Google LLC Running in Background on Mac

It's in the Terms of Service (TOS)

I'll wager that somewhere in the voluminous TOS document we all scroll through when we install Chrome, we agreed to allow Google to do these things.

Unfortunately, I use my Mac for work and the company's default browser is Chrome. More and more, I experience websites that don't function properly on Safari (or even MS Edge). You MUST be running Chrome. It's like the earlier days of US and state government (and higher education) sites requiring Internet Explorer to function properly, even while the US government was suing Microsoft for monopolistic practices. So, I have to have Chrome installed.

stingysting wrote:

I was just using my mac, and I noticed that a login item/background item automatically added itself to the list. What is Google LLC? Is this something I should be worried about?

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/751e719e-8e15-4d62-a656-f1db72735285

I would not worry about it no.

This where google stores your account data for whatever "Google Services" you use...

It show it is off, what is the issue then?

You can remove it, to suit your needs:

ref: Change Login Items settings on Mac - Apple Support

if in doubt—refer to the developers website; Support/Help/FAQ/known issues/compatibility /updates/uninstall:

Contact a third party vendor

Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support

John,

Thank you for agreeing with me. The nuance of what I said was " I am assuming this is because I allowed Google Updater to run." I concluded that by allowing Google to auto-update they would auto-update just the application I had installed, not use that permission as a backdoor to infect my computer with any software they wanted to. I have Chrome on my computer because I run into websites that won't work with Safari. Not many, but sometimes.

Google has violated the privilege I provided it. Time to shut them down.

Do you understand what it means when someone actively installs software? Did the OP go off to google.com, download something then run the installer and agree to the terms&conditions? That’s called active installation and that’s clearly not what he did.

Regardless of the OP, on the previous page, user Gloofer stated...

My wife just got that Google LCC message, on her brand new Mac, with no Google Crome or other Google apps installed.

So that's not a good sign. I assumed this was directly tied to Google apps, specifically Google Chrome.

Far too many people suggest removing Chrome will be enough to remove this entry or it's your own fault for installing Chrome in the first place without giving any practical advice on how to remove it.

So, let's get it removed.

Firstly uninstall any Google apps you have installed like Chrome and restart.

Then delete any file with google in it's name from these locations: -

~/Library/LaunchDaemons

~/Library/LaunchAgents

~/[user profile]/Library/LaunchAgents

Note the 'Library' folder in your profile will be hidden, just use terminal and delete them manually.

Restart and 'Google LLC' won't show up in the 'Allow in the background' list.

Enjoy

Do you really want Google to infest your Mac?

Do you know what it does?

Are you sure?

If the answers to those questions is "yes" then you have your answer.

Maybe I'm here wondering what the OP is. This just showed up this morning, 11/8/23. I also have Google Updater, which has been there likely since I installed Chrome years ago.

This new Login Item has no icon and just showed up separately from the existing Google item. This is how I got to this forum. Yes, I understand that Google installs updaters etc etc, and whether or not one wants this or agrees with it or not has nothing to do with why an odd Login Item was created called Google LLC. Which incidentally, these can be called anything you want them to be called, so there remains the possibility that this is not from Google at all.

Does anyone else have this on their computer and can provide thoughts, input about it other than just "Google is evil" rhetoric?

Clearly I was unsuccessful in my earlier attempt to logically draw the reader to his or her own resolution. The solution is to uninstall Google.

It's not as though they make it a secret. You can even Google it.

With that notification, Apple is doing its best to inform the user that he or she willfully infested his or her Mac with Google, and is presumably at peace with such an overt act.

If you delete the files, Google will just replace them and automatically enable them, not unlike malware.

manklar wrote:

What worries me most is that apple allows them to add without user input these kind of things but to remove them you need to input your password, how is it that you need to input your password and they do not need user input to allow this!!!

You needed to input your password when you installed Google.

Buy into their system? A bit like Microsoft buying up games companies so they 'Pavlovian condition' your children into liking their brand. Not to mention all the business-social media, github and all that. We are gradually getting owned.

This Google 'invasion of privacy' is synonymous with Microsoft Behaviours which caused me to abandon that vendor (almost) entirely. I've been a supporter of Google until recent weeks until the fiasco with YT (wanting me to remove an adblocker so I can watch content that has been monetised by 'content creators' that plagiarised the works of well-known artists). It's become a disgrace.

What else does apple allow that we don't know about?

Apparently my earlier replies were unclear. You needed to input your password when you installed Google. When you did that, you agreed to Google's Terms and Conditions. Presumably, you were comfortable with them at the time. If you have had a change of heart, the solution is to uninstall Google.

Except it simply isn't true. Google created a parent company named "Alphabet" and Google is now a subsidiary of Alphabet and Google is an umbrella company for other Google internet-related businesses such as YouTube and Android.

Long story short, YouTube is not owned by Meta or Facebook.

Also, nobody installs "Google" on their Mac anymore than a Windows user installs "Apple" on their PC when they install iTunes. It's pretty clear this "Google LLC" login item is from Google Chrome specifically.

I also am wondering what Google LLC is as a login item, as this is exactly what I'm seeing after seeing the same notification. I'm also wondering why it has been added separately from Google Updater without any overt action on my part and what its purpose is. That is fundamentally why I am in this forum.

It is truly unhelpful to tell people that they have agreed to random unexplained login items being installed without an overt opt-in because they clicked "agree" at the end of a 100,000 word legal document that no one ever reads in order to use one of the most ubiquitous browsers in the world.

People who are here (including me) don't always have the level of sophisticated understanding of everything the software is doing or what we supposedly "agreed" to in order to use a common web browser. That's why we are here. We are trying to figure out the implications so we can make informed decisions and take the appropriate actions. The OP is probably just trying to figure out if this thing is thing trying update Chrome, or if it's got some nefarious level of privacy violating purpose (and permissions) that we are not even aware of, outside of being a nosy, privacy violating web browser we use from time to time. Or how about this possibility: what if it were malware masquerading as a component of Google software to mask its purpose?

It's not an unreasonable question, and I look forward to finding out the actual answer!

It's not an unreasonable question, and I look forward to finding out the actual answer!

Your question has been answered multiple times already, but this Discussion has become hopelessly clogged with irrelevant, distracting, and / or flat out wrong replies.

If you need help please post a brand new question. To do that, click the Ask the Community link above.