Comments on: iTunesHelper – What does iTunes Helper do?

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:02:11 +0000

I was having all sorts of problems with my iMac; everything would freeze up after about two minutes of operation. I suspected hard drive problems, but a clone of the drive did the same thing. Three days later, I discovered this page, and disabled iTunesHelper, and VIOLA! Problem solved. I’ve been using Macs for 20+years, and can’t remember the last time a problem was this baffling.

By: carmichael

carmichael — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:11:10 +0000

Kat, you sound like a Mac. Do you have Airfoil software installed? Or anything else that calls iTunes (and launches it when needed) in order to send your music to a wireless device? Airport Express? AppleTV? Home Sharing? Another device may be calling for iTunes because it depends on it. You may need to turn off that automatic feature in the other device. For example, if I don’t deselect my Airport in Airfoil, iTunes may re-launch when Airfoil is running, just not always. Try googling itunes launches on its own. hth

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:48:07 +0000

LOL, So much easier on PC like every thing (U BETTER PUBLISH THIS COMMENT YOU KNOW ITS TRUE) Nice tip btw it helped

By: iPhone, iPad won't sync? iTunes Helper might need help | FairerPlatform

iPhone, iPad won't sync? iTunes Helper might need help | FairerPlatform — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 07:06:49 +0000

[...] to OS X Daily, iTunesHelper is a program from Apple that runs in the background and monitors for idevice [...]

By: If you don’t have iProducts « Please Make Sense

If you don’t have iProducts « Please Make Sense — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:18:39 +0000

[...] As the name suggests, this executable helps iTunes. No, it doesn’t help the iTunes user (unless you are currently connecting and iPod or iPhone to your computer). It helps iTunes use up as [...]

By: Pablo

Pablo — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:16:18 +0000

if you disable the helper your keyboard play key will no longer launch itunes from cold. just FYI.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:49:32 +0000

kat, you are probably pressing the F8 key, or whatever key is the “play/pause” button. Pressing that in snow leopard will automatically open iTunes. Same as when you use the apple remote to press the play/pause button.

Also, iTunes helper does not have anything to do with opening iTunes when an iPod or iPhone is connected. You can control that in the “preferences” for iTunes app.

By: Min10-2008

Min10-2008 — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:32:45 +0000

Hey guys my iTunes Helper is disabled in Windows (7 Hm Prem), I can add CD’s to iTunes but they won’t sync to the Ipod, Using 9.2.15 & Vers 4.0. Can anyone direct me what I should do please? Thanks

By: bailey

bailey — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:30:02 +0000

How do you turn off if you want every thing you have bought put on oyur ipod

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:51:04 +0000

Does anyone know if this causes iTunes to auto-launch unexpectedly without an iPod or phone connected?

I have been having problems with this… iTunes will launch constantly. If you close it, it opens right back up. So infuriating. I removed the itunes helper a while ago, so i’m not sure this is related at all.

I’ve run disk utility and am now thinking of uninstalling iTunes completely. Then I found this thread and thought maybe this is related?

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
kat

By: Dave M.

Dave M. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:06:51 +0000

I would guess that the iTunesHelper is a daemon that is used in conjunction with Home Sharing. The part where if the machine you are sharing with buys new content, it’s copied to your computer automatically.

By: pastavekek

pastavekek — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:51:36 +0000

Hello,the box is only for hiding the app on launch.

By: Eric M

Eric M — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:35:40 +0000

Yeah, what Gord said.

You have to hit the ‘-’ button and remove it. The checkbox just auto hides the app on launch.

By: Gord Buchanan

Gord Buchanan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:17:30 +0000

Unchecking the box will do nothing – the box is only for hiding the app on launch. You need to remove it by selecting it and then clicking on the minus (-) at the bottom of the list.