Stop apps reopening windows after a Mac restart

You restart to clear the decks, and the moment you log back in macOS drops the whole mess right back on you — every window, every half-read document, every app you thought you'd closed. There are two switches that cause this: a per-restart checkbox in the shutdown dialog, and a system-wide setting that makes apps restore their windows on relaunch. Turn both off and a restart finally means a fresh start.

The checkbox in the restart dialog

The fastest fix is right where the problem starts. When you choose Restart or Shut Down from the Apple menu, macOS shows a confirmation dialog with a small checkbox at the bottom.

1. Click the Apple menu → Restart… (or Shut Down…).
2. In the dialog, uncheck Reopen windows when logging back in.
3. Click Restart.

This time your Mac comes back to an empty desktop. The catch: the checkbox remembers your choice for a while but isn't guaranteed to stay off forever, and it does nothing for apps you quit and reopen by hand during the day. For that you want the permanent setting below.

Make it permanent

macOS has a feature called Resume that saves each app's windows when you quit so they come back on next launch. Restarting is really just quitting everything at once, so switching Resume off is what stops the pile-up for good. There's a checkbox for it:

1. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock.
2. Scroll to the Windows section near the bottom.
3. Turn on Close windows when quitting an application.

The label is the inverse of what you're doing — "close windows on quit" is exactly "don't reopen them on launch." It's the same toggle on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia. Prefer the Terminal? One line does the same thing:

# Apps launch empty instead of restoring their last windows
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false

# Undo — let macOS restore windows again
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool true

The change applies to any app you quit after running it, so log out and back in (or just restart once) to be sure every app has picked it up. No killall is needed.

What still comes back — and why

A few apps keep their own memory and ignore the system setting. Safari is the big one: whether it reopens your tabs is governed by Safari → Settings → General → "Safari opens with", so set that to A new window if you don't want your last session back. Apps you've added as login items also relaunch on their own — that's separate from window restoration, and they'll open even with an empty desktop. If a specific app keeps flooding back after you've flipped everything here, check its own preferences before assuming the setting didn't take.

With Resume off and the restart checkbox clear, "Restart" does what you actually meant: it clears memory, closes everything, and hands you a clean slate to start from.

While you're at it

If restarting is your go-to fix for a sluggish Mac, it's worth knowing how often it actually helps — see how often you should restart your Mac for when a restart earns its keep and when it's just habit.