TrustedPeersHelper taking quite a bit of CPU

• I would suggest to try booting into Safe Mode: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262 before using a Terminal Command. Safe mode (sometimes called safe boot) is a way to start up your Mac so that it performs certain checks and prevents some software from automatically loading or opening. If an issue doesn't happen when your Mac is started in safe mode, it was probably caused by a cache or directory issue with your startup disk, which safe mode fixed. If the issue comes back, you might have incompatible login items.

I found a solution to this on Reddit here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/dmbuj5/macos_catalina_trustedpeershelper_always_running/

Follow the steps provided by "nielsvz" to delete a small database called "com.apple.security.keychain-defaultContext.TrustedPeersHelper". I followed the steps and it's been almost 48 hours and TrustedPeersHelper is now only taking between 0-0.3% CPU on my MB Pro. You'll probably need to log back into iCloud after deleting but other than that I've had no issues.

This process was also related to poor battery life on my iPhone 11 Pro and Apple Watch Series 3, which are also back to normal.

Thanks Brentdo, for posting link to that solution in reddit.

Wow, what a difference that made with battery life and CPU usage for my all my devices, MacBook-Pro (Catalina), iPhone, Watch (series 4) and iPad.

Not sure if related, but I also noticed push notifications data usage, on my iPhone which uses mobile data also stopped rapidly increasing. Noticed high mobile data usage recently and found push notification usage was high after 7 days. But again not sure if related, did not do a deep dive myself would not know where to start really, to link the two.

That’s great to hear. Was it only your Mac it was causing issues for or your other devices. If it was your other devices I’m assuming they remained fixed as well? I have the issue but it’s impacting every device signed into my iCloud (excessive battery drain on iPhone, iPad, and most specifically my Apple Watch.)

I have been looking for a fix for this for months! I didn't know it would affect battery life on other devices. I just ran the Terminal command and have my Series 4 watch charging. I'll have to see if this fixes the battery issues I've been having on that. My watch has only been lasting about 10-12 hours. I even replaced it using AppleCare to continue to have the same issues on the new watch. Thanks!

To MFC0321: Looking back, I initially thought it helped with all devices, but it was short lived. My series 3 watch on watchOS 6.1.1 continued to have battery issues, and I ended up having Apple replace it under warranty. Luckily the replacement came with watchOS 5.3, so the replacement didn't have any battery issues. Since then, I've upgraded to a series 5 on watchOS 6.1.1, and after initial short battery life for the first few days, battery life is now good on my new watch and iPhone 11 Pro.

After running the Terminal command yesterday and charging my watch to 100% (Series 4), I am now at 50% battery left after 11 hours of normal use. My iPhone (11 Pro) is at 82% after 100% charge and 11 hours of use. It seems to have worked for now. I haven't checked my iPad Pro and it's battery life as those seem to last forever anyway. Hopefully it won't be short lived.

This is a follow up to my previous post. I found that my iPhone and Apple Watch were still draining faster than they should. So, instead of following the steps in the reddit.com post again to delete the local sqllite database, I tried something slightly different.

Reviewing the diagnostic logs from my iPhone and watch, I found TrustedPeersHelper still taking a lot of CPU. My mac has been fine, but something still wasn't right with my other devices.

So, this time I ran this command from my mac: tpctl reset

I was then forced to login to iCloud on my mac and iPhone, but ever since my watch and iPhone are not running hot. Yesterday, I wore my watch from 7 am to midnight, and I still had 60% remaining on my watch, and 70% on my iPhone.

The "tpctl reset" resolved all of my battery issues!

Hello, would you mind telling me which folders in the diagnostic log contains the TrustedPeerHelper? as there were plenty kinds of logs when I clicked on the apple watch diagnostic log option. Thank you!

Just follow Brentdo's advice and run the "tpctl reset" in terminal. It's now day 4 and this seems to have fixed my issues with my iPhone XS, iPad and my watch series 4. Only thing you will need to do is to re-sign into iCloud on your Mac and iPhone. Today, it's now been 8.5 hours and my watch is still at 83%.

I'd also love to get an answer to this. Looks like I can kill that process without any effect other than it restarting after a few minutes...

Has it remained fixed for you? Or did it eventually come back?

Yep, same for me. Problem seems to be permanently fixed by this.

Yes, all my devices were affected and fixed by that. So Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch.