--- title: "bird process on Mac: iCloud Drive sync and network use · Kilobat Guides" url: "https://kilobat.app/guides/what-is-bird.html" description: "bird is the macOS daemon behind iCloud Drive. Learn why it uploads and downloads, how to measure it, and how to control iCloud Drive sync." --- macOS processes # What is bird on Mac? `bird` is one of the macOS daemons behind iCloud Drive. Its traffic is your iCloud Drive files going up and down. Process: `bird` · Applies to: macOS 15 Sequoia and later for the Saved to iCloud path. Seen on macOS 27.2. · Checked: 29 October 2026 ## Where you see it - `bird` is in the list in Activity Monitor › Network, in `nettop` or in Kilobat. - A firewall or network monitor asks if `bird` can connect. - The Mac uploads for a long time after you copy files into iCloud Drive. ## What it is The man page calls bird one of the daemons “backing the Documents in the Cloud feature”. That feature is iCloud Drive. The program is in the iCloudDriveCore framework of macOS. The man page points to `brctl`, which manages the CloudDocs daemon and shows sync status. ## Why it uses the network - **Uploads.** Files that you add or change in iCloud Drive go to iCloud. - **Downloads.** Files that change on other devices come to this Mac. - **Desktop and Documents.** With Desktop & Documents Folders on, those folders sync too. ## Is it normal? Yes. Traffic after you add or change files is usual. Large folders take a long time. Look closer if a sync never ends. A file that cannot sync can stay in the queue. ## See how much it uses 1. Open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities. Click Network. 2. Type `bird` 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 bird -P ``` 4. Show the iCloud Drive status in Terminal. ``` brctl status ``` ## Reduce or pause it safely 1. Do large copies into iCloud Drive on your usual network, not on a hotspot. 2. Choose Apple menu > System Settings. Click your name, then click iCloud. Click Drive. 3. To stop the sync of the Desktop and Documents folders, turn off Desktop & Documents Folders. Apple's article explains what stays where. 4. To stop iCloud Drive on this Mac, turn off “Sync this Mac”. Read Apple's article first. 5. On a hotspot or a capped network, turn on Low Data Mode. Choose Apple menu > System Settings > Wi-Fi. Click Details next to the network, then turn on Low data mode. 6. Do not quit `bird` 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 `bird`. Its row shows the live rate and the bytes it moved. 2. Kilobat puts this service in the System downloads group, with one line about what it does. Expand the group to see each service. 3. With the network filter on, click the service. The panel names the apps that the downloads were for, for example “For Music”. 4. Without the filter, macOS shows only the service. Then Kilobat cannot say which app a download was for. 5. In Terminal, see the same live list. Press / and type the name to search. ``` kilobat status --watch ``` 6. Show its traffic over one day. Names match `kilobat report --summary`. ``` kilobat bandwidth bird day ``` 7. Through MCP, an AI agent gets the same history with `get_app_bandwidth` and the name `bird`. 8. The live view is free. History in the app needs Pro. Kilobat records history only while the app runs. ## Questions **Is bird a virus?** No. It is part of macOS, in the iCloudDriveCore framework, and it has a man page. **How do I see what iCloud Drive syncs?** Run `brctl status` in Terminal. It lists the iCloud containers and their sync state. ## Sources - bird(8) and brctl(1), man page installed with macOS 27.2 - [Apple Support: Change iCloud settings on Mac](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-icloud-settings-on-mac-mh36817/mac) - [Apple Support: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive](https://support.apple.com/en-us/109344) - nettop(1), man page installed with macOS 27.2 - [Kilobat docs: System downloads](https://kilobat.app/docs.html#system-downloads) Sources checked on 29 October 2026. Man pages are the ones installed with macOS; open one with `man ` in Terminal. ## Related guides - [What is cloudd on Mac?](https://kilobat.app/guides/what-is-cloudd.html): cloudd syncs app data with iCloud for apps that use CloudKit. - [What is fileproviderd on Mac?](https://kilobat.app/guides/what-is-fileproviderd.html): fileproviderd connects cloud storage apps to the files in the Finder. - [Mac uses Personal Hotspot data in the background](https://kilobat.app/guides/hotspot-background-data.html): A Mac on a phone hotspot can use a lot of data with no action from you. - [Find which app uses your bandwidth on a Mac](https://kilobat.app/guides/which-app-uses-bandwidth.html): Activity Monitor and nettop show which processes send and receive data.