What is airportd on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Manages your Mac's Wi-Fi: scanning, joining networks and staying connected.
airportd is the Wi-Fi daemon. It scans for networks, joins and roams between them, and keeps the wireless connection healthy. The name comes from Apple's old AirPort Wi-Fi brand. It's always running when Wi-Fi is on.
- Category
- macOS system
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- No
Shown in Activity Monitor as airportd
Why is airportd using so much CPU or memory?
- Frequent scanning because the signal is weak or the network keeps dropping
- Many nearby networks, or roaming between access points
- AirDrop, AirPlay or other wireless features in use
- Wi-Fi diagnostics or monitoring tools
What to do
- 1Move closer to the router or restart the router
- 2Turn Wi-Fi off and on in Control Center
- 3Forget and rejoin a network that keeps dropping
- 4Restart your Mac
Safe to quit? No.
Don't quit it: Wi-Fi drops until macOS relaunches it.
Typical usage
Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.
- CPU
- 0–2%
- Memory
- 10–50 MB
Related processes
Part of the Taskglass Process Library