Apple Explains How to Keep Your Mac From Turning on When Opening Lid

[Naraxus]

No, I'm right. Here's proof from Wikipedia:


Source:

Scott Forstall - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

No. Yet again you're wrong and the article you linked to does little to prove your stance. Little tip: Designing things such as user interfaces, a web browser etc ≠ "leading the developement" as you put it.

The Father of Mac OS X Is Leaving Apple

Bertrand Serlet, the guy who led the development of Mac OS X since the beginning, is leaving Apple. He was one of the heavyweights and a legendary figure

gizmodo.com

Look, we all get it. You worship Forstall and despise Cook. That's fine, it's your opinion, but if you're going to make claims, at the very least back them up.

 

[FlyingDutch]

And why could this not be a preference setting?

I was wondering the same thing 🤔

 

[DunedinD]

Steve Jobs released the Macintosh in 1984 with a GUI so users wouldn't ever have use a command prompt. But here we are 41 years later in 2025, and under Tim Cook's so-called "leadership," users have to use a command prompt.

Jobs should have never made Cook CEO. Jobs should have made Scott Forstall CEO.

Forstall was responsible for leading the development of Mac OS X (and iOS). If Clueless Cook hadn't fired Forstall, Forstall would've still been at Apple. The absurd situation of users having to use a command prompt in 2025 for basic functionality would've never happened if Forstall was still in charge of Mac OS.

C’mon, there have been Terminal commands for all manner of useful customisations dating back to very early Mac OS X. Sites and magazines have been publicising them literally for decades. Their lack of GUI has absolutely sweet f.a. to do with Tim Cook being in charge.

 

[Hillstones]

Steve Jobs released the Macintosh in 1984 with a GUI so users wouldn't ever have use a command prompt. But here we are 41 years later in 2025, and under Tim Cook's so-called "leadership," users have to use a command prompt.

Jobs should have never made Cook CEO. Jobs should have made Scott Forstall CEO.

Forstall was responsible for leading the development of Mac OS X (and iOS). If Clueless Cook hadn't fired Forstall, Forstall would've still been at Apple. The absurd situation of users having to use a command prompt in 2025 for basic functionality would've never happened if Forstall was still in charge of Mac OS.

Mac OS X was introduced in 2001 with UNIX and the terminal. It is NeXTStep, from Steve Jobs’ company NeXT. For 10 years, Steve Jobs ran Apple with Mac OS X (2001-2011). People have been using the terminal for over 20 years with the Mac. Has nothing to do with Tim Cook or Forstall. Forstall was an a$$ and responsible for the awful Apple Maps and refused to apologize for that disaster, that he was responsible for. That’s why he got fired. Cook didn’t invent the terminal. It’s been part of the Mac since 2001.

 

[quietstormSD]

Upvote. I did notice this with my MacBook Air I got recently, and didn't like it.

Thanks MacRumors!

 

[macfacts]

And why could this not be a preference setting?

Having to type command line commands is why Linux will never be for common users.🤔

 

[Hillstones]

Does this also work with Intel Macs? This lame feature started with the 2016 and later MacBooks.

Some asked why this should be disabled? If you are repairing a Mac and disassembling it, the last thing you want it to do is turn on when opening the display. Or if you plug in to charge, and the dumb thing turns on and you have to shut it down again.

 

[ginkobiloba]

Flippin’ ’eck, what is this, Linux?

Almost, it’s Unix.

 

[contacos]

I’ll use the command to disable booting when connected to a power source right away!

The amount of times I turn it off after work, only for it to start up again 😵‍💫

 

[DanneP]

I don't have any problems typing commands in the terminal but it makes me wonder why not just put this simple, basic setting in the settings app. All this effort going into meaningless things like memojis, "AI" that is of no practical use, and so on, but an actually useful and simple setting like this is hidden behind a CLI for 90% of the people.

Come on Apple, get your act together now.

 

[ZZ9pluralZalpha]

Yeeeeah, use cases like "what if I want to use my MacBook as a doorstop in a room full of sleeping tigers" are not, in my book, sufficient reason for stuffing another toggle switch into System Preferences. It's times like these that I find myself missing Jobs' unapologetic "we designed it right, it's you who is wrong" approach... because a lot of the time, he was correct.

 

[platinumaqua]

What's the use case for opening the laptop and not wanting it on?

Say you wanted the computer to be off for any reason. Since there's no power indicator light anymore, you can't easily tell with the lid closed. Got to open the lid to check if the screen turns on to see if the computer is off.

 

[throAU]

4 years later ... and you have to use Terminal ...
maybe MacOS Death Valley will have a setting when it comes out ...

Edge case of edge cases doesn’t get a GUI.

 

[philstubbington]

I want to charge my MacBook but I don’t want to use it View attachment 2477516

Nope, still don’t get it. Why charge with the case open?

 

[majkom]

And why could this not be a preference setting?

Hard to implement cause laser focused bla bla bla 🤷‍♂️

 

[MacAddict1978]

Now if only there were a fix for MacBooks turning external displays on while they’re asleep (even with Power Nap disabled) and connected via thunderbolt…

or turning them on after reboot without having to power cycle them

 

[cyanite]

And why could this not be a preference setting?

Because most people aren’t gonna use it, and it’s always a balance when you put in more preference settings, since the UI will get cluttered.

Flippin’ ’eck, what is this, Linux?

Unix

It just works™

It does, though? It works as most people would expect and are used to.

I want to charge my MacBook but I don’t want to use it View attachment 2477516

Just keep the lid closed?

Is there possibly a YouTube tutorial on how to properly do this for someone who is not familiar with using terminal?

It should be easy enough to follow the steps from Apple

 

[brgjoe]

Here's what I don't get.

When I first power on the Macbook or it has been sleeping for a period of time, I have to TYPE IN A PASSWORD to get it unlocked. Why not have a SETTING that you can use your fingerprint ID to open it up instead?

Sheesh, even my lowly Gateway laptop has fingerprint ID which immediately unlocks the laptop when powering up.

 

[RemedyRabbit]

If only there was an option to keep the lid open but use 2 external displays on the Macbook Air M3 (for cooling purposes).

The display limitations on the Airs blow my mind. I’ve got a crappy 5 year old work issue dell laptop which can manage it no problem.

 

[CPx]

A reason to not want the macbook to auto boot is if you just want to quickly check if it's off. I can go long periods of time between needing my macbook so I like stowing it off. Now I can quickly double check without having to boot it and shut it down again if it was already off!

 

[RemedyRabbit]

Nice one macrumours, I’ll be running this in terminal straight away. The amount of times I’ve opened the lid to check it’s turned off only to hear the DUURRRNNNNGGGGG

 

[lovehateapple]

What's the use case for opening the laptop and not wanting it on?

Occasionally I want to make sure my MBP is off and not just asleep. While I can somewhat understand why apple installed auto-boot upon opening the lid, it should have always been a customizable user setting in system preferences.

 

[Godspeed8230]

Apple, what's wrong with the good old power button?

 

[svish]

Good to see that Apple is publishing about this on the website. Should have been made easier with an option for it in System Settings. Hopefully Apple will implement it in the future version of macOS

 

[l0ken]

Great. Now disable wake up on mouse movement on all macs...