Hidd on Mac

The hidd process on Mac is the human interface device daemon, and it’s responsible for ensuring that macOS recognizes input devices, including your keyboard, mouse, and trackpad. You’ll see the process in Activity Monitor, and you might wonder whether hidd is normal and safe.

In this article, we’ll explain hide on Mac in more detail, see if it affects performance, and look at what you can do when you run into issues with it.

Before we begin:  

Although hidd on Mac is perfectly safe, you might be wondering whether other processes can be trusted. With MacKeeper’s Antivirus, you can scan your computer for dangerous infections, remove them in just a few clicks, and stop future threats.  

Here’s how to use it:

1. Install MacKeeper.
2. Select Antivirus in the MacKeeper sidebar.
3. Click Launch Antivirus and follow the setup instructions.
4. With Antivirus enabled, click Start Scan to find viruses.
5. If threats are found, select them, then click Move to Quarantine.
6. Click Restart when prompted.
7. When MacKeeper starts up again, click Delete to remove all threats.

What is hidd on Mac?

Hidd stands for human interface device daemon, and it’s a feature that allows your mouse, keyboard, and trackpad to talk to your computer. The hidd process on Mac identifies keypresses, clicks, taps, and gestures and passes them onto the relevant parts of macOS operating system.

Hidd on Mac also allows your Mac to recognize game controllers, graphics tablets, and other peripherals you may use to interact with your machine. As such, the hidd process is an essential part of macOS and shouldn’t be stopped unless absolutely necessary.

How hidd process affects Mac performance

The hidd process should have no noticeable impact on your Mac’s performance, however, like any other piece of software, it can occasionally run into issues that cause it to misbehave. When this happens, you may notice increased CPU and RAM usage, and we recommend a system restart to put things right.

You may also notice that your Mac stops recognizing inputs from your keyboard, mouse, and other devices, won’t connect to controllers, or that there is a significant delay before inputs are registered when the hidd process isn’t functioning normally.

How to troubleshoot hidd issues on Mac

To troubleshoot hidd issues on Mac, the first step we recommend is to check the process is functioning normally. Go to Applications > Utilities and open Activity Monitor. Click the CPU column, then look to see if hidd is near the top of the list for high usage.

Hidd usually requires a negligible amount of system power to run properly, so if it’s hogging CPU or RAM resources, we need to fix it. Let’s look at some effective troubleshooting tips.

1. Check connected input devices

The first thing to check when you suspect hidd issues is that it’s not the input devices themselves. Make sure wired devices are securely plugged in using appropriate cables, and that wireless devices are correctly paired with plenty of battery life.

2. Restart hidd process

If you’re certain hidd on Mac is not working, restart it via Activity Monitor:

1. Go to Applications > Utilities and open Activity Monitor.
2. Find and select hidd, then click the X button to kill the background process on Mac.
3. Click Quit when prompted to confirm.

The hidd process will restart itself automatically. You won’t be able to use input devices until it’s running again, so wait a short while before trying to interact with your Mac.

3. Update macOS and drivers

If you continue to encounter problems with the hidd process after trying the fixes above, update macOS and any third-party drivers you use. To update macOS:

1. In System Settings, select General.
2. Click Software Update.
3. Select Update Now or Upgrade Now to install an update if there is one.

macOS includes support for common peripherals, but if you have a device that uses third-party drivers, follow the manufacturer’s instructions to update those. It’s also a good idea at this point to make sure your Mac is free from viruses and malware that can impact performance.

Important: 

MacKeeper’s built-in Antivirus effectively finds and removes malicious software from your Mac, and provides real-time protection that blocks new threats when they appear. Follow these steps to delete viruses now:

1. In MacKeeper, select Antivirus > Start Scan.
2. If infections are found, select them, then click Move to Quarantine.
3. Restart the app when prompted.
4. When MacKeeper opens again, click Delete to remove selected threats.

How to quit hidd process on Mac

You can quit the hidd process using Activity Monitor, which is the Task Manager on Mac, as shown above, or use Terminal like so:

1. Go to Applications > Utilities and open Terminal.
2. Enter top, then press Return to see all processes, such as Mac WindowServer, kernel_task, and others.
3. Look for hidd and note its PID number.
4. Type kill -9 *PID* (replace *PID* with hidd’s PID number), then press Return.

When you should quit hidd process

Quitting the hidd process should be a last resort that you turn to only if other troubleshooting solutions have failed. Here are some reasons why you might want to consider it:

1. Hidd uses too much CPU and RAM, and you need to free up memory on Mac.
2. Your Mac becomes unstable and crashes.
3. Input devices stop working, and you can’t control your Mac.

Restarting hidd is a temporary solution. A complete system restart is best, and if you frequently encounter issues, try reinstalling macOS.

Risks of quitting hidd process

There are risks associated with quitting hidd that you should be aware of, the most notable of which is that it may not restart itself, which means you won’t be able to control your Mac. As a result, we think it’s best not to close hidd unless you know what to do if this happens.

Conclusion

Hidd is an important macOS process that allows your computer to recognize inputs from your mouse, keyboard, and other peripherals. It’s safe and shouldn’t be messed with unless it stops working as intended, in which case you can restart it.

If you find hidd is affecting the performance and stability of your Mac, it could be infected with a virus. Use MacKeeper’s Antivirus utility to remove malware from your machine and step up your security to stop new threats.