don't press the play button by mistake much, but if i touch my BT headphones wrong...

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#16

Post by lxgr » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

Reading this title made “The Miracle of Joey Ramone” by U2 play in my head.

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#17

Post by js2 » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 5:59 PM UTC

fartfeatures wrote: post #8

dangerlibrary wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

noTunes is one of the first things I install on a new mac.

I'm very clumsy and I've never hit the play button by accident. What are you guys doing that makes it so easy to accidentally click the play button? Are you using the mac with the touch bar or something?

For me it's my AirPods launching the Music app, something I rarely want. At the same time, it's one click in the menu bar to disable noTunes in the rare circumstances I want to use the Music app.

It's made worse by the fact that I use my AirPods across my personal devices and my work Mac, the latter of which I have to switch them to manually (since my work Mac is not on my personal iCloud account).

Anyway, however it happens, I often found the Music app launching on my personal and work Macs, and noTunes prevents it.

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#18

Post by eviks » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 6:00 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #7

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this is the default behavior for a supposedly premium operating system.

The OS isn't supposed to be premium since it's free, does that help figure it out?

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#19

Post by sph » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 6:01 PM UTC

The lack of applications like this is why macOS will always be a superior alternative to Linux.

/s for the sarcasm impaired

Re: Stop the Apple Music app from launching

#20

Post by plqbfbv » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 6:01 PM UTC

fartfeatures wrote: post #8

dangerlibrary wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

noTunes is one of the first things I install on a new mac.

I'm very clumsy and I've never hit the play button by accident. What are you guys doing that makes it so easy to accidentally click the play button? Are you using the mac with the touch bar or something?

I had to start using noTunes years ago because whenever I accidentally touched or removed my (Sony / non-Apple) bluetooth headphones, iTunes/Music would pop up without fail. Apparently they sent a "play" button press, so the application would pop up. Because it's a system application, you cannot delete it, there's no way to override the key, there's no way to disable it. So noTunes has been running for 7 years straight on my Mac.