Tell Your iPhone to Stop Opening iPhoto!
Every time I plugged in my iPhone, it had this nasty habit of opening iPhoto for me. Not because it wanted to drive me to drink, but because iPhoto is set to open any time a digital camera is connected to my computer – which, technically, an iPhone is.
To stop this behavior, you won’t find any preference in iTunes or iPhoto, where you would normally think to look. This little gem can be found in a separate application in your Applications folder called Image Capture.
Open Image Capture and go to the Preferences menu (under the Image Capture menu item). Under the General tab, change the option for “When a camera is connected…” to “No Application” instead of “iPhoto”.
This means you’ll have to manually start iPhoto when you connect your digital camera, but you won’t have to CLOSE iPhoto every time you plug in your iPhone (which, for me, is a heck of a lot more often than plugging in a camera!)
Thanks heaps! that was starting to really annoy me
This works just as well for stopping this behavior every time I plug in my card reader with a card formatted by my Nikon. I store other things besides photos on the card, but the camera formats the card with its namesake. So, until now, every time I go to transfer a Word file iPhoto thinks a camera is being plugged in. Not anymore!
I actually read this post, followed the instructions and wrote this comment while waiting for iPhoto to open, load, and quit.
Thanks Michael! PS: Great site!!
Thank you for posting this! This was driving me nuts!
thank you thank you thank you! this was driving me crazy!!
Excellent work! This was really beginning to annoy me also and I had exhausted the ‘Preferences’ section of iPhoto to no avail. Hopefully this will be a future iTunes enhancement so that OSX can distinguish between a camera being connected and an iPhone which is connected way more.
More thanks!
thanks!
that was driving me mental!
Brilliant tip, this problem was really, really annoying me
thanks!
Now, please let me know if this asks for a password. If it does, tell me how to get around it.
Anyway, I couldn’t figure out how to keep iPhoto form opening every time I plugged in my iPhone, so I made this dinky app and stuck it in my apps folder.
Download it here (if I posted it right):
http://idisk.mac.com/fredgood/Public/iPhotoOrNo.app
Open Image Capture, and in Preferences, select “When a camera is connected open:” and navigate to your Applications folder to select “iPhotoOrNo.app”. Now, it asks you if you want to begin the tedious task of opening iPhoto!
Yay, me!
Sorry if you have trouble downloading this….I’m a total noob. Tell me how and I’ll fix it.
You’re the Mac Daddy….
Haha! I hope you’re not being sarcastic!
Did the download work ok?
Here are photos of the settings….http://web.mac.com/fredgood/iWeb/Site/Wii%20online%20via%20Internet%20Sharing%20via%20Airport%20via%20iMac.html
Thanks for fixing my Mac with this simple trick. You continually help me negotiate the new Mac life. I feel more secure knowing you and Phorium are supporting me. Cheers!
thanks – can’t believe that apple made that option so hidden
FYI: The option to open no application when a camera is connected is built into iPhoto ‘08. It is under Preferences>General>Connecting Camera Opens…
You may wish to clarify that this is for older versions of iLife/iPhoto.
kaustic – consider it noted! Thanks for the info!
Thankyou buddy. The whole autoiphoto was getting incredibly annoying!!
C
I love you, man. And I love Google, too, for finding you four months later.
I love u too! Thanks a lot for the tip “desactivate iPhoto opening when iPhone is connected”!
THANK YOU!! Good God that was annoying
Thanks allot mate… this was getting on my nerves
I opened my image capture in aplications and found no preferences. Any suggestions?
Bullwinkle
Bullwinkle: Choose the “Preferences…” option from the Image Capture menu. You’ll find it there.
Thanks again, I was surprised to find so many others as frustrated as I, over this behavior.
Googled this question and your answer was the first to come up!! Thank you for this information!!
what if i dont have image capture? i have leopard and that program does not show up in my applications for some reason.
Hi bob,
iPhoto ‘08 now has the option to disable this in the preferences with an option called “Connecting camera opens:” in the General pane. If you don’t have iPhoto ‘08 I’m not sure what the option would be without Image Capture…
What would be really nice is to figure out how to set mac up to open iphoto when a camera is inserted but NOT when an Iphone or any other specified device is inserted.
TTTTTTHHHHHHHHAAAAAANNNNNNNKKKKKKKKSSSSSSS
This has been a steering wheel on my groin area for a long time
(Driving me nuts)
you da man!
Awesome, useful!
thanks!!!
Thank you Very much! It was getting quite annoying!
THANK YOU!!!
Oh man! Thank you.
I hated that happening.
Thanks a lot for this one – I wouldn’t have thought to look there. What a nuisance.
Thanks dude, I was ready to choke someone…
Thanks so much, totally a nuisance and now taken care of!
Thanks so much. How could Apple have been so blind about this?
Thank you!
I wish this setting could be finetuned. I have Image Capture open automatically when I plug in any of my camera’s, and I’d like it to stay that way. I generally plug in a camera to transfer pictures to my Mac.
I’d much rather have the option to disable Image Capture for my iPhone only, since I generally plug in the phone to sync it with iTunes or recharge the battery.
Thanks very much.
Thank you – Great help!
Thank God! This was starting to drive me nuts!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I was looking everywhere to turn this off, thank you SO much. I sit at my computer with my phone plugged into it, it rings, I unplug it, I get off the phone, and plug it back in and have to close IPHOTO again and again and again and again and now…nevermore.
i’ve been wanting to do this for ages!!
Thanks….that was eassy!!
Thanks!!! I can’t believe I put up with that for so long when it was so easy to fix!