Disable auto start for Android File Transfer

disable-auto-android-file-transfer.md

• Close Android File Transfer
• Open Activity Monitor and kill “Android File Transfer Agent”
• Go to where you installed “Android File Transfer.app” (I have it under /Applications)
• Ctrl+click –> “Show package contents”
• Go to Contents/Resources
• Rename “Android File Transfer Agent” to e.g. “Android File Transfer Agent_DISABLED”
• Then go to “/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer” and again rename the Agent app.

The permissions trick worked great for me. All I did was:

In Settings app > Users & Groups > Login Items, first unlock the settings panel then remove the Android File Transfer Agent entry
Open a Terminal and sudo -s
Change permissions on the agent app: chmod 000 /Applications/Android\ File\ Transfer.app/Contents/Helpers/Android\ File\ Transfer\ Agent.app
Change ownership to root on the agent app: chown root:wheel /Applications/Android\ File\ Transfer.app/Contents/Helpers/Android\ File\ Transfer\ Agent.app
Delete the Application Support directory: rm -r ~/Library/Application\ Support\Google\Android\ File\ Transfer
Open Activity Monitor and force kill the Android File Transfer Agent process

That's it. I confirmed that re-opening the Android File Transfer app no longer adds the launch entry or makes the copy to Application Support directory and the app no longer auto-launches when a device is plugged in.