macOS processes

What is assistantd on Mac?

assistantd is the Siri daemon. When you use Siri, its traffic can show under assistantd. The Siri settings control it.

Process: assistantdApplies to: All current macOS versions. Seen on macOS 27.2.Checked: 29 October 2026

Where you see it

  • assistantd is in the list in Activity Monitor › Network, in nettop or in Kilobat.
  • A firewall or network monitor asks if assistantd can connect.
  • Traffic appears after you ask Siri something.

What it is

The man page calls it the “Siri Daemon” and says that it enables Siri features. It is in the AssistantServices framework of macOS.

Apple does not document which Siri requests go to its servers and which stay on the Mac.

Why it uses the network

  • Siri requests. Some answers need information from the internet, for example weather or web results.

Is it normal?

Yes, when you use Siri. Apple does not publish how much data Siri uses.

See how much it uses

  1. Open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities. Click Network.

  2. Type assistantd in the search field. The Sent Bytes and Rcvd Bytes columns show what it moved.

  3. In Terminal, watch only this process. Press d to show the change per second, and q to quit.

    nettop -p assistantd -P

Reduce or pause it safely

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings > Siri.

  2. Change how Siri listens, or click Turn Off Siri if you do not use it.

  3. Do not quit assistantd in Activity Monitor. It is part of macOS, and other features depend on it.

With Kilobat

  1. Open the Kilobat app list and search for assistantd. Its row shows the live rate and the bytes it moved.

  2. In Terminal, see the same live list. Press / and type the name to search.

    kilobat status --watch

  3. Show its traffic over one day. Names match kilobat report --summary.

    kilobat bandwidth assistantd day

  4. Through MCP, an AI agent gets the same history with get_app_bandwidth and the name assistantd.

  5. The live view is free. History in the app needs Pro. Kilobat records history only while the app runs.

Questions

Does assistantd listen all the time?

The Siri settings decide how Siri listens. You can turn off voice activation there.

Sources

Sources checked on 29 October 2026. Man pages are the ones installed with macOS; open one with man <name> in Terminal.