macOS processes

What is identityservicesd on Mac?

Q: Why does nettop show identityservice?

nettop shows at most 15 characters of a process name. Kilobat uses the same names.

identityservicesd is part of the Apple Identity Service. iMessage and FaceTime use this service to find the keys and devices of the people you contact.

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

Where you see it

identityservicesd is in the list in Activity Monitor › Network, in nettop or in Kilobat.
A firewall or network monitor asks if identityservicesd can connect.
nettop and Kilobat show it as identityservice, cut to 15 characters.

What it is

Apple publishes no man page for identityservicesd. The program is in the IDS framework of macOS: IDS.framework/identityservicesd.app.

Apple Platform Security describes the Apple Identity Service (IDS). It is a directory of public keys and device addresses for iMessage.

Why it uses the network

Messages and calls. Apple says that a device asks IDS for the keys and push addresses of each device of the person that you message.
Your own devices. Each device registers its public keys with IDS.
Local links. On this Mac, lsof also showed a connection to another Apple device on the local network.

Is it normal?

Yes, when you use Messages or FaceTime. The lookups are small. The messages and calls themselves can show under other processes.

See how much it uses

Open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities. Click Network.
Type identityservicesd in the search field. The Sent Bytes and Rcvd Bytes columns show what it moved.
In Terminal, watch only this process. Press d to show the change per second, and q to quit.
```
nettop -p identityservice -P
```
nettop shows only the first 15 characters of a name. So use identityservice, as above.

Reduce or pause it safely

If you do not use iMessage on this Mac, open Messages. Choose Messages > Settings > iMessage and sign out.
If you do not use FaceTime on this Mac, open FaceTime. Choose FaceTime > Settings and sign out.
Do not quit identityservicesd in Activity Monitor. It is part of macOS, and other features depend on it.

With Kilobat

Open the Kilobat app list and search for identityservicesd. Its row shows the live rate and the bytes it moved.
In Terminal, see the same live list. Press / and type the name to search.
```
kilobat status --watch
```
Show its traffic over one day. Names match kilobat report --summary.
```
kilobat bandwidth identityservice day
```
Through MCP, an AI agent gets the same history with get_app_bandwidth and the name identityservice.
The live view is free. History in the app needs Pro. Kilobat records history only while the app runs.

Questions

Why does nettop show identityservice?

nettop shows at most 15 characters of a process name. Kilobat uses the same names.

Sources

Apple Platform Security: How iMessage sends and receives messages securely
lsof(8), man page installed with macOS 27.2
nettop(1), man page installed with macOS 27.2

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