The short answer
“Background Items Added” means an app registered something to run on its own: a login item, a launch agent or a background helper, often an updater like GoogleUpdater. To see it, open System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions. Each item is listed under its app or developer, and you can switch it off there.
On this page
What the notification means
macOS keeps a list of everything that starts by itself: apps that open at login, and items that run in the background without a window. When an app adds to that list, macOS shows a notification, usually titled Background Items Added, that names the app. Its exact wording varies between macOS versions.
| Kind | Where it lives | How it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Login item | Listed in Login Items & Extensions | Opens when you log in, like any app. |
| Launch agent | ~/Library/LaunchAgents (you) or /Library/LaunchAgents (every user) | A program launchd runs as you, at login, on a schedule or all the time. |
| Launch daemon | /Library/LaunchDaemons | A program launchd runs as root, without anyone logged in. |
| Background helper | Inside the app itself | A helper the app registers with macOS, listed under the app's name. |
Login item
- Where it lives
- Listed in Login Items & Extensions
- How it runs
- Opens when you log in, like any app.
Launch agent
- Where it lives
~/Library/LaunchAgents(you) or/Library/LaunchAgents(every user)- How it runs
- A program
launchdruns as you, at login, on a schedule or all the time.
Launch daemon
- Where it lives
/Library/LaunchDaemons- How it runs
- A program
launchdruns as root, without anyone logged in.
Background helper
- Where it lives
- Inside the app itself
- How it runs
- A helper the app registers with macOS, listed under the app's name.
Most are ordinary: updaters, sync clients, menu bar helpers, drivers for a mouse or an audio device. The point of the notification is that you know, and can decide.
Step 1: find the item in System Settings
- Choose Apple menu → System Settings, click General, then Login Items & Extensions.
- The top list is the apps that open at login.
- The background list below it, called Allow in the Background on macOS 15 and App Background Activity in Apple's newer guide, shows the items that run on their own, each under the app or developer it belongs to.
- Find the app the notification named. Click the info button next to it, where there is one, to see the individual items.
Step 2: look at the launch agent itself
Launch agents and daemons are small files, one per item. Listing the three folders shows who has added what:
ls ~/Library/LaunchAgents /Library/LaunchAgents /Library/LaunchDaemons~/Library/LaunchAgents:
com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.plistplutil -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.plist"AssociatedBundleIdentifiers" => [ "com.google.GoogleUpdater" ]
"Label" => "com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake"
"ProgramArguments" => [ "…/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleUpdater", "--wake-all", … ]
"StartInterval" => 3600- ProgramArguments is the program that runs, with its options.
- StartInterval is how often, in seconds: 3600 is every hour.
RunAtLoadmeans at login, andKeepAlivemeans it's restarted if it quits. - AssociatedBundleIdentifiers names the app. The
launchd.plistman page says this key “indicates which bundles are associated with this job in the System Settings Login Items UI”.
Step 3: check who signed it
codesign -dv --verbose=2 "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app"Identifier=com.google.GoogleUpdater
Authority=Developer ID Application: Google LLC (EQHXZ8M8AV)
TeamIdentifier=EQHXZ8M8AV“Developer ID Application” followed by a company name means the developer is registered with Apple and signed the program. If codesign says the code isn't signed, or the name is one you don't recognise, find out what installed it before you leave it running.
Step 4: turn it off, or leave it
- To stop an item running, switch it off in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions. The app stays installed and works when you open it, but whatever the item did in the background stops, for an updater, automatic updates.
- To remove it for good, uninstall the app it belongs to. Deleting the file by hand works for agents in your own Library folder, but the app may add it again the next time it opens.
- If you don't recognise the item or its signer, switch it off first, then look up the app.
The faster way: New at login alerts in iKnowMyMac
iKnowMyMac tells you when an app quietly adds a login item, background service or launch agent, with what it is, which app added it, who signed it and when it runs. Changes macOS makes in an update come as one line instead of a dozen.