Photoanalysisd on Mac

What is photoanalysisd on Mac?

The photoanalysisd Mac process is a photo library agent and background macOS system process introduced in macOS Sierra and High Sierra. It identifies and categorizes your photos according to key people, scenes, and objects. It eliminates the need to manually tag or categorize your photos and simplifies searches for these categories. Photoanalysisd automatically runs in your Mac’s background when the device is plugged into a power source or idle, especially after importing new photos.

What does photoanalysisd do on Mac?

Photoanalysisd enhances your photo library experience by identifying key objects, people, and scenes in their photos. It categorizes and saves those pictures in 

/Users/user_name/Library/Containers/com.apple.photoanalysisd.

Below are the key functions of photoanalysisd:

• Face recognition: Identifies people’s faces using machine learning, groups similar faces, and allows you to name and organize them in the People album—without uploading their facial data to Apple’s servers.
• Object and scene detection: Identifies objects and scenes such as animals, food, cities, sunsets, and more—and labels them for smarter, faster searches.
• Metadata extraction: Catalogs metadata such as time, date, location, people, objects, and scene types to simplify searches.
• Memory generation: Analyzes, time, date, people, location, events, and organizes related media into memories.
• Search optimization: Uses on-device machine learning to build a searchable index from detected metadata, objects, faces, and scenes.
• iCloud sync processing: Uploads imported media to their iCloud account for multi-device access, makes them available for downloads, and syncs information such as titles, tags, favorites, edits, albums, and face data.

Why photoanalysisd uses high CPU on Mac

Photoanalysisd can consume many system resources when it analyzes multiple photos. It continuously runs in your Apple device’s background—as long as your Mac is plugged in. Photoanalysisd especially consumes too many CPU resources when you set up a new Mac device or import new photos.

A note from our experts: 

 

Photoanalysisd, similar processes, and apps that consume a lot of system resources can significantly slow down your Mac’s speed. MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner can help. It monitors resource-intensive apps and processes and frees up RAM to improve your computer’s performance, making it a must-have for all Mac owners.

 

Ready to manage your Mac’s memory in just a few clicks? Follow these steps to use MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner:

1. Download and install MacKeeper on your MacBook Pro or Air device.
2. Select Memory Cleaner from the sidebar and click Open.
3. Review your available memory and click the Clean Memory button.

 

How to fix photoanalysisd high CPU usage on Mac

There are several ways to fix photoanalysisd’s high-CPU usage on Mac. The first method is allowing it to complete its task. The second is to recognize faces manually. You can also disable photoanalysisd in Activity Monitor, prevent Mac from sleeping, or turn your notifications off. Finally, you can stop photoanalysisd on Mac.

Important: Remember, if you don’t use the Photos app’s smart sorting features, you may want to disable photoanalysisd permanently.

Below are guides on managing the high-CPU usage of photoanalysisd on your MacBook. Follow the instructions in each section carefully.

1. Allow it to complete its task

Photoanalysisd consumes the most CPU after a macOS upgrade or when uploading many photos to the Photos app. In these cases, the best thing to do is wait for the photoanalysisd process to finish scanning your photos.

2. Recognize faces manually

If the photoanalysis process takes too long, we manually tag faces to speed things up.

Here’s how you can recognize faces manually in the Photos app:

1. Click on the People album.
2. Move your cursor over a face, click + Name, enter the person’s name in the text box, and hit Enter to save your changes. Repeat for the remaining photos.
3. Wait for some time and check if photoanalysisd works faster.
4. To add names to unidentified faces, double-click on a photo, click the Info icon > + Add Faces, and enter their name in the text box.
5. If the face isn't automatically selected, click Add faces and enter their name.

3. Disable photoanalysisd in Activity Monitor

To quickly stop photoanalysisd, we use Activity Monitor to kill the process on our Mac. Note that this step only stops the process temporarily, as your Mac will reopen it when the system needs it.

Here’s how to stop the photoanalysisd process in Activity Monitor:

1. Open Activity Monitor, select the CPU tab, and look for the photoanalysisd process on the list.
2. Select it, hit the X icon at the top of the screen, and choose the Force Quit option.

4. Prevent Mac from sleeping

Another option for reducing the CPU resource consumption of the photoanalysisd process is to let it work overnight. To do this, we simply minimize the Photos app and keep our device plugged into a power source to ensure it stays awake all night. Alternatively, adjust your Mac’s sleep settings to prevent it from sleeping.

5. Turn off notifications

Another solution for reducing CPU load is to disable notifications in the Photos app. This can help fix photoanalysisd’s CPU consumption and improve your Mac’s speed.

Follow these steps to turn off notifications in the Photos app on Ventura or earlier:

1. In the Photos app, head to the menu bar and click on Photos > Settings/Preferences > General.
2. Deselect Show Holiday Events and Show Memories Notification (If the options are grayed out, you likely have a different system photo library. Fix this by selecting Use as System Photo Library).

6. Stop photoanalysisd on Mac

The photoanalysisd process can also be killed in Mac’s Terminal app.

Here’s how to terminate the photoanalysisd process on your Mac:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type this command 
   • launchctl unload -w  /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.photoanalysisd.plist
3. Press Enter.

Manage photoanalysisd on your Mac

The photoanalysisd process can be a nuisance on a Mac device. However, you can lower its CPU resource consumption and improve your Mac’s performance. Use the tips in this guide to achieve this—including letting the process complete its task, recognizing faces manually, and using tools like Activity Monitor and Terminal to kill the process on your Mac.

Before trying these solutions though, start with MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner. It frees up memory without restarting your Mac, enhancing its performance. Thereafter, you can check your MacBook’s performance to see if it has improved.