What is XPC service?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
A small helper service that an app or macOS starts on demand to do one specific job.
XPC services are small, separate helper processes that apps and macOS launch to do one job, such as decoding video, rendering a preview or handling a dialog. Splitting work this way improves security and stability: if the helper crashes, the app keeps running. They're started and stopped automatically.
- Category
- macOS system
- Safe to quit:
- With care
Applies to processes matching a known naming pattern.
Why is XPC service using so much CPU or memory?
- The app that uses it is doing work that relies on this service
- A service stuck on a difficult task
What to do
- 1Check which app you were using when it got busy
- 2Quit and reopen that app
- 3Restart your Mac if it stays busy
Safe to quit? With care.
It's usually restarted on demand; the feature it was serving may fail once.
Part of the Taskglass Process Library