infernalmachine
Level 1 (2 points)

Q: PERMANENTLY Prevent Photos from Opening Automatically

Hi All!

 

I just upgraded to Yosemite, and with that came the Photos App that replaced iPhoto.

 

The internet is full of forum posts asking how to prevent Photos from launching automatically when a device is inserted, and full of replies saying to uncheck the tick box in Photos for each given device...  But this is no solution at all!

 

AFTER telling Photos not to open for a given SD card, if the SD card is reformatted in-camera, the setting is lost and Photos will open again the next time the SD card is inserted.

 

Is there any way to PERMANENTLY prevent the Photos App from handling digital media FOR ALL DEVICES by default?  Any way to reset the default behavior in Terminal perhaps???

 

I am not the only Photographer who prefers the Adobe software and has a bag full of SD cards that get reformatted routinely.  It is seriously aggravating to come back from a shoot with 8 SD cards full of new media and wait for Photos to launch before returning to the Adobe family of software to import media over and over again.  It's a major workflow disruption!

Mac Pro (Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Photos v1.0.1

Posted on Aug 16, 2015 9:53 PM

by infernalmachine,Solvedanswer
infernalmachine infernalmachine
Level 1 (2 points)
A:

Hey guys.  I've had just about enough of the Photos app trying to assert it's dominance over my media cards...  Trying to delete the app altogether, the OS gives me an alert that it cannot be modified or deleted because it is required by the operating system.  Well too damned bad!  So I took a heavy-handed approach that seems to have solved my issue.

 

!!!  I do not recommend this approach unless you thoroughly understand the implications.  Proceed with extreme caution.

 

I right-clicked on the photos app icon, and selected "Show Package Contents."  For safety, I first selected everything in the "Contents" folder and right clicked again to "Compress selected files."  I left the new zip-file in place so that I can extract contents if I need them in the future, but then deleted all of the original files within the Photos App's Contents folder.  This prevents the app from opening at all, because it effectively removes all of the application code from where it should be.  I still have the Photos.app icon in my Applications folder, but effectively it is an empty container. 

 

In addition to preventing the photos app from opening, this will prevent the operating system from performing any task that requires the photos app.  As far as I can tell, this disables PhotoStream.  I am not sure about AirDrop, but I don't care at all about those kinds of services.  If you're still reading, probably neither do you.  This solution remains effective after restarting, but I recommend disabling automatic updates in the App Store as well.

 

This is not a consumer-appropriate solution, but for we professionals who rely on professional imaging software, it does seem to do the trick.  Use your own best judgement, but I hope this helps!

Posted on Nov 13, 2015 1:32 PM

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infernalmachine

Q: PERMANENTLY Prevent Photos from Opening Automatically

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  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 24, 2015 5:16 PM in response to mikefromiowa park
    Level 10 (84,646 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 24, 2015 5:16 PM in response to mikefromiowa park

    you are welcome

     

    LN

  • by alberti-nl,

    alberti-nl alberti-nl Dec 25, 2015 12:05 PM in response to Tenex
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 25, 2015 12:05 PM in response to Tenex

    I did what Tenex suggested, ("If connecting causes Photos to launch, launch Image Capture and select in turn each device listed and the carat in the bottom left corner then select "No Application") and yes IT WORKS.

    BUT.

    After new update of MacOS it started all over again. The prefs that were set in this way evidently were overwritten.

    • Is Apple forcing us to use Fotos? Just like forcing a browser on customers?
    • Apple should know better.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Dec 25, 2015 12:55 PM in response to alberti-nl
    Level 10 (84,646 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Dec 25, 2015 12:55 PM in response to alberti-nl

    then tell Apple not the users here as we can not change anything - we can only tell you how to use what there is http://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

     

    LN-

  • by myronfromspokane,

    myronfromspokane myronfromspokane Jan 3, 2016 9:07 AM in response to JadedEye
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2016 9:07 AM in response to JadedEye

    I just tried your idea. And IT WORKED on my Macbook Pro, thank you.  Monday when I go into work I'll give it a try on my Mac Pro desktop.  Do you think Apple will fix this ? Can we give them our input somehow to fix this ridiculous situation with their OS ?   Thanks again for your suggestion.....

    Myron

  • by Yax Attax,

    Yax Attax Yax Attax Feb 18, 2016 12:54 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2016 12:54 PM in response to léonie

    I don't recommend running with System Integrity Protection disabled since it confers very strong anti-malware protections by essentially locking down core system components so that even a root user can't modify them.  But for those who want to temporarily disable it in order to make changes to the Photos app (or any other protected app, e.g. the equally horrible Apple Mail app), here is the procedure:

     

    1.  Restart computer holding down Command-R to boot up in Recovery Mode.

    2.  Go to menu bar and launch Terminal application.

    3.  At the command line prompt, type "csrutil disable" (without quotes), followed by the RETURN key.

    4.  Restart your computer, log in normally, and do whatever it was you wanted, such as disabling Photos.app etc.  (My preferred method for disabling an app is to disable the execute privileges by using the "chmod 000" command in Terminal, but there are other ways as well.  Google it if you are not familiar with "chmod" or Terminal.)

    5.  After you finish making your changes, restart into Recovery Mode a second time, launch Terminal from the menu bar again, and type "csrutil enable" (without quotes) followed by RETURN key to re-enable System Integrity protection.

    6.  Reboot a final time and log in normally.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Feb 18, 2016 1:49 PM in response to Yax Attax
    Level 10 (106,958 points)
    iCloud
    Feb 18, 2016 1:49 PM in response to Yax Attax

    You can disable the protection, yes, but I would not recommend do that to remove a part of the system software.

  • by S.P.L.,

    S.P.L. S.P.L. Feb 23, 2016 5:48 PM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2016 5:48 PM in response to Old Toad

    This worked great. I did this for both Photos and Image Capture and now my workflow isn't being interrupted by those 2 programs that I never need to use. I am a professional in the television industry and I deal with hundreds of different media cards per month, so this is actually important to my workflow. Thanks Old Toad. (Yosemite).

  • by S.P.L.,

    S.P.L. S.P.L. Feb 23, 2016 6:23 PM in response to infernalmachine
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2016 6:23 PM in response to infernalmachine

    After going through some of these hacks, and they worked, my super genius friend helped me with a less hacky, more appropriate way to disable Image Capture and Photos from auto opening every time you insert a new card (since the OS sees them as new "devices"). Open terminal and type:

     

    defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool YES


    defaults -currentHost write com.apple.Photos disableHotPlug -bool YES

     

    Hope this helps.

  • by snoodis,

    snoodis snoodis Mar 13, 2016 9:23 PM in response to S.P.L.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 13, 2016 9:23 PM in response to S.P.L.

    Congrats Apple, this is a great feature!

  • by zenfort,

    zenfort zenfort Mar 14, 2016 7:21 AM in response to S.P.L.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2016 7:21 AM in response to S.P.L.

    Thank You!

    used:
    defaults -currentHost write com.apple.Photos disableHotPlug -bool YES

  • by ccColoradoJohn ,

    ccColoradoJohn ccColoradoJohn Mar 25, 2016 1:32 PM in response to JadedEye
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 25, 2016 1:32 PM in response to JadedEye

    This worked great.  Thanks.  I've kept the code and your note for future use.  John Avery Cañon City, CO 03/25/16

  • by M.A.Stough,

    M.A.Stough M.A.Stough Mar 26, 2016 1:57 PM in response to infernalmachine
    Level 1 (58 points)
    Apple Music
    Mar 26, 2016 1:57 PM in response to infernalmachine

    I couldn't agree with you more...Photos is not for professionals or even prosumers...it is a "selfie generation garbage collection scheme" at best.  I so miss Aperture (well, I will when it finally stops working...must be why I won't update a MacBook Pro's Mac OS!).  Thanks for this tip.

  • by JonathanCross,

    JonathanCross JonathanCross Apr 7, 2016 5:04 AM in response to LarryHN
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 7, 2016 5:04 AM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks LN, I just sent my opinion to Apple:

     

    Allow users to uninstall Photos app

     

    Hello,

    The Photos app may be useful to some people, but many people (like myself) do not want this app on our computers.  It is extremely annoying that everytime I insert an SD card it opens and yet I cannot uninstall Photos like other apps.

     

    This app is just a fluffy add-on, the integrity of the system should be in no way dependent on it, yet users are unable to cleanly remove it even with super user credentials.

     

    This points to serious integrity / design problems with the Mac OSX system that such an unimportant app is not properly encapsulated.

     

    >> “Photos.app” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X.

     

    As a developer, I rely on my Mac to remain secure and clearly delineate between core apps "required for proper functioning of the system" and apps which may be fun, entertaining or possibly helpful to new users, but may be useless to power users.

    Photos is firmly in the second category.

     

    In general, I am very impressed with OSX, but that is exactly why I expect better, user-focused engineering from your developers.

    Power users like myself should have the option to easily run a lean, secure version of the OS with only the components we need.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Jonathan

  • by JonathanCross,

    JonathanCross JonathanCross Apr 7, 2016 5:16 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 7, 2016 5:16 AM in response to léonie

    >> defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool YES

    This works for me in OSX 10.11.3

     

    It seems to be the same as changing to "No application" setting in the Image Capture GUI dropdown.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Apr 7, 2016 6:19 AM in response to JonathanCross
    Level 10 (106,958 points)
    iCloud
    Apr 7, 2016 6:19 AM in response to JonathanCross

    Yes, that works. It disables the start of any application. But when I suggest this, most users complain, because they want to be able to start an application of their choice, just don't want Photos to launch.

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