I am using macbook pro 2015 with Monterey version 12.1. Almost every time when I open the screen and login in the usage of cpu surges more then 200%. It's even stranger because mac isn't connected to any device! To fix it I turn off and on the bluetooth, which doesn't seem a good solution to me. Is there any better ways to fix it?
One of the suggestions was to turn off bluetooth and then back on. While doing so, two old devices were listed, one of them said the connection was "rejected." Before turning off bluetooth, I removed both of those devices, effectively clearing the device list. Upon removing both, the CPU usage immediately dropped from 216% to 0% fixing the issue for me. I never turned off bluetooth and after 3 hours and one restart, the issue has not reappeared for me. Hope this helps someone!
One of the suggestions was to turn off bluetooth and then back on. While doing so, two old devices were listed, one of them said the connection was "rejected." Before turning off bluetooth, I removed both of those devices, effectively clearing the device list. Upon removing both, the CPU usage immediately dropped from 216% to 0% fixing the issue for me. I never turned off bluetooth and after 3 hours and one restart, the issue has not reappeared for me. Hope this helps someone!
Miago - The high cpu is caused by a blutetoothd process bug. Apple released the 12.2.1 update Feb 10th which is supposed to fix bluetooth battery drain issues. (which a maxed-out CPU would cause) Try updating. I had this issue with a mid-2015 MacBook Pro. So far so good here...
MacBook Pro 15" mid-2015 - Monterey 12.1- Same issue - excess CPU usage from bluetoothd process happening daily.
Deleting the com.apple.Bluetooth.*.plist file in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ directory and rebooting worked for me.
(* is a long string of letters / numbers). Issue has not returned for 3-4 days.
macOS 12.2.1 (released Feb 10, 2022) fixed some Bluetooth bugs, but it's not yet clear if it fixed this issue.
A quick recap for everyone:
This issue seems to be common to 2015 models. It looks like an OS bug that will require an update from Apple.
The following do not appear to work:
What to do now:
The best option for fixing that is for us all is still to submit a bug report to apple, and reference this thread. The more people that do this, the more likely it will be fixed.
https://www.apple.com/feedback/
(click "MacBook Pro" or "MacBook Air" under "Hardware").
Also, please make sure you include the version of macOS Monterey on all future posts! Otherwise it'll make future troubleshooting of this issue difficult.
Disregard my earlier speculation. It was not a hardware issue and not solved by a complete reinstall. Today, no the eight day, the Bluetooth issue reappeared.
But I reappeared when I was have Bluetooth connected (AirPods) in the evening right before the system went so sleep. This was not the case in any of the seven days before. Maybe have Bluetooth active when going to sleep (and not finding the hardware when waking up? Because the AirPods were then in their case.) is a prerequisite for the Bluetooth problem to appear.
I also discovered that when Bluetooth is at 200%, just opening Bluetooth preferences crashes and restarts the Bluetooth process, also solving the high CPU issue.
Oh well... we will have to wait for MacOS 12.3 and hope it solves this MacOS bug. I hope nobody already tried to reinstall their system or ordered hardware inspired by my post.
Apple released the 12.3 (21E230) update today (3/14). This update appears to fix the bluetoothd bug - al least on my MacBook Pro mid-2015 (MacBookPro11,4) 2+ weeks with no issues.
This appears to be fixed as of Monterey 12.3.
MacBook Pro 2015 with Monterey 12.2. Once I connected Logitech M535 mouse I started seeing this same issue with bluetoothd consuming 200+ CPU after opening up laptop lid if mouse is far away from the laptop.
Disconnecting and forgetting the mouse seems to solve the problem.
Yes, we need to wait until Apple fixes the issue in an upcoming macOS update. Until the fix arrives, I do the following as a workaround. (The workaround is preventive in nature, and it works for me.)
Since the issue occurs after a wake from a long sleep, I toggle bluetooth off just before I close the lid at night. Next day, when I open the lid in the morning, I toggle the bluetooth back on.
It looks like the wake event triggers the issue after a long sleep, when the bluetooth is enabled.
Macbook Pro Mid 2015, MacOS 12.2.1, SSD Samsung 970 Pro (old) --> SanDisk Extreme Pro (new)
The problem seems to have disappeared for me. At least I did not have any Bluetooth issues for more than seven days. Two things happened that could have been the "fix":
* I had troubles with my SSD for some time, all connected to wake-up just like the Bluetooth issue. The late stage included regular NVMe kernel panics during wake-up. I believe this was a result of a severe bug in the TRIM implementation of Samsung SSDs described here: https://github.com/dortania/bugtracker/issues/192 To avoid further troubles, I replaced the Samsung SSD with Sandisk (see above).
* As a result of the SSD replacement, I had to install MacOS cleanly and migrate data from backup. After this, the system started acting much better, including the side effect that the Bluetooth issue was gone.
This leads me to two questions:
(1) Did anybody experience the Bluetooth issues disappear after a complete reinstall (i.e. wipe SSD, install MacOS, migrate from backup)?
(2) Those of you that have the Bluetooth issue, did you replace your Apple NVMe SSD with an SSD that suffers the TRIM bug (link above)?
In the case of (1), there is hope to fix Bluetooth by a complete reinstall. Plus, an upcoming MacOS update, e.g. 12.3, could address the issue. In the case of (2) being the root cause, future MacOS updates will likely not be of any help.
Excellent summary from tree_frog above
MacBook Pro mid-2015 MacOS 12.2.1 - Tried all the suggested 'fixes" indicated and the bluetoothd process using 200%+ cpu issue would randomly reoccur. I thought this could to be tied to an open lid / wake from sleep issue which is one of the functions the System Management Controller (SMC) controls. I did a SMC & NVRAM (PRAM) reset per the Apple instructions. My MacBook worked normally for 4 days then the bluetoothd issue popped up again.
Until a system update fixes this - a suggestion is to take a look at installing iStat Menus. One of the myriad of options available is to put a CPU percentage used value in the menu bar. If you see a high reading persist you can click it and see the top 5 processes currently running - and bluetoothd will probably be at the top of the list. As we know toggling bluetooth off and back temporarily stops the problem. This is way faster than going to Activity Monitor to see what's going on or waiting to hear the fans spin up. (I have no affiliation the company that does iStat Menus)
As a temporary solution I can suggest to write a code, which will restart your bluetooth every time your screen is unlocked. I did it by hammerspoon. Here is the code
function printf(s,...) print(s:format(...)) end
wather = hs.caffeinate.watcher.new(function(eventType)
if eventType == hs.caffeinate.watcher.screensDidUnlock then
hs.execute("/usr/local/bin/blueutil -p 0 && sleep 1 && /usr/local/bin/blueutil -p 1")
end
end)
wather:start()
Updated / Installed 12.2 - used the full installer over the previous 12.1). Again the problem returned after a few days. (Mid-2015 MacBook Pro 15") Seems happen after waking from sleep when raising lid) Only bluetooth accessory used occasionally with the MacBook are AirPods. Tried deleting all paired bluetooth devices and deleting 'com.apple.Bluetooth.plist' with a restart - no change. Issue returned next day. I read that "With Monterey, Apple has completely rewritten the bluetooth stack" so this is likely a bug with certain bluetooth cards used in these notebooks.
Hey folks, I too can confirm that the solution I shared doesn't work. The issue returned a few days later :-(
For what it's worth, simply opening Bluetooth Preferences causes the bluetoothd process to stop freaking out (on my end).
I'm hopeful that Apple fixes this in the next OSX update because Bluetooth is a core function and no one enjoys loud fans, hot laps, and dead batteries.
Just stop the process from the activity monitor
bluetoothd high cpu usage