The Mac version of Task Manager, page by page

The Mac version of Task Manager is Foreman, and it keeps the Windows layout: a sidebar with Processes, Performance, App History, Startup Apps, All Processes and Services. Each page does the same job as its Windows namesake, with a few changes because macOS works differently. macOS itself has no single Task Manager, only the Force Quit window and a scatter of settings, so this is a tour of what each page is for and where the Mac differs.

If you know Task Manager well, skim for the “On a Mac” notes. If you do not, read the pages in order, because each one answers a different question.

Processes: what is running right now

This is the page you will use most. It lists what is running, in three sections: Apps, Background processes and System processes. You can turn the sections off in View > Group by Type, and then it is one list.

On a Mac, an app is rarely one process. A browser starts a helper for each tab and others for graphics and networking. Foreman adds an app’s helpers up under the app, and you open the row to see them. Copies of one background program share a row with a count, such as “Spotlight file reader (4)”.

The columns are Name, CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, GPU and Power usage, with the whole Mac’s total above each. More columns, such as PID and User, come from the header’s menu. Click a column to sort, and use the search field to find a process by name or PID.

Names are plain English where Foreman knows the process. About 120 macOS processes have one, with the real name beside it in grey. “Spotlight indexing” is mds_stores.

On a Mac, the actions are End Task, Force Quit, Restart, Suspend and Efficiency Mode. End Task asks politely first, like Command-Q, so the app can offer to save your work. End Task on a Mac: how it works compared to Windows covers it.

Performance: how hard the Mac is working

Performance is a list on the left, with CPU, Memory, Disk, Wi-Fi and GPU, each with a graph. Pick one for a large live graph with a minute of history.

• CPU can show Overall or Each Core. It also gives user and system time, the number of processes and threads, how long the Mac has been up, and how many performance and efficiency cores it has. Efficiency cores are a feature of Apple silicon Macs.
• Memory shows memory pressure, which is the number to watch on a Mac. A Mac will often show most of its memory as used, and that alone is normal. Memory pressure on a Mac: when you actually need more RAM explains why.
• Disk shows read and write. Network shows data sent and received. GPU shows the graphics processor.

Under each graph are the apps using the most of that resource, with End Task and Efficiency Mode beside them. So you can go from “the processor is busy” to “this app is the cause” without changing pages.

One thing you will not find here is temperature or fan figures. Foreman does not show them.

App History: what an app has used

App History shows, for each app, what it has used since it opened: how long it has been open, CPU time, disk read, disk written, network, and energy in watt-hours. Sort by Energy and you see what has drained the battery.

On a Mac, the totals last as long as the app stays open. They are not kept after the app quits. This is different from Windows, which keeps a running history for some apps. So App History answers “what has this app done since I launched it”, and a long-running app, such as a browser you leave open for days, is where it is most useful.

Startup Apps: what opens at login

Startup Apps lists everything that opens at login or runs in the background. That includes login items, launch agents and daemons, and background items that apps register. They are grouped by the app each belongs to, with readable names.

Each item has a status, such as Enabled, Disabled, “Off in System Settings” or “Program missing”. The last one is a leftover from an app you deleted. “Impact now” shows whether the item is running and how much it uses. You can Disable or Enable an item, and remove leftovers one at a time or all together. Why a deleted app still shows up in Login Items explains where those come from.

On a Mac, startup is spread across login items, background items and launch agents and daemons. System Settings switches them in General > Login Items & Extensions (Login Items on macOS 14), but it does not show whether an item is running or how much it uses. Items an app registered through macOS’s own login items interface can only be switched in System Settings, so Foreman opens it there for you. Some items, such as system daemons, need an administrator password to change.

All Processes: the Details view

All Processes is the Details tab. Every process is in one flat list, with columns for Name, PID, Status, User, CPU, CPU time, Memory, Threads, Disk, Network, GPU, Power usage, Architecture, Parent, Priority, Description and Path.

Two columns are worth knowing on a Mac. Architecture shows which apps are Intel apps running through Rosetta on an Apple silicon Mac. Parent shows which process started this one. For many helpers that is the app itself, which traces the helper back to it; for others it is launchd, which starts services on an app’s behalf.

This page adds actions you do not see on Processes: End Process Tree, Set Priority and Copy PID. Set Priority offers Normal, Below Normal, Low and Lowest. Going back up to a higher priority needs an administrator password, because macOS only lets an administrator raise priority.

Services: the background jobs

Services lists macOS’s background services, called launchd jobs, for you and for the system, whether they are running or not. You can Start, Stop and Restart them. System services need an administrator password.

Every one of these is a job run by launchd, the first process macOS starts. You will rarely need this page. It is for the day a particular service is stuck, or you need to confirm that something is running. Stopping a system service can break things that depend on it, so change one only when you know what it does.

Three things to remember on a Mac

These are the points that most often catch out someone coming from Windows.

1. Ending a task asks first. End Task asks the app to quit, so it can offer to save your work, and pressing it again forces it.
2. Apps are groups. One app is many processes, and Foreman shows the group.
3. Some processes cannot be ended. Foreman never offers to end kernel_task or launchd, and it warns before you end something like WindowServer or loginwindow, because that logs you out.

Open Foreman from any app with Control-Shift-Escape, the same keys as Windows. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later, runs on Apple silicon and Intel, and is free for 24 hours before the $12 license. Is there a Task Manager on Mac? What to use instead covers what the Mac gives you without it.