You updated to macOS Sonoma 14.5, restarted, and now every few minutes you get a notification that says "Background Items Added" for apps you already approved months ago. It's annoying and it doesn't stop. I've seen this on M1 MacBook Airs and Intel iMacs alike, and it usually starts right after the 14.5 update finishes and you log back in.
The good news: this isn't a virus or a sign your Mac is broken. It's a notification loop tied to how Sonoma handles login items. You can fix it. Start with the simplest option and work your way down. Stop as soon as the alerts go away.
Quick Fix (30 seconds): Toggle the Notification Off for the Culprit App
First, find out which app is triggering the notification. Open System Settings (Apple menu > System Settings). Scroll down and click General, then Login Items.
You'll see a list under "Allow in the Background." Look for any app with a toggle that's on but that you don't recognize or don't need running at login. Common offenders after the 14.5 update: Google Updater, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, Microsoft AutoUpdate, and various helper tools.
- Click the toggle next to the app to turn it off.
- Wait about 10 seconds. You should see the toggle stay off and no new notification pop up.
- Restart your Mac to confirm the notification doesn't return.
If the notification still shows up, the app is stubborn and re-registers itself. Move to the moderate fix.
Moderate Fix (5 minutes): Reset the Background Task Database
Sonoma stores login item approvals in a database. Sometimes that database gets out of sync after an update and keeps re-approving the same items, which fires the notification again. Resetting it forces macOS to rebuild the list cleanly.
Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal). Paste this command and press Return:
sfltool resetbtmYou'll see a message like "Reset Background Task Management database." That's exactly what you want. Now restart your Mac.
After the restart, open System Settings > General > Login Items again. The list will look shorter because macOS rebuilt it from scratch. Go through each entry and turn off anything you don't recognize or don't need. You should notice the "Background Items Added" notifications stop within a few minutes.
If they keep coming, one specific app is aggressively re-registering itself. That's why the advanced fix exists.
Advanced Fix (15+ minutes): Hunt Down the Offending App and Remove Its Login Item
This step takes longer because you're going to find the exact app that keeps triggering the notification and remove its login item directly. It's worth it if the first two fixes didn't stick.
Step 1: Check the system log for the trigger
Open Terminal and run:
log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.backgroundtaskmanagement"' --last 1h --style compactYou'll get a wall of text. Look for lines containing "Background Items Added" or "BTM" followed by an app name or bundle identifier. That's your culprit. Copy the app name.
Step 2: Locate and remove the login item plist
Background items live in a few places. Check these folders:
~/Library/LaunchAgents/
/Library/LaunchAgents/
/Library/LaunchDaemons/In Finder, press Command + Shift + G and paste each path. Look for a file matching the app name you found in the log. Common ones look like com.google.keystone.agent.plist or com.adobe.acc.installer.plist.
Don't delete files you don't recognize. If you're unsure, move them to your Desktop instead of trashing them, so you can restore them if something breaks.
Drag the matching plist to the Trash. Empty the Trash.
Step 3: Restart and verify
Restart your Mac. Open System Settings > General > Login Items. The offender should be gone from the list. Watch for 10 minutes. If no notification appears, you're done.
If it comes back, the app has a built-in updater or helper that reinstalls the login item. In that case, uninstall the app completely (using AppCleaner or the developer's own uninstaller) and reinstall the latest version. Most vendors fixed this in updates released after Sonoma 14.5.
Why This Happens After 14.5 Specifically
Sonoma 14.5 changed how macOS validates background items during login. Apps that register a login item but don't properly sign or renew their registration get re-added every time you log in. The notification fires each time. It's a bug in the OS combined with apps that haven't updated their launch agents for Sonoma's stricter rules.
You can safely ignore the notification if you don't mind it popping up. Your Mac isn't at risk. But if you're tired of seeing it, the steps above will stop it.
When to Update Instead of Fix
Before you dig too deep, check for a macOS update. Apple released fixes for this in later 14.x releases. Open System Settings > General > Software Update. If 14.6 or later is available, install it. That alone resolves the issue for most people and saves you the manual cleanup.
If you're stuck on 14.5 for compatibility reasons, the fixes above are your best bet. Start with the 30-second toggle, and only go deeper if the notification won't quit.