What is thermalmonitord on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Watches your Mac's temperature and helps decide when the system needs to slow down to cool off.
thermalmonitord is a macOS daemon involved in thermal management: it keeps track of temperature and thermal pressure so the system and apps can adjust when the Mac gets hot. Apple doesn't document it in detail, but it's a normal part of macOS and is usually very light. Heavy activity here usually means the Mac is warm, not that something is wrong with the process.
- Category
- macOS system
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- No
Shown in Activity Monitor as thermalmonitord
Why is thermalmonitord using so much CPU or memory?
- The Mac is hot from heavy work, a warm room or blocked vents
- Rapid changes in load, such as games or video exports
What to do
- 1Let the Mac cool: quit heavy apps and keep vents clear
- 2Use the Mac on a hard surface rather than a bed or lap
- 3Restart your Mac if it stays busy while cool and idle
Safe to quit? No.
Don't quit it: it's part of how macOS protects your Mac from overheating.
Related processes
Part of the Taskglass Process Library