iTunes starts up whenever I connect my bluetooth headset

I have a new bluetooth headset that pauses and resumes each time I take them off or put them on. Today is the first time trying them to stream music from a web site and found the issue that many others have described.

A quick scan of this thread showed a few solutions, but I did not quickly find a solution like the one that I threw together this morning. Here it is:

Using your favorite editor, create a file called iTunesSniper.sh with the following contents. I put it in a bin directory that I have off my home directory.

while [[ 1 -eq 1 ]]; do

d=`date`

killpid=`ps -A | grep iTunes$ | tr -s ' ' | cut -d'?' -f1`

rc=$?

if [[ ${rc} -eq 0 && ! -z ${killpid} ]]; then

kill ${killpid}

echo "${d} killed"

fi

sleep 1

done

make sure that the file is executable.

chmod +x iTunesSniper.sh

Run the script from the terminal window. Every second it will check for the iTunes process and when it finds it, it will kill it. It will print the date and time each time it kills the pid. When you don't need it's help anymore, ctl-c will exit the script and iTunes will run without having to rename anything or change any permissions.

bin$ ./iTunesSniper.sh

Tue Aug 11 10:05:45 CDT 2015 killed

Tue Aug 11 10:05:46 CDT 2015 killed

Tue Aug 11 10:05:47 CDT 2015 killed

Tue Aug 11 10:05:48 CDT 2015 killed

Tue Aug 11 10:05:55 CDT 2015 killed

I hope that this helps.

Copy this into a plain text file called "killitunes".

Right before you connect headphones, go to terminal. Go "perl killitunes".

If anything launches iTunes (including you), this program force-quits it.

This program auto-quits, or you can quit it with ctrl-C.

#!/usr/bin/perl

my $endtime = time + 300; # will quit in 300 seconds. Change at will.

while (time < $endtime) {

foreach (`ps -aef`) { # read each line into special variable $_

next if (not m=/iTunes.app/=); # skip if not part of iTunes app

next if (not m=/iTunes =); # skip if not the main iTunes program

my $pid = substr ($_, 6, 5); # parse out 5-digit process ID

system "kill $pid"; # force quit that process ID

print "Killed $pid $_\n"; # tell user. \n is return

} # end foreach

sleep (2); # wait 2 seconds to avoid overload

} # end while time

This problem still persists. iTunes is annoying af because it provides no way to disable, uninstall, or generally stop from auto-playing whenever I connect my bluetooth speakers. From reading forums, you used to be able to turn this off -- but they've removed that feature. I like OS X, but the force-feeding of software is overbearing and unnecessary. As a customer, it's a negative experience.

I've done a combination of suggestions here and it's seemed to worked on OS X Mavericks 10.9.3.

1. Renamed iTunes.app and create psuedo.app that does nothing and replaces iTunes auto-play launch

   Outlined in a post HERE

2. Removed execution permissions from renamed iTunes.app (in my case renamed to noItunes.app)

   In terminal.app: sudo chmod -x /Applications/noTunes.app/

My only concern is an Apple admin is reading this all will patch iTunes, I'll be forced to d/l the update, and this will no longer work. 😮

Someone please try this in Terminal.app (which will disable bluetooth discoverability of your laptop):

sudo defaults -currentHost write com.apple.Bluetooth DiscoverableState -bool FALSE

sudo killall blued

Let me know if iTunes.app starts automatically when you turn on your headphones afterward.

Thanks!

Shane

This worked for me: delete the iTunesHelper application from Apple->System Preferences->Users & Groups->Login Items

I can also confirm that the simplest solution is the best.

Just remove "Itunes Helper" from login Items. Problem solved!

System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Items.

OK,

I managed to rename the app in terminal by:

cd ~/Applications/

sudo mv iTunes.app iTuneF.app

password...

now when i connect my TDK the renamed iTuneF.app starts anyway, but doesn't play music. GREAT.

.... not really. When i connect second time (with iTuneF.app ON) the stupid starts to play again.

I even created fake iTunes.app with automator. the only think it has to do is to quit the iTuneF.app and it does when clicked in dock. but on bluetooth connect nothink.

So this fix only works it you keep renamed itunes app OFF.

AND i have no idea what will happen now when there will be itunes update of some sort. will the system panic and go under bad?

will see

still i really dont like what is happening with apple. wee lose all controll of our own machines.

PS. sorry ofr posting reply. i tried to edit, but it crached after one and now i have no edit button in my post.

jespermolgaard wrote:

I can also confirm that the simplest solution is the best.

Just remove "Itunes Helper" from login Items. Problem solved!

System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Items.

I'm glad that works for you but many, many, many, many, .... people have tried that to no avail.

Go to sytem preferences

Go to bluetooth

Highlight the RF-MBA2

Click Advanced

Check reject incoming audio request. This should do it.

In honor of your fix, here is a possible one-liner adaptation:

while :; do pkill iTunes$ && /bin/echo -n "killed at " && date; sleep 1; done

Stopping rcd is the answer. Haven't yet tried to see what happens after reboot.

Au contraire, madam... in fact, this is officially STILL a problem in 10.9 Mavericks. I am using an LG HBS-730 headset, and the iTunesHelper fix most certainly did not make a difference. Before I invest some phone time, have any of you fine folks tried calling Apple Support to speak with a tech? If so, what was the result?

Somewhat simple workaround with no negative side effects that I'm aware of:

Open Terminal and (If you aren't already logged in as an admin) su to your admin user:

-su myadminaccount

-[enter password]

Still in Terminal; Go to your applications directory and rename iTunes.app:

-cd /Applications

-mv ./iTunes.app MyiTunes.app

Do not connect a bluetooth device just yet. This prevents iTunes from opening but allows you to still put MyiTunes.app on your dock so you can open it yourself. When you connect a bluetooth device, you'll still get a message that asks "Where's iTunes". To get past this, do the following:

Open Spotlight and search for "AppleScript Editor". This shows a blank area for entering your script. Simply go to File>Save, Enter the file name as something like "DoNothing", select the directory you want this file to reside and change the File Format to "Application".

Lastly, connect a bluetooth device which should bring up the dialog mentioned above. Click browse and select the "DoNothing.app" that you saved in the previous step. That's it!

Works for me, good luck.

I would suggest that everyone in this thread call support, chat with support online and/or go to the genius bar. If it costs Apple money by taking up support time they'll make a change. Complaints in the "support" forums don't cost them anything.

A simpler solution: put your laptop or desktop to sleep; activate the bluetooth device and itunes will not be seen by it.

I use my iphone to play my Spotify Premium on a Bose Minilink; putting the laptop to sleep worked perfectly.