If you don’t like iTunes opening each time you connect a device to your computer, you might want to learn to stop iTunes from opening automatically on your machine. There are actually multiple occasions when your favorite music manager may show up.

Connecting an iOS device to your computer, having the app in your startup list, and accessing one of the app’s compatible media file formats are some of the triggers for launching iTunes on your Windows PC or Mac.

Luckily, all of these triggers can be disabled so iTunes doesn’t open automatically on your computers.

Download macOS Catalina for an all‑new entertainment experience. Your music, TV shows, movies, podcasts, and audiobooks will transfer automatically to the Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Books apps where you’ll still have access to your favorite iTunes features, including purchases, rentals, and imports.

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Stop iTunes From Opening Automatically When a Device Is Connected

If you use your iOS devices such as your iPhone or iPad with iTunes on your computer, the app automatically launches whenever these devices are plugged-in to your machine. It is to help sync the contents of your device with your computer.

You can disable the sync feature and that’ll stop iTunes from opening automatically on your Windows computer.

  • Open the iTunes app on your computer.
  • If you’re on Windows, click on the Edit menu at the top and select Preferences to open the settings menu. If you’re on a Mac, click on the iTunes menu at the top and choose Preferences.

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  • On the following screen, click on the tab that says Devices at the top. It’ll let you manage your device settings for iTunes.
  • The following screen has an option that says Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically. You need to enable this option and click on OK to save the changes.
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From now on, iTunes won’t launch automatically on your computer as you’ve disabled auto-sync for your devices. You’ll still be able to manually sync your devices, though.

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Stop iTunes From Opening Automatically On Windows

When you install iTunes on a Windows computer, it actually installs a small utility in addition to the main app. This utility runs in the background all the time, and when it finds an occasion where it thinks the app should open, it launches iTunes on your PC.

You can disable the utility from running in the background and that way iTunes won’t know when to launch. And, as a result, it won’t launch.

  • Right-click on the taskbar of your computer and select the Task Manager option.
  • When it opens, find and click on the Startup tab to view your startup utilities.
  • Find the utility named iTunes Helper in the list, right-click on it, and select Disable.

It’ll remain disabled for as long as you manually open Task Manager and enable it again.

Use noTunes To Stop iTunes From Opening Automatically On Mac

There’s an easier way available for those of you wanting to stop iTunes from opening automatically on a Mac. There’s actually an app available to help you disable iTunes’ auto-launch feature on your Apple machine.

It’s called noTunes and it’s a free and open-source app letting you enable and disable iTunes’ auto-launch feature with the click of an option. It sits in the menu bar and requires no configuration at all.

  • Download the noTunes app and save it to your Mac.
  • Extract the archive and launch the app file.
  • The app will go directly into your menu bar. Click on it and it’ll be activated.

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  • It’ll now prevent iTunes from launching automatically on your Mac. To disable the feature, click on the app icon again.
  • You should make sure the app launches whenever your Mac boots-up. To do it, right-click on the app icon in your menu bar and select Launch on startup.

Prevent iTunes From Automatically Launching For Your Music Files

Since iTunes is also a media manager in addition to being a backup manager for the iOS devices, it’s often set as the default media player for various music files. When any of these files is opened, iTunes automatically launches.

You can disable this behavior by removing iTunes from the default media app list on your computer.

For Windows users:

  • Right-click on any of the files that triggers iTunes to launch, select Open with, and choose Choose another app.
  • Select any app other than iTunes from the apps list on your screen, checkmark the option that reads Always use this app to open .ext files, and click on OK.

For Mac users:

  • Right-click on the file type that opens iTunes and select the Get Info option.
  • Select a new app from the Open with dropdown menu and click on Change All.

Your newly selected app will now launch whenever you click on your files and this way you’ve stopped iTunes from launching automatically.

Disable The iTunes Auto-Launch On The Startup Of Your Mac

If iTunes is in the startup apps list on your Mac, it’ll automatically launch each time your Mac boots-up. You can remove the app from the list and it’ll stop it from auto-opening.

  • Click on the Apple logo at the top-left corner and select System Preferences.
  • Click on Users & Groups on the following screen.
  • Select your user account from the left sidebar and then click on Login Items on the right-hand side pane.
  • You’ll find an app called iTunesHelper in your login items list. Select it in the list and click on the (minus) sign at the bottom.

The app should be removed from the list.

Turn Off Bluetooth To Prevent Speakers From Launching iTunes

While Bluetooth doesn’t directly have anything to do with iTunes, it sometimes triggers the app when a particular Bluetooth-enabled device is connected to your machine.

Keeping the service disabled while you don’t use it will ensure that iTunes doesn’t end-up automatically opening on your computer.

For Windows users:

  • Click on the Bluetooth icon in your system tray and select Open Settings.
  • Turn the toggle for Bluetooth to the off position.

For Mac users:

  • Click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar at the top and select Turn Bluetooth Off.

iTunes is going places.

Download macOS Catalina for an all‑new entertainment experience. Your music, TV shows, movies, podcasts, and audiobooks will transfer automatically to the Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Books apps where you’ll still have access to your favorite iTunes features, including purchases, rentals, and imports.

You can always download iTunes 12.8 for previous versions of macOS,
as well as the iTunes application for Windows.

Hardware:

  • Mac computer with an Intel processor
  • To play 720p HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras, a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor is required
  • To play 1080p HD video, a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor and 2GB of RAM is required
  • Screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater; 1280x800 or greater is required to play an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras
  • Internet connection to use Apple Music, the iTunes Store, and iTunes Extras
  • Apple combo drive or SuperDrive to create audio, MP3, or backup CDs; some non-Apple CD-RW recorders may also work. Songs from the Apple Music catalog cannot be burned to a CD.

Software:

  • OS X version 10.10.5 or later
  • 400MB of available disk space
  • Apple Music, iTunes Store, and iTunes Match availability may vary by country
  • Apple Music trial requires sign-up and is available for new subscribers only. Plan automatically renews after trial.

iTunes

Download the latest version for Windows.

The latest entertainment apps now come installed with macOS Catalina. Upgrade today to get your favorite music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts. You can join Apple Music and stream — or download and play offline — over 75 million songs, ad‑free.

iTunes

Download the latest version from the Microsoft Store.

The latest entertainment apps now come installed with macOS Catalina. Upgrade today to get your favorite music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts. You can join Apple Music and stream — or download and play offline — over 75 million songs, ad‑free.

Hardware:

  • PC with a 1GHz Intel or AMD processor with support for SSE2 and 512MB of RAM
  • To play standard-definition video from the iTunes Store, an Intel Pentium D or faster processor, 512MB of RAM, and a DirectX 9.0–compatible video card is required
  • To play 720p HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras, a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor, 1GB of RAM, and an Intel GMA X3000, ATI Radeon X1300, or NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or better is required
  • To play 1080p HD video, a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor, 2GB of RAM, and an Intel GMA X4500HD, ATI Radeon HD 2400, or NVIDIA GeForce 8300 GS or better is required
  • Screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater; 1280x800 or greater is required to play an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras
  • 16-bit sound card and speakers
  • Internet connection to use Apple Music, the iTunes Store, and iTunes Extras
  • iTunes-compatible CD or DVD recorder to create audio CDs, MP3 CDs, or backup CDs or DVDs. Songs from the Apple Music catalog cannot be burned to a CD.

Software:

Download
  • Windows 10
  • 64-bit editions of Windows require the iTunes 64-bit installer
  • 400MB of available disk space
  • Some third-party visualizers may no longer be compatible with this version of iTunes. Please contact the developer for an updated visualizer that is compatible with iTunes 12.1 or later.
  • Apple Music, iTunes Store, and iTunes Match availability may vary by country
  • Apple Music trial requires sign-up and is available for new subscribers only. Plan automatically renews after trial.

iTunes is going places.

Visit the iTunes Store on iOS to buy and download your favorite songs, TV shows, movies, and podcasts. You can also download macOS Catalina for an all-new entertainment experience on desktop. Your library will transfer automatically to the new Apple Music app, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts. And you’ll still have access to your favorite iTunes features, including your previous iTunes Store purchases, rentals, and imports and the ability to easily manage your library.

Music, TV, and podcasts
take center stage.

iTunes forever changed the way people experienced music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts. It all changes again with three all-new, dedicated apps — Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts — each designed from the ground up to be the best way to enjoy entertainment on your Mac. And rest assured; everything you had in your iTunes library is still accessible in each app. iCloud seamlessly syncs everything across your devices — or you can back up, restore, and sync by connecting the device directly to your Mac.

The new Apple Music app is the ultimate music streaming experience on Mac.1 Explore a library of over 75 million songs, discover new artists and tracks, find the perfect playlist, download and listen offline, or enjoy all the music you’ve collected over the years. And find it all in your music library on all your devices.

The Apple TV app for Mac is the new home for all your favorite movies, shows, premium channels, and Apple TV+. Watch everything directly in the app or enjoy it offline, and discover the best of what’s on in the Watch Now tab. You can even pick up where you left off on any screen, across all your devices. And for the first time, 4K2 and Dolby Atmos3-supported movies are available on Mac.

More than 700,000 of the best entertainment, comedy, news, and sports shows are now available on your Mac with Apple Podcasts. Search for podcasts by title, topic, guest, host, content, and more. Subscribe and be notified as soon as new episodes become available. And in the Listen Now tab, you can easily pick up where you left off across all your devices.

iTunes Support can help answer your questions

Get help with syncing, updating to a more recent version of iTunes, or with an iTunes Store purchase — and much more.

Learn more

Looking for a previous version of iTunes?

Download earlier versions of iTunes to work with compatible operating systems and hardware.

Find previous versions of iTunes