Useful macOS defaults: Photos

com.apple.Photos has limited hidden settings. Photos keeps most of its configuration inside its own library and through iCloud sync.

After changing these, quit and reopen Photos.

Stop Photos from opening when you connect a device

When you plug in an iPhone, iPad, or camera, Photos opens by default. To stop this:

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool true

Note: this setting lives in the Image Capture domain, not the Photos domain. It stops Photos (and Image Capture) from launching when any camera device is connected.

To let it open again:

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool false

Stop Photos from opening for every device

You can also set this per device in Image Capture.app. Open Image Capture, select your device in the sidebar, and change the "Connecting this device opens" dropdown to "No application".

Read current Photos settings

defaults read com.apple.Photos

Notes

Most Photos behaviour is controlled inside the app through Photos, then Settings: iCloud Photo Library, download originals, and so on. These are synced through iCloud and stored in the Photos library database, not in the defaults system.

The most useful defaults tweak for Photos is the Image Capture one above, which stops the app from launching every time you plug in your phone.

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