What is NotificationCenter on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Shows notification banners and the Notification Center panel with its widgets.
NotificationCenter draws notification banners and alerts, and the Notification Center panel that opens when you click the date and time in the menu bar, including its widgets. Delivering notifications behind the scenes is handled by a separate process, usernoted. Seeing it running all the time is normal.
- Category
- macOS system
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- With care
Shown in Activity Monitor as NotificationCenter
Why is NotificationCenter using so much CPU or memory?
- Lots of widgets, especially ones that refresh often
- An app sending a flood of notifications
- A stuck widget or banner
What to do
- 1Remove widgets you don't use (Edit Widgets at the bottom of Notification Center)
- 2Turn off notifications for noisy apps in System Settings > Notifications
- 3Force quit NotificationCenter; it relaunches automatically
- 4Restart your Mac
Safe to quit? With care.
It relaunches automatically; banners on screen at that moment will disappear.
Typical usage
Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.
- CPU
- Near 0% when idle
- Memory
- 50–300 MB
Related processes
Part of the Taskglass Process Library