Launch agents and login items: see what starts with your Mac

Why your Mac starts up slowly

A fresh Mac starts with little more than macOS. Over the years, apps add things that run at every login: an updater that checks for new versions, a helper that keeps a menu bar icon alive, a sync tool, a service you installed once and forgot. Each one starts with your Mac and keeps running in the background, using memory and CPU, often for an app you rarely open.

Many of them are launch agents: small .plist files in ~/Library/LaunchAgents that tell macOS's launchd which program to start and when. They don't appear in the Dock and are easy to miss, and some stay behind after the app that installed them is gone.

Every launch agent, with the app it belongs to

Startup Items lists the launch agents in your Library. Each row shows the app's name and icon when the program it runs lives inside an app, or a readable name taken from its label when it doesn't, so homebrew.mxcl.postgresql@17 shows as postgresql@17. Below that are the full label and the path of the program it starts, and a pill that says whether it is Enabled or Disabled.

Turn off startup items without deleting them

Flip an item's switch and Tidy My Mac stops the job right away and sets its file aside as .plist.disabled, so launchd no longer starts it at login. Nothing is deleted. Flip it back and the file is restored and the job loaded again, without a restart. If an app stops working the way you expect, turning its agent back on is one click.

Which startup items can you turn off?

A few rules of thumb help when you go down the list:

• Apps you no longer use. If you don't recognize the app or haven't opened it in months, its agent is doing work for nothing.
• Updaters. Many apps also check for updates when you open them, so a separate updater running all day adds little.
• Services you started for one project. A database or development server installed with Homebrew keeps starting at every login until you stop it.
• Things you rely on. Keep agents for backup, sync, password managers and input devices on, unless you know the app works without them.

The program path on each row tells you what actually runs, which helps when the name alone doesn't.

To remove an agent for good together with its app, use the Uninstaller, which also finds agents left behind by apps you already deleted.

Apps that open at login

Apps you set to open at login, and those listed under "Allow in the Background", are kept by macOS in its own database, which only System Settings can change. Startup Items doesn't pretend otherwise: its Open Login Items button takes you straight to System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions to manage them there.

The system-wide agents and daemons in /Library, which run for every user, are listed with their live state in Background Services.

Your measured boot time

Instead of guessing, Tidy My Mac measures each startup: from the moment the kernel booted to the moment the Dock and Finder came up for your login. It records one measurement per restart and shows your average boot time with your most recent boots by date, so you can see whether turning items off made a difference. A boot where the Mac waited at the login window for a long time isn't counted, so it can't skew the average. The same figure appears in Performance.

Know when something new starts with your Mac

With Tell me when an app adds a background item on in Settings, which it is by default, Tidy My Mac notifies you when something installs a launch agent, launch daemon, privileged helper or login item while it is open, and at its next launch for anything added while it was closed. What was already there when you started is never reported. From the notification you can Show the item, Disable a launch agent, Scan with Antivirus, or choose Don't Tell Me Again for This App.