Prevent iTunes opening on Play/Pause button in macOS

Question

I'm trying to prevent the iTunes app opening every time I press the Play/Pause key on my Mac's keyboard.

If I'm using Spotify or another music app, that key should control the active audio being played.

I've installed a lot of apps but none are working.

TrOnNe · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-14 08:51:40Z

1

From the Apple menu, choose “Restart…” > “Restart“.
Simultaneously press and hold the “Command” and “R” buttons. (This will start you in Recovery Mode)
Type the following to disable the System Integrity Protection and press enter:

csrutil disable

Then restart and let the login proceed as normal. Once you’re in, run the following command to disable the f#?! iTunes. This will prevent you opening iTunes

sudo chmod -x /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes

csrutil enable

To disable the 3 music keys is this command:

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist

Bye bye iTunes :)

answered Dec 13, 2018 at 11:16

TrOnNe

1591 silver badge4 bronze badges

Note that the launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist command must be performed without the System Integrity Protection enabled
– Rodrigo García
Commented Apr 30, 2019 at 20:38
3

Re last step: Doesn't this just disable those buttons? What if we still want to use them with other apps
– darkace
Commented Apr 20, 2020 at 14:10
Yes, OP made it clear that they want to use the keys with other apps, so this is not a valid answer.
– drkvogel
Commented Sep 11, 2020 at 12:36

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