Suggestd on Mac

What is suggestd on Mac?

Suggestd on Mac is a safe and legitimate background daemon that’s pre-installed with Apple’s desktop operating system. Its job is to process various user content from Mail, Messages and other apps to detect things like contacts, events, and named entities. This allows this data to be used within a bunch of macOS features we regularly rely on, such as Siri, QuickType, and the Found in Apps function.

Suggestd is always running in the background, but it’s designed to be incredibly efficient, so it should use minimal system resources and have an unnoticeable impact on performance most of the time. However, we’ve found that some users occasionally see suggestd on Mac with high CPU and memory usage.

Is it safe to disable suggestd on Mac?

If you check CPU usage on your Mac and find the suggestd process is impacting system performance, it’s generally safe to temporarily quit or disable it to free up the resources it’s using. We strongly recommend, however, that you don’t do this unless it’s absolutely necessary, as disabling the process will stop other macOS features—including the likes of Spotlight—from working properly. Attempting to use features that rely on suggestd after it’s been closed could make macOS unstable.

Rather than disabling or quitting the process, our advice is to look at alternative options for improving system performance, like closing unused programs, reducing active browser tabs, and using tools to optimize system performance and clear old data from memory.

A note from our experts:

 

One of the safest and most effective ways you can reduce RAM usage and quickly speed up your Mac is with MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner from Clario Tech. In just a few clicks, this handy tool purges old and unnecessary data from system memory, giving other apps more to play with and in turn making your whole system feel snappier and more stable.

 

Here’s how to use it:

1. Download and install MacKeeper on your Mac.
2. When MacKeeper opens, select Memory Cleaner in the sidebar, then click Open.
3. Click Clean Memory to instantly clear old data and free up RAM.

How to fix suggestd high CPU usage on Mac?

Whenever we see the suggestd process on Mac with excessive CPU or memory usage, we first restart the Mac to refresh stuck processes that can drain system resources. If the issue continues after a restart, other fixes we suggest include trying to close the process in Activity Monitor and resetting the Mac’s SMC.

Here’s our full list of suggestions for fixing suggestd on Mac when it starts causing performance issues:

• Restart Mac: A simple restart closes all processes, including those that have become stuck.
• Close suggestd in Activity Monitor: You can force quit suggestd on Mac using Apple’s built-in Activity Monitor app if it’s really necessary.
• Reset SMC: This process recalibrates lower-level functions and can fix strange glitches on many Apple Mac models.
• Move Suggestions folder to Trash: Deleting the Suggestions folder forces macOS to create a new one, which can fix potential corruption issues.
• Disable suggestd: If you’re facing persistent suggestd issues, try disabling the process and then re-enabling it.
• Disable and re-enable Spotlight via Terminal: This refreshes Spotlight when it gets stuck.
• Rebuild Spotlight index: This forces Spotlight to create a new index, which can fix performance issues when the existing index is corrupted.

1. Restart Mac

A system reboot can alleviate all kinds of software issues on a Mac. Try this:

1. Open the Apple menu and select Restart.
2. Click Restart to confirm.

From our observation, restarting your computer is usually the easiest way to fix any process error that you encounter, including those that are part of macOS, like syspolicyd on Mac.

2. Close suggestd in Activity Monitor

We can temporarily close suggestd in Activity Monitor to free up system resources by following these steps:

1. In Finder, go to Applications > Utilities and open Activity Monitor.
2. Find and select the suggestd process, then click the X button.
3. Choose Force Quit to confirm.

An extra hint from us: 

 

You may have noticed that Activity Monitor will show you a list of all active processes, so it’s the best tool to use if you’re wondering how to see what is running on Mac. It’s also built into Apple’s OS as standard, so you don’t need to download it.

3. Reset SMC

The SMC (System Management Controller) that’s built into Apple computers with an Intel chip handles low-level settings, and resetting it can help fix strange system glitches we sometimes run into. Try this:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Hold Control + Option on the left side of your keyboard, plus Shift on the right side.
3. Keep holding all keys for about 7 seconds, then press and hold the power button simultaneously.
4. Wait another 7 seconds, then release all keys.
5. After a few more seconds, turn your Mac back on.

Pay attention, please, that Apple Silicon Macs don’t have a separate SMC chip, so all you need to do is restart them.

4. Move Suggestions folder to Trash

The Suggestions folder on Mac is where data related to the suggestd process is held. Sometimes, this can become corrupted, which causes suggestd to behave unexpectedly, but we can delete the folder to force macOS to create a new one. Here’s how:

1. Open Finder, then while holding the Option key, select Go > Library in the menu bar.
2. Right-click the Suggestions folder, then choose Move to Trash.
3. Empty the Trash to completely delete the folder.
4. Restart your Mac.

5. Disable suggestd

If you’ve tried the fixes above and suggestd continues to cause issues, you can disable the process completely like so:

1. In Finder, go to Applications > Utilities and open Terminal.
2. Type launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.suggestd.plist then press enter.

A bonus tip from our team: 

 

When you’re ready to re-enable suggestd again—which we recommend doing as soon as possible to avoid other macOS issues—repeat the steps above but use this Terminal command instead: 

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.suggestd.plist

6. Disable and re-enable Spotlight via Terminal

As the two are closely linked, suggestd issues often occur as a result of problems with Spotlight. It’s the same reason we sometimes see mds_stores on Mac used high CPU usage. To fix it, we can try disabling and then re-enabling Spotlight via Terminal like this:

1. In Terminal, type sudo mdutil -i off and press enter.
2. When you’re ready to re-enable Spotlight, return to Terminal and type sudo mdutil -i on before hitting enter.

7. Rebuild Spotlight index

We can also rebuild the Spotlight index in an effort to eliminate issues with associated processes. The easiest way to do that is with another Terminal command:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type sudo mdutil -E / and then press enter.

It will take a little while for a new Spotlight index to be created, and it’s normal to see Spotlight and associated processes using more CPU power during this time. However, once the process is complete, they should settle down and any indexing issues should be eliminated.

Conclusion

Suggestd on Mac is a genuine system process that’s baked into Apple’s desktop OS. Although it shouldn’t get in your way, we’ve found it can occasionally misbehave and cause high CPU and RAM usage. When this happens, you can try a reboot, disable the process, and try the other fixes outlined above.

To quickly free up system memory and improve Mac performance and reliability, we recommend MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner by Clario Tech. It safely purges old and unnecessary data from RAM to give the programs you’re using more to work with, which leads to a much smoother experience overall.