The Automatic Apple Music Launch Problem
A common and highly frustrating issue for macOS users occurs when connecting a pair of Bluetooth headphones, such as AirPods, or even just pressing the play button on a media keyboard. The operating system will often automatically launch the Apple Music app, even if you were intending to watch a YouTube video, use Spotify, or simply listen to a podcast in a web browser. This aggressive auto-launch behaviour disrupts your workflow and forces you to constantly quit the Apple Music application manually.
Preventing Apple Music from Launching Automatically
Unfortunately, Apple does not provide a simple toggle switch in System Settings to disable this behaviour. However, you can prevent the app from launching by using a clever workaround that removes the application’s permission to respond to media keys and Bluetooth triggers.
1. Open the Terminal application on your Mac (you can find it by searching in Spotlight with Command + Space).
2. You will need to use a command line tool called launchctl to unload the specific background process responsible for triggering Apple Music. Carefully copy and paste the following command into the terminal:
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist
3. Press Enter to execute the command. You may be prompted to enter your administrator password.
Reverting the Changes Later
By executing this command, you are disabling the Remote Control Daemon (rcd), which listens for commands from Bluetooth headsets and media keys specifically meant to trigger Apple’s default media player. From now on, connecting your headphones will simply connect the audio output without forcefully launching any applications.
If you decide later that you actually miss this feature or if you fully transition to using Apple Music as your primary player, you can easily reverse the process. Open the Terminal again and run the exact same command, but replace the word “unload” with “load”:
launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist