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User profile for user: dl001
dl001 Author
User level: Level 1
28 points

What exactly is syspolicyd and why is it running all the time?

Recently I installed the Catalina supplemental update for 10.15.7 with built number 19H15. However after I installed the update I notice that a process called syspolicyd is almost always running at the top of the list in Activity Monitor. And every time when it runs it consumes quite a bit of CPU usage, drains the battery and writes a lot on my disk. I only took a notice of it since my MacBook Air 2019 fan was on when just in stand by (idle) so it was very odd. So does anyone here knows what exactly is syspolicyd and why is it running all the time? And is there any fix for it?


Thanks.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 5, 2020 11:51 PM

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User profile for user: The_Knowledge_Seeker
The_Knowledge_Seeker
User level: Level 4
3,522 points

Posted on Dec 6, 2020 9:52 AM

syspolicyd was originally introduced in macOS 10.7.3 with the Gatekeeper feature. Its original purpose was to act as the centralized daemon for answering Gatekeeper questions. Today it still serves that purpose but its scope has greatly expanded. In addition to assessing applications before running, the daemon also handles authorizing the loading of KEXTs as well as tracking legacy applications that the user has run. In Mojave syspolicyd has expanded again and is responsible for handling software notarization checks as well. We’ll start with a very high level look at the daemon startup process and then dive deeper into each of syspolicyd’s subsystems.

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User profile for user: The_Knowledge_Seeker
The_Knowledge_Seeker
User level: Level 4
3,522 points

Dec 6, 2020 9:52 AM in response to dl001

syspolicyd was originally introduced in macOS 10.7.3 with the Gatekeeper feature. Its original purpose was to act as the centralized daemon for answering Gatekeeper questions. Today it still serves that purpose but its scope has greatly expanded. In addition to assessing applications before running, the daemon also handles authorizing the loading of KEXTs as well as tracking legacy applications that the user has run. In Mojave syspolicyd has expanded again and is responsible for handling software notarization checks as well. We’ll start with a very high level look at the daemon startup process and then dive deeper into each of syspolicyd’s subsystems.

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User profile for user: dl001
dl001 Author
User level: Level 1
28 points

Dec 6, 2020 3:04 PM in response to The_Knowledge_Seeker

Very informative, though I think this is a bug since it really drains my battery. And I also study the problem and I found out that if I restart my computer and use it, syspolicyd will not appear, it might appear the first 30 seconds from startup or when I launch an app, but it will eventually go away. But when I close my lid (which automatically lock my computer) and reopened it and signed back in, syspolicyd will keep on running for like a minute, and will come back in an average of 5 to 6 minutes. So I think it has something to do with closing the lid or logging out or both.

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What exactly is syspolicyd and why is it running all the time?

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