Apple services

What is suggestd?

suggestd processes content from Spotlight, Mail, Messages and other apps to find contacts, events and names. It powers Found in Apps and suggestions in the keyboard and Siri.

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

Short answer

Part of macOS. It reads content from Mail, Messages and other apps on the Mac to suggest contacts and events. Apple doesn't document much network use.

Block with care

Apple doesn't document what its connections are for. Blocking them may affect suggestions; the settings below turn the features off instead.

Path
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreSuggestions.framework/Versions/A/Support/suggestd
launchd label
com.apple.suggestd
Signing identifier
com.apple.suggestd

What it is

The man page calls suggestd the daemon “that processes user content in order to detect contacts, events, named entities, etc.”

The man page says that it receives content from Spotlight, Mail, Messages and other apps. It powers Found in Apps, Proactive QuickType and Keyboard, Siri and News personalization.

It is in the CoreSuggestions framework, started for each user as com.apple.suggestd. Its launchd property list schedules background tasks, including weekly statistics.

Why it uses the network

  • Mostly on-device work. The man page describes processing of content on the Mac. It doesn't say that the content is sent anywhere.
  • Scheduled tasks. Its launchd property list names background tasks, such as com.apple.suggestions.collectweeklystats and a metric upload. Apple doesn't document what they send.

How much is normal

The man page describes its work as processing content, so CPU use is more likely than network traffic.

Little or no network traffic is usual. Measure it with the steps below before you block it.

If you share analytics with Apple, statistics can be part of what macOS sends. Apple doesn't say which.

When it uses a lot, and why

  • Not documented as heavy. Apple documents no large transfers for suggestd. If you see them, note the remote addresses with lsof.

Is it safe to block?

Block with care

Apple doesn't document what its connections are for. Blocking them may affect suggestions; the settings below turn the features off instead.

What breaks if you block it

  • Not documented. Suggestions in Mail, Messages, the keyboard and Siri may get worse or stop.
  • Found in Apps contacts and events may not appear.

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

  1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings › Siri. Find the suggestion settings for each app.

  2. Turn off suggestions for the apps that you don't want analysed. The names of the options differ between macOS versions.

  3. Choose Apple menu › System Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements. Turn off Share Mac Analytics if you don't want to share analytics.

  4. Don't quit suggestd in Activity Monitor. macOS starts it again.

See how much it uses

  1. Open Activity Monitor from Applications › Utilities. Click Network, then search for suggestd.

  2. In Terminal, list its open network connections, if any.

    sudo lsof -nP -i -a -c suggestd

    Needs an administrator password.

With Kilobat

  1. In the Kilobat app list, search for suggestd. Its row shows the live rate and what it moved today.

  2. In Connections, click the ⓘ button on one of its rows. The popover shows this page’s short answer, without going online.

  3. In Terminal, ask the same question. Add --json for scripts and agents.

    kilobat explain 'suggestd'

  4. Show its traffic over one day.

    kilobat bandwidth 'suggestd' day

  5. 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.

What isn’t documented

The man page describes what suggestd processes, not what it sends. Its launchd file names upload tasks, but Apple doesn't document them.

Sources

Checked on 1 November 2026.