macOS System Settings
New features in System Settings allow you to see, enable and disable apps that run in the background
Some apps automatically run tasks in the background on the Mac, and before macOS Ventura, it was not obvious which apps did this and how to stop them. Although you could look at Login Items in the old System Preferences, it rarely showed anything.
The new System Settings app changes everything and Login Items now displays more startup items than in previous versions of macOS. It still isn’t perfect, but it is much better at revealing what background tasks run and it gives you the controls to allow or prevent them. Here we look at the new Login Items and methods of modifying background apps.
Step-by-step Customise background apps in macOS
Login Items used to be in Users & Groups in old versions of macOS, but it has been moved in Ventura. Select ‘General’ in the sidebar and click ‘Login Items’ on the right.
Login Items has been redesigned and now there is an ‘Allow in the Background’ section. Items listed here run automatically. Use the switches to stop any you don’t need.
Click the ‘+’ button below the ‘Open at Login’ list. Select any app that you want to run automatically when you log in. For example, you might want Stickies or Reminders.
Apps on the ‘Allow in Background’ list cannot be deleted, only disabled, but apps on the ‘Open at Login’ can be removed. Select apps and click the ‘–’ button.
If an app adds an entry to background apps in Login Items, a notification appears on the screen. Startup items may be configured in apps. Check in their settings.
The ‘Allow in Background’ list gets its information from folders in /Library and ~/Library. Take a look, but don’t change anything unless you are an expert user.
Background tasks
Configure automatic apps and task
