What is spindump on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Records what an unresponsive app was doing, usually when it hangs or is force quit.
spindump samples what every process on the Mac is doing for a short time. macOS runs it automatically when an app stops responding or is force quit, so the report can help explain the hang. It can use a lot of CPU for a few seconds, then exits. Reports are stored in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports.
- Category
- macOS system
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- With care
Shown in Activity Monitor as spindump
Why is spindump using so much CPU or memory?
- An app is hanging (spinning beach ball) or you just force quit one
- Many apps hanging at once, such as under heavy memory pressure
- A diagnostic report being collected
What to do
- 1Wait a few seconds; it finishes quickly
- 2Find which app hung or was force quit, and update or restart it
- 3If many apps hang, check memory pressure and close heavy apps
- 4Restart your Mac if hangs keep happening
Safe to quit? With care.
Quitting just cancels the current report; it doesn't affect your apps.
Related processes
Part of the Taskglass Process Library