Stop Photos opening when you plug in your iPhone

When Photos launches every time you connect your iPhone, two settings stop it. The quickest: open Photos, select your iPhone under Import in the sidebar, and untick Open Photos for this device. To silence it for every device at once, one Terminal command disables the global hot-plug behaviour that Image Capture controls.

Turn it off for this iPhone (in Photos)

1. Connect your iPhone and unlock it; tap Trust if prompted.
2. Open Photos and find your iPhone under Import in the left sidebar.
3. At the top of the import view, untick Open Photos for this device.

From now on, Photos leaves that iPhone alone when you plug it in — you can still open Photos manually to import whenever you want. This is the cleanest fix if it's only your own iPhone that keeps triggering the app, and it works the same on Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia.

Turn it off for everything (in Image Capture)

Image Capture is the app that actually owns what happens when a device connects — even for Photos. It's the reliable place to change the behaviour:

1. Open Image Capture (in Applications, or via Spotlight).
2. Select your iPhone in the Devices list on the left.
3. Click the small toggle arrow at the bottom-left to reveal the options.
4. Set Connecting this iPhone opens to No application.

That setting sticks with the device, so nothing auto-launches the next time you plug it in.

The global switch in Terminal

To stop any phone, camera, or card reader from auto-opening an app, disable hot-plug globally. The -currentHost flag is required — the key is stored per-Mac and the command silently does nothing without it:

# Stop devices auto-opening Photos / any app on connect
defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool true

# Undo — let devices open apps again
defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool false

Unplug and reconnect the iPhone for the change to take hold. No restart or logout is needed — the setting is read the next time a device connects.

This doesn't stop your photos syncing

Turning off the auto-launch changes one thing only: whether an app opens when you plug in. It has no effect on iCloud Photos, which syncs your library over the internet in the background, cable or no cable. New shots still reach the Mac through iCloud as usual — you've simply stopped the import window from ambushing you at the port. If you rely on iCloud for everything, you may not need cable imports at all: the phone and Mac stay in step on their own, and plugging in becomes purely about charging.

If it still opens afterwards

Two things catch people out. First, the Photos checkbox is tied to the specific device, so a second iPhone — or the same phone reappearing under a new identifier after an iOS update — may need the box unticked again. Second, if you set it in Photos but it keeps launching, use the Image Capture route instead; Image Capture is the authority on connect behaviour and overrides stragglers. And do reconnect the phone after any change, since macOS only re-reads the setting when the device next plugs in.

Import on your own terms

Stopping the auto-launch doesn't stop you importing — it just puts you in charge of when. If you'd rather your shots live in iCloud and download on demand, see how iCloud Photos works on Mac.