Foreman
Download Buy $12

What is sharingd on a Mac?

· 5 min read

sharingd is the macOS process behind AirDrop, Handoff and other sharing features. It is part of macOS and is safe. It is busy while you are sending or receiving something with AirDrop, or while Handoff and similar features are looking for your nearby devices, and quiet when none of that is happening.

If you saw it using processor time and wondered whether something is wrong, the first question is simple: has anything been shared, or is a device nearby that your Mac is trying to talk to?

What sharingd does

The name is short for “sharing daemon”, a program that runs in the background without a window. Foreman describes it as “AirDrop and sharing: AirDrop, Handoff and other sharing features”, and that covers it. Its work includes:

  • AirDrop. Finding nearby Macs, iPhones and iPads you can send to, and moving the files across.
  • Handoff. Letting you start something on one Apple device and carry on with it on another.
  • Other sharing. The parts of macOS that move content between your devices and between people.

It works alongside rapportd, which Foreman lists as “Device links” and which lets your Apple devices find and talk to each other. You will often see the two active together, because they are part of the same job: knowing which of your devices are close by.

Why sharingd is busy

Look at what happened a moment before.

  • You are using AirDrop. Sending a large file, a folder or a lot of photos keeps it working until the transfer ends. Opening the AirDrop window in Finder also makes the Mac look around for people and devices to send to.
  • Another device is close by. Your iPhone or iPad being near the Mac and signed in to the same Apple Account gives Handoff something to keep checking.
  • Many devices are around. In an office, a lecture hall or a family home with a lot of Apple devices, there is more for it to notice.
  • A transfer got stuck. An AirDrop that never finished can leave it working on a file that is not going anywhere.

All of these are tied to something happening now. When it stops, sharingd quiets down.

How to check it

Is it high, and for how long? A burst during a transfer is expected. Constant use with nothing being shared is the thing to look at.

See the number. This Terminal command prints its CPU use and memory and changes nothing:

ps -o pid,%cpu,rss,comm -p $(pgrep -x sharingd)

Run it a few times, with a minute between, and see whether it falls. ps counts each processor core as 100%, so the number can look higher than a figure given as a share of the whole Mac.

Or use Foreman. On the Processes page, sharingd appears as “AirDrop and sharing”, with the real name beside it in grey. Its CPU figure is a share of the whole Mac. Click the CPU column to sort so the busiest processes come first, and the Network column shows whether it is moving data. Because sharingd runs under your own account, Foreman also offers Efficiency Mode for it, though a slowed sharingd may make AirDrop and Handoff slower to respond, so fixing the cause is usually the better move. Foreman is a $12 Task Manager for macOS, free for 24 hours.

If your Mac is generally slow rather than just sharingd being busy, Why is my Mac so slow? How to find the app to blame starts from the whole machine instead.

What to do if it stays busy

Go through these in order, stopping when it settles.

1. Finish or cancel what is in progress. If an AirDrop is sitting there, either let it finish or cancel it on both devices. Close the AirDrop window in Finder if you left it open.

2. Check whether a nearby device explains it. If the busy period lines up with your iPhone being next to the Mac, that is Handoff doing its job. This is normal, and it will not do harm.

3. Restart the Mac. It clears any stuck state and is the gentlest fix.

4. Turn off what you do not use. Both switches are in System Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff. If you never use Handoff, turn off “Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices”. Universal Control needs Handoff too, so it stops working with it. AirDrop can be set to No One, so your Mac is not discoverable; the same choice sits at the bottom of the AirDrop window in Finder, as “Allow me to be discovered by”. Switching them off simply means those features stop working, so only do it if you do not want them.

5. Do not try to remove it. sharingd is part of macOS. Ending it for a moment is possible, but macOS starts it again when a sharing feature asks for it, so it does not stay gone. How to end a background process on a Mac explains what happens and when ending something is useful.

What about privacy worries

Some people see sharingd and assume it is sending data out. Its job is your own sharing: it helps your Mac find nearby devices and your other devices on the same Apple Account, and carries out the transfers you ask for. If you are not comfortable with it, the settings in step 4 are the place to limit it. For AirDrop in particular, you choose who can find your Mac: No One, Contacts Only or Everyone.

If you want to know whether the Mac is moving data on the network at the moment, Foreman’s Network column shows what each process is sending and receiving, which settles the question for sharingd or any other process.

When it is worth worrying

It is worth a closer look if sharingd uses a lot of processor time for hours with no AirDrop in progress, no device nearby and the Mac otherwise idle. Restart, update macOS in System Settings, General, Software Update, and see whether it comes back. A repeat after both is an unusual case, and a good one to ask Apple about, with the time and the Terminal output above as your evidence.

The short version

sharingd runs AirDrop, Handoff and other sharing on your Mac. It is busy while those are active and quiet when they are not. Finish or cancel what is in progress, restart if it is stuck, switch off features you never use, and leave the process itself in place. To watch it by name, open Foreman and sort by CPU.