By default, macOS assumes that any SD card or external hard drive containing a DCIM folder (Digital Camera Images) is a camera. The moment you insert an SD card into your Mac’s card reader, the operating system aggressively launches the native Apple Photos app in the foreground, completely interrupting whatever you were working on.
If you are a professional photographer or videographer, this behavior is incredibly frustrating. You likely do not use Apple Photos; you use Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, or simply drag and drop the files directly into the Finder. Having to manually quit the Photos app every single time you swap memory cards wastes valuable time and system resources.
You can configure macOS to permanently ignore SD card insertions, preventing the Photos app from ever launching automatically.
How to Stop the Photos App from Auto-Launching
To fix this, you must change a hidden setting within the Apple Photos app itself.
- Insert your SD card or connect your camera to your Mac so that it mounts on the desktop.
- Allow the Photos app to open automatically (or launch it manually from the Applications folder).
- In the left-hand navigation sidebar of the Photos app, look under the “Devices” section and click on your SD Card (or camera name).
- Look at the very top-left corner of the main viewing window. You will see a small checkbox labeled Open Photos for this device.
- Uncheck this box.
- Quit the Photos app.
This setting is device-specific, meaning you will have to uncheck it once for every unique camera or SD card you own. Once disabled, the next time you insert that specific SD card, macOS will simply mount it silently in the Finder, allowing you to import your RAW files using your preferred professional software.