How To Control Which Apps Launch At Startup Mac

To use any of these key combinations, press and hold the keys immediately after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac, or after your Mac begins to restart. Keep holding until the described behavior occurs.

Start up from an OS X startup volume when the Mac would otherwise start up from a non-OS X startup volume. Command-V: Start up in verbose mode. Eject (⏏), F12, mouse button, or trackpad button. Startup items have long been a tool used to ensure applications and scripts execute when a Mac is started up. Here's how to easily modify these items. Image: Apple Inc.

Command (⌘)-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery system. Or use Option-Command-R or Shift-Option-Command-R to start up from macOS Recovery over the Internet. macOS Recovery installs different versions of macOS, depending on the key combination you use while starting up. If your Mac is using a firmware password, you're prompted to enter the password.
Option (⌥) or Alt: Start up to Startup Manager, which allows you to choose other available startup disks or volumes. If your Mac is using a firmware password, you're prompted to enter the password.
Option-Command-P-R:Reset NVRAM or PRAM. If your Mac is using a firmware password, it ignores this key combination or starts up from macOS Recovery.
Shift (⇧): Start up in safe mode. Disabled when using a firmware password.
D: Start up to the Apple Diagnostics utility. Or use Option-Dto start up to this utility over the Internet. Disabled when using a firmware password.
N: Start up from a NetBoot server, if your Mac supports network startup volumes. To use the default boot image on the server, hold down Option-N instead. Disabled when using a firmware password.
Command-S: Start up in single-user mode. Disabled in macOS Mojave or later, or when using a firmware password.
T: Start up in target disk mode. Disabled when using a firmware password.
Command-V: Start up in verbose mode. Disabled when using a firmware password.
Eject (⏏) or F12 or mouse button or trackpad button: Eject removable media, such as an optical disc. Disabled when using a firmware password.

If a key combination doesn't work

If a key combination doesn't work at startup, one of these these solutions might help:

Be sure to press and hold all keys in the combination together, not one at a time.
Shut down your Mac. Then press the power button to turn on your Mac. Then press and hold the keys as your Mac starts up.
Wait a few seconds before pressing the keys, to give your Mac more time to recognize the keyboard as it starts up. Some keyboards have a light that flashes briefly at startup, indicating that the keyboard is recognized and ready for use.
If you're using a wireless keyboard, plug it into your Mac, if possible. Or use your built-in keyboard or a wired keyboard. If you're using a keyboard made for a PC, such as a keyboard with a Windows logo, try a keyboard made for Mac.
If you're using Boot Camp to start up from Microsoft Windows, set Startup Disk preferences to start up from macOS instead. Then shut down or restart and try again.

How To Control Which Apps Launch At Startup Mac

Remember that some key combinations are disabled when your Mac is using a firmware password.

Learn more

Learn what to do if your Mac doesn't turn on.
Learn about Mac keyboard shortcuts that you can use after your Mac has started up.

What are startup items?

Startup items, or login items, are services and applications that launch every time you start your Mac. These are applications that sneak into startup items without notice, never asking if you need or want them there. This way you may end up with a dozen apps launching as soon as you turn on your Mac, weighing heavily on its processor and memory capacities and slowing it down. Such items can increase your Mac’s startup time and decrease its performance.

Plus, sometimes when you remove an application or a service, it leaves a login item with a broken link. These broken login items are completely useless, cause unwanted messages, and waste your Mac's resources (because they look for non-existent applications). Whether you're running macOS Catalina or El Capitan, or earlier — it's all the same, so just read on.

So, let's go over how to take control of login items, and how to get rid of unwanted, broken or hidden startup items.

How To Control What Apps Open On Startup Mac

How to disable startup programs?

Do you want to stop programs from running at startup? There’s an easy way to remove programs from startup and get your Mac to load faster on launch. The fastest way to turn off startup items on Mac is an app like CleanMyMac X.

Download CleanMyMac for free.
Launch the app.
Open Optimization tab.
Click on Login items.
From the list of apps, disable the ones you don’t need on startup.
Done!

How to change startup programs manually?

Disabling Mac startup programs is possible manually. Therefore, if you have some time and would like to do it yourself, follow the steps below.

Your login items are listed in settings. One of the easiest ways to control startup items is inside System Preferences > Users & Groups.

Open System Preferences.
Go to Users & Groups.
Choose your nickname on the left.
Choose Login items tab.
Check startup programs you want to remove.
Press the “–” sign below.
You’re done.
If you need to add an item back, press “+” and choose the app you’d like add.
Then restart your Mac to see the changes.

How to fix broken startup items?

Broken Mac startup files are left there because some part of apps are left on your Mac long after you’ve moved the app to the Trash. To get rid of these parts and to fix your startup, you’re going to need CleanMyMac again. First, you need to check if they’re among startup items and disable them if so. You can do it following the instructions above. Then you need to remove app leftovers. CleanMyMac works fine on macOS High Sierra and earlier OS.

Launch CleanMyMac.
Choose Uninstaller tab.
Scroll through the list of apps.
If you spot any app that you’ve deleted, check them.
Delete the app leftovers you’ve chosen.

You can also find and remove broken login items with the help of System Junk module:

Choose System Junk tab.
Click Scan.
Review details and click Clean.

Finally, you need to clean your macOS startup items through launch services:

Open Maintenance tab.
Choose Rebuild Launch Services.
Hit Run.
Done.

Once you do it, all broken app data on your Mac will be fixed.

Remove daemons and agents from startup process

If speaking of files, first go to the system folder /Library/StartUpItems. Here you’ll find all the startup files that are being launched with the system. You can delete the login item you think is necessary if you’re totally sure what you are doing.

Also, the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder contains a bunch of preference files that define how the application that is being launched along with the system should work. You might want to delete some of these files as well if you know you don’t need them and removing them is safe.

The /Library/LaunchAgents contains preference files responsible for the apps that launch during the login process (not the startup).

The above-mentioned folders contain app-related files. However, you can also check system folders to review whether you need some of the system applications to be running on startup:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons - note that besides preference files this folder contains other important system items that are recommended to keep untouched.
/System/Library/LaunchAgents - most probably, you won’t also find anything worth removing in this folder, however, keeping this location in mind might help you find files related to a problematic app that causes troubles on Mac startup. If you have a problematic application that messes about on login, you can try to trace it back from this folder.