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How can I "hard remove" or somehow disable the "Music" app from macOS Catalina+?

I assume I need to boot disable SIP or similar which I'm fine with, I'm not just sure how to find the location of this app as it doesn't appear as /Applications/Music in the terminal.

Jacksonkr
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    The Music app is located in /System/Applications/Music.app, but I would strongly recommend against removing it. You could hide it instead using sudo chflags hidden /System/Applications/Music.app. This command will only work if SIP is disabled. – jaume May 08 '20 at 14:10
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    @jaume Why do you recommend against removing it? I'm in agreement but am curious to what your provision is. Ultimately I was going to move it to a backup drive or similar, like I did in Mojave. – Jacksonkr May 08 '20 at 15:18
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    Well, generally speaking, I would recommend against removing anything within /System. You don't really know the consequences. For instance, updates may fail. Or Apple may refuse to provide support. I'm not saying it is going to happen, it may be safe to remove the Music app or Apple may be obliging, but SIP is for me synonymous with "no user serviceable". Are you willing to take the risk? I'm not, but of course, it's your choice. – jaume May 09 '20 at 16:40
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    This doesn't work for me, I get Operation not permitted even with su or as root. – jezmck Feb 09 '21 at 13:18

2 Answers2

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If you just need prevent Music app or iTunes to launch, you could use noTunes: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes

I didn't manage to find any better to disable it.

Arthur Kalimullin
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    Epic solution considering no-trace removal option. Thanks for the link! – Jacksonkr Oct 11 '21 at 21:35
  • Music has never launched unless I specifically action it. – benwiggy Nov 15 '21 at 16:00
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    Nice. Works as advertised, homebrew install, and minimal nuisance. Even its icon can be hidden. Great stuff, thank you. – Guillaume Nov 15 '21 at 19:42
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    Every single time I adjusted my earbuds or scratched my ear apple music used to fly open and ask me to buy a subscription. Now i can safely touch my ears in peace. – WhiteleyJ Nov 15 '22 at 18:38
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    Could some sue Apple for this for anti trust violation for monopoly and unfair competition? There is no way to disable/uninstall Apple Music to prevent it from opening annoyingly. Apple also rejects your App updates if it has the word "Android" in it. – coolcool1994 Sep 02 '23 at 23:45
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    Kinda annoying that you need to install 3rd party software to prevent the non-removable apple software from opening. Reminds me of the days when windows PCs used to come pre-bundled with a bunch of bloatware. – Andrew K Dec 13 '23 at 16:32
  • This works nicely on Apple M1 Pro MacBook with macOS Ventura. I see the Apple Music icon pop up when I touch my earbuds, and before it reaches its place in dock and opens like it used to, it's squashed and kicked down, disappearing into the abyss of software that no one wants to use. – 4rj4n Jan 26 '24 at 11:01
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If you want to soft-disable it, you can also Sign out (account > sign out) which will prevent the app from playing music or using any functionality that exists in the music app. Without an apple music subscription or being signed in the app looks like this - it's still possible to browse songs but they cannot be played or downloaded.

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Origami
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