Whenever you insert an SD card from a digital camera, drone, or GoPro into your Mac’s card reader, macOS assumes you want to import the images immediately. It automatically launches the built-in Apple “Photos” application and forcefully brings it to the front of your screen.
If you are a professional photographer who uses Adobe Lightroom, or a video editor who just wants to drag raw MP4 files from the SD card directly onto your desktop, this automatic launch is incredibly annoying. You are forced to manually quit the Photos app every single time you connect a card. You can configure macOS to completely ignore your SD cards and leave them alone.
How to Stop the Photos App from Opening Automatically
You can disable this auto-launch behaviour directly within the Photos application settings.
- Insert your SD Card into your Mac so that the Photos app opens automatically. (If it doesn’t open, launch the Photos app manually from your Applications folder or Spotlight).
- With the Photos app open and active, look at the very top-left corner of the app window (just below the main macOS menu bar).
- You should see your SD Card listed under the “Devices” section in the left-hand sidebar. Click on your SD Card.
- Look near the top-left of the main viewing window. You will see a small checkbox labelled: Open Photos for this device.
- Click the checkbox to deselect it.
- Safely eject your SD Card and close the Photos app.
The next time you insert that specific SD card, macOS will simply mount it silently on your desktop or in Finder, allowing you to access the raw files without the Apple Photos app aggressively interrupting your workflow.