How to Stop iPhoto from Opening Automatically

Photos on Mac is the default application on Mac devices that allows users to open and view photos while also handling their Photos Library. The application's features also include the ability to sync photos between iPhone and Mac, organize the pictures on the computer into albums, and even tweak them by utilizing the built-in editing tools. One aspect of iPhoto that users find to be rather annoying, however, is the application starting automatically whenever an iPhone is connected to the Mac computer. It doesn't matter if the user wanted to simply charge the battery, Photos on Mac will launch itself and begin synchronizing the pictures between the two devices.

Fortunately, stopping this behavior of Photos on Mac can be achieved in just a few steps. Start by connecting your iPhone to the Mac with a USB cable. Wait for the Photos application to open, and then choose your device from the left sidebar. Now, look for the 'Open Photos' option and untick the checkbox in front of it. To save the change, simply close the Photos application.

An alternative method is to use Terminal. Start Terminal from the Launchpad. All that is left is to type the following command and press Enter:

'defaults -current Host write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool YES'

If at any point you would want to restore the autostart functionality of the Photos application, start Terminal and use the same command, but instead of 'YES' at the end, type 'NO':

'defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool NO'

Although Terminal might look intimidating at first, it is a useful and convenient tool that can often achieve the desired results in just a fraction of the time.