How to Stop GarageBand From Connecting to Bluetooth Devices

If you’ve been using GarageBand for any amount of time, you’ve likely come across the annoying problem where GarageBand will continuously ask you to connect to nearby Bluetooth devices. It’s easy to fix, so no worries.

What You Need to Do First

The first thing you need to do is pull out your Bluetooth headphones (or whichever device is causing the problem) and get GarageBand to ask you to connect.

There is no other way to ask it to avoid disconnecting to your device unless you set it to “When Last Connected To This Mac/iPad” which I’ll explain to you later in the article.

If you’re trying to stop GarageBand macOS from connecting to external Bluetooth devices while in the middle of a session, you have to check the box, “Do Not Show This Message Again for this Device.” Once selected, you’ll no longer receive prompts to connect to devices without asking.

No More Annoying Bluetooth Connections in GarageBand. Click this box. — It surprised me to see online that many people don’t know how to fix this issue. It’s as simple as checking the box.

The same thing goes for other connections. For instance, it’s not uncommon for my operating system to ask me to connect to Loopback from Rogue Amoeba. If you click the box I told you to, it won’t ask again.

Instead, you’ll have to go into the Audio settings and set it up manually with the “Input Device” and “Output Device.”

Another Way to Stop Automatic Bluetooth Connection in GarageBand

Bluetooth Connectivity — The next method involves going into your computer’s settings, selecting Bluetooth, choosing your device by pressing the “info” icon, and then selecting “When last connected to this Mac” under “Connect to this Mac.”

Of course, you can also tell your operating system to “Forget This Device” as well, but then you’ll have to pair it again.

I think it makes the most sense to simply set it to the aforementioned setting instead. This will ensure that you’ll only connect to your Bluetooth device when it was last used with your computer, iPad, or iPhone.

But what about if you’re having the same problem in GarageBand iOS? The solution is a little different because, in my experience, you don’t get a prompt for your input and output devices in the same way.

How to Stop GarageBand iOS From Connecting to Bluetooth Devices

There are a couple of ways of doing this on both operating systems. I’ll include the best one first because that’s likely what you came for.

The following two methods are provided in case you’re unfamiliar with navigating the settings.

1) Disable The Bluetooth “Automatically” Connection

A) Go to Your Settings > Select Bluetooth > Select your Device (Info)

Settings Bluetooth AirPods Pro .jpg — If you’re unfamiliar with the Settings app, look for the ‘Gear’ icon.

B) Select “Connect to this iPad”

C) Set the Configuration to “When Last Connected to This iPad”

This will make it so that your AirPods (or whichever device you’re using) will only connect if your iPad/iPhone/MacBook was the last device you used them with.

This will probably work better for you than having it set to “Automatically.” As I was saying a moment ago, there are a couple other less effective methods. But I’ll show them to you anyway for the sake of being thorough.

2) In the Bluetooth Settings, You Can Choose to ‘Disconnect’ or ‘Forget This Device.

Disconnect or Forget This Device in the Bluetooth Settings — You can choose Disconnect or Forget This Device. Personally, I prefer “Disconnect,” because then you don’t have to pair your devices again.

3) Turn Off Bluetooth Connectivity

The last method involves simply turning off Bluetooth. But when you do this, it’s going to turn off all your devices which may or may not be what you want.

Do you have any tips or things like you’d to share in the comments? Let me know if you need help with this and I’ll do my best to give you a hand.

Also, feel free to share your thoughts if you have any other ideas.

Recording