# How to make sure app is not running in the background on macOS [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSibcNslSK8 "How to make sure app is not running in the background on macOS") ## Requirements - Computer running macOS Catalina or Big Sur ## Caveats - When copy/pasting commands that start with `$`, strip out `$` as this character is not part of the command - When copy/pasting commands that start with `cat << "EOF"`, select all lines at once (from `cat << "EOF"` to `EOF` inclusively) as they are part of the same (single) command ## Setup guide > Heads-up: following steps illustrate how to make sure “Adobe Creative Suite” is not running in the background, but same logic should apply any app. ### Step 1: find app launch agent and daemon bundle identifier prefix ```console $ ls -A1 {,~}/Library/LaunchAgents /Library/LaunchDaemons /Library/LaunchAgents: at.obdev.LittleSnitchHelper.plist at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a23d420d.plist com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist com.adobe.GC.AGM.plist com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist com.adobe.ccxprocess.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons: at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist com.adobe.acc.installer.v2.plist com.adobe.agsservice.plist com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist local.pf.plist local.pmset.plist local.spoof.plist org.virtualbox.startup.plist org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist /Users/sunknudsen/Library/LaunchAgents/: com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist local.borg-wrapper.plist org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist ``` com.adobe 👍 ### Step 2: disable app launch agents and daemons > Heads-up: don’t worry if you see “Could not find specified service” warnings. ```shell BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER_PREFIX="com.adobe" sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/{LaunchAgents,LaunchDaemons}/$BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER_PREFIX*.plist launchctl unload -w {,~}/Library/LaunchAgents/$BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER_PREFIX*.plist ``` ### Step 3: disable app extensions Open “System Preferences”, click “Extensions” and disable app extensions (if any).  ### Step 4: add `kill-apps` helper to `.zshrc` > Heads-up: following step assumes macOS is configured to use “Z shell” (running `echo $SHELL` should return `/bin/zsh`). ```shell cat << "EOF" >> ~/.zshrc # Kill apps that match string function kill-apps() { IFS=$'\n' red=$(tput setaf 1) normal=$(tput sgr0) if [ -z "$1" ] || [ "$1" = "--help" ]; then printf "%s\n" "Usage: kill-apps string" return 0 fi printf "%s\n" "Finding apps that match “$1”…" sleep 1 processes=($(pgrep -afil "$1")) if [ ${#processes[@]} -eq 0 ]; then printf "%s\n" "No apps found" return 0 else printf "%s\n" "${processes[@]}" printf "$red%s$normal" "Kill found apps (y or n)? " read -r answer if [ "$answer" = "y" ]; then printf "%s\n" "Killing found apps…" sleep 1 for process in "${processes[@]}"; do echo $process | awk '{print $1}' | xargs sudo kill 2>&1 | grep -v "No such process" done printf "%s\n" "Done" return 0 fi fi } EOF source ~/.zshrc ``` 👍 --- ## Usage guide ### Make sure “Adobe Creative Suite” is not running in the background ```console $ kill-apps adobe Finding apps that match "adobe"… 46639 /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Desktop Common/IPCBox/AdobeIPCBroker.app/Contents/MacOS/AdobeIPCBroker -launchedbyvulcan /Applications/Adobe Premiere Pro 2020/Adobe Premiere Pro 2020.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 46645 /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Creative Cloud Libraries/CCLibrary.app/Contents/MacOS/../libs/node /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Creative Cloud Libraries/CCLibrary.app/Contents/MacOS/../js/server.js 46653 /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud Experience/CCXProcess/CCXProcess.app/Contents/MacOS/../libs/Adobe_CCXProcess.node /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud Experience/CCXProcess/CCXProcess.app/Contents/MacOS/../js/main.js 46655 /Applications/Adobe Premiere Pro 2020/Adobe Premiere Pro 2020.app/Contents/MacOS/LogTransport2.app/Contents/MacOS/LogTransport2 86E222CE52861AEA0A490D4D@AdobeID 1 0 NOVALUE NOVALUE Kill found apps (y or n)? y Password: Done ``` Done 👍