Diagnostics, analytics and ads

What is adprivacyd?

adprivacyd is the advertising privacy daemon. It manages your privacy for Apple's ads in the App Store, Apple News and Stocks. It also lets you opt out of personalized ads.

Process: adprivacydMade by AppleApplies to: macOS 14 Sonoma and later. Checked on macOS 27.2.Checked: 1 November 2026

Short answer

Part of macOS. It manages advertising privacy for Apple's own ads in the App Store, Apple News and Stocks, including your opt-out from personalized ads.

Block with care

Blocking it saves almost no data and may keep your ad privacy choices from reaching Apple. Use the Apple Advertising setting instead.

Path: /usr/libexec/adprivacyd
launchd label: com.apple.ap.adprivacyd
Signing identifier: com.apple.ap.adprivacyd

What it is

The man page says that adprivacyd “manages user privacy in advertising and allows opting out of targeted advertisements”. It has no options.

The program is /usr/libexec/adprivacyd, started for each user as com.apple.ap.adprivacyd. Its launchd property list runs it every 259,200 seconds, which is every three days, and on account changes.

Apple's advertising privacy page says that personalized ads appear in the App Store, Apple News and Stocks. Apple Maps shows only contextual ads.

Why it uses the network

Your ad settings. Your Personalized Ads choice must reach Apple's advertising platform to take effect.
Account and storefront changes. Its launchd file starts it when your Apple Account, iTunes account or storefront changes, and on a schedule.

How much is normal

Small, occasional connections are usual. It runs about every three days and after account changes.

Apple says that turning off Personalized Ads may not decrease the number of ads you see. The ads become less relevant to you.

With Location Services off, Apple says that its advertising platform doesn't receive your approximate device location.

When it uses a lot, and why

Not documented as heavy. Apple documents no large transfers for adprivacyd. Its work is settings and identifiers.

Is it safe to block?

Block with care

Blocking it saves almost no data and may keep your ad privacy choices from reaching Apple. Use the Apple Advertising setting instead.

What breaks if you block it

Changes to Personalized Ads may not take effect on Apple's side.
Apple doesn't document its other tasks, so ad-related features in the App Store and News may behave differently.

Blocking means a firewall rule that refuses its connections. Don’t quit or disable a macOS process to save data: macOS starts it again, and other features depend on it.

Reduce its use

Choose Apple menu › System Settings › Privacy & Security › Apple Advertising.
Deselect Personalized Ads.
To see what Apple uses, click View Ad Targeting Information on the same page.
Don't quit adprivacyd in Activity Monitor. macOS starts it again.

See how much it uses

Open Activity Monitor from Applications › Utilities. Click Network.
Type adprivacyd in the search field. The Sent Bytes and Rcvd Bytes columns show what it moved since it started.
In Terminal, watch only this process. Press d to show the change per second, and q to quit.
```
nettop -p 'adprivacyd' -P
```

With Kilobat

In the Kilobat app list, search for adprivacyd. Its row shows the live rate and what it moved today.
In Connections, click the ⓘ button on one of its rows. The popover shows this page’s short answer, without going online.
In Terminal, ask the same question. Add --json for scripts and agents.
```
kilobat explain 'adprivacyd'
```
Show its traffic over one day.
```
kilobat bandwidth 'adprivacyd' day
```
Through MCP, an AI agent asks explain_connection with the process name. It gets the same facts.

The live view and the explanations are free. History in the app needs Kilobat Pro. Blocking needs Pro and the network filter: see the network filter, Protection and the hotspot data saver.

Questions

What are ad segments?

Apple says that segments are groups of people who share similar characteristics. Apple uses them to deliver personalized ads in the App Store, Apple News and Stocks.

Does turning off Personalized Ads mean no ads?

No. Apple says that it may not decrease the number of ads. They just aren't personalized.

Is adprivacyd tracking me?

Its man page says that it manages privacy in advertising and opting out. Apple's advertising privacy page describes what Apple uses.

Sources

adprivacyd(8), man page installed with macOS 27.2
launchd property list com.apple.ap.adprivacyd, macOS 27.2
Apple Legal: Apple Advertising & Privacy

Checked on 1 November 2026.