macOS processes

What is rapportd on Mac?

rapportd lets your Mac talk to your other Apple devices. Its traffic is mostly on the local network, to your iPhone, iPad or other Macs.

Process: rapportdApplies to: macOS 13 Ventura and later for the System Settings path. Seen on macOS 27.2.Checked: 29 October 2026

Where you see it

rapportd is in the list in Activity Monitor › Network, in nettop or in Kilobat.
A firewall or network monitor asks if rapportd can connect.
rapportd listens on a TCP port, and a firewall asks about incoming connections.

What it is

The man page says that rapportd enables “Phone Call Handoff and other communication features between Apple devices”. The program is /usr/libexec/rapportd.

On this Mac, lsof showed that rapportd listens on a TCP port and connects to another Apple device on the same network.

Why it uses the network

Your other Apple devices. It connects to devices that use the same Apple Account, on the local network.
Continuity features. Handoff, phone calls and other features between devices use it.

Is it normal?

Yes. Small amounts of local traffic are usual when you have other Apple devices nearby.

Apple does not document how much data each feature uses.

See how much it uses

Open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities. Click Network.
Type rapportd 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 rapportd -P
```
Show its open connections. Local addresses are your devices.
```
lsof -nP -i -a -c rapportd
```

Reduce or pause it safely

Choose Apple menu > System Settings > General > AirDrop & Continuity. In older versions, the name is AirDrop & Handoff.
Turn off Allow Handoff if you do not use it.
Other Continuity features have their own settings. Turn off only the ones that you do not use.
Do not quit rapportd in Activity Monitor. It is part of macOS, and other features depend on it.

With Kilobat

Open the Kilobat app list and search for rapportd. Its row shows the live rate and the bytes it moved.
See its connections and their addresses. Use the PID from Activity Monitor.
```
kilobat destinations --pid 12345
```
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 rapportd day
```
Through MCP, an AI agent gets the same history with get_app_bandwidth and the name rapportd.
The live view is free. History in the app needs Pro. Kilobat records history only while the app runs.

Questions

Should I allow rapportd in my firewall?

If you use Handoff or calls on the Mac, allow it. It is part of macOS.

Does rapportd use internet data?

On this Mac, its connections went to devices on the local network. Apple does not document all its connections.

Sources

rapportd(8), man page installed with macOS 27.2
Apple Support: Hand off tasks between Apple devices
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.