softwareupdated high CPU on Mac? Here's why
softwareupdated using high CPU on your Mac is the Software Update daemon checking, downloading, or installing updates. Here's why it sometimes gets stuck, and how to fix it safely.
softwareupdated is the Software Update daemon. High CPU normally just means it's checking, downloading, or installing an update, and it quiets down when that finishes. When it stays high, it's usually stuck on a bad download, and the fix is simple.
What softwareupdated does
It runs software updates in the background (macOS system updates and update content) through the Software Update framework you see at System Settings → General → Software Update. One thing to keep straight: softwareupdated (with the trailing "d") is the daemon; softwareupdate (no "d") is the command-line tool. They're different things.
Why it's using high CPU
- Normal, brief bursts while it checks for, downloads, or installs an update, then it settles.
- Sustained high CPU usually means it's busy with a large update, or stuck retrying on a stale or partially-downloaded, corrupted update payload.
- VPN software has been reported to trigger repeated update-check activity.
- Not enough free space to stage the download. A macOS update needs far more room than the download size suggests, and an install that cannot complete is an install that keeps trying — see not enough space to update macOS for how much it actually wants.
Is softwareupdated a virus?
No. It's a legitimate Apple component. High CPU means it's busy or stuck, not infected.
The check that settles it is the path, not the name. Note the PID in Activity Monitor, then run ps -o comm= -p <PID> in Terminal; the genuine daemon lives under /System/Library/, in a folder System Integrity Protection keeps read-only. Our guide to high CPU on a Mac explains why that test is the whole answer to the virus question, for this process and every other one in the list.
What to do about it
- Often, wait it out. If a download or install is running, let it finish.
- If it seems stuck, reboot. macOS relaunches the daemon as needed, which clears a wedged state.
- Run the update manually at System Settings → General → Software Update, so it completes rather than looping in the background.
- Temporarily disable a VPN if the activity correlates with it.
- Don't permanently disable it. Force-quitting in Activity Monitor is only a stopgap (the system relaunches it), and disabling updates leaves your Mac unpatched.
How long should it take?
There is no honest single number, because "an update" covers everything from a 300 MB Safari patch to a full macOS release. What you can reasonably expect:
- A check is seconds. If
softwareupdatedis busy for more than a minute or two with nothing showing in Software Update, something is retrying. - A download runs at whatever your connection does, and Apple's servers are slowest in the first day or two after a release.
- An install is the long part, and most of it happens after the restart, where you see a progress bar rather than a process name.
The signal that something is genuinely wrong is not height, it's duration with nothing to show for it: softwareupdated busy for hours while Software Update reports no update available and no download in progress.
The other processes an update wakes up
softwareupdated rarely works alone, which is why an update can make a Mac feel slow long after the update itself is finished.
During the update, mobileassetd and installd do the fetching and installing, and can spike for the same reasons. Afterwards comes the part people actually notice: Spotlight re-indexes (mds_stores and mdworker), Photos re-analyses its library (photoanalysisd), and iCloud reconciles (bird and cloudd). None of that is softwareupdated, and all of it is why a Mac feels slow after an update for a day or so.
What people get wrong
Force-quitting softwareupdated isn't a fix; it comes right back. And don't confuse it with related update processes like mobileassetd or installd, which can spike for similar reasons during an update.
The other common mistake is turning automatic checks off to stop the CPU spike. That does stop it, and it leaves your Mac unpatched against everything Apple ships a fix for afterwards, including the malware definitions XProtect relies on. Fixing the stuck update is the smaller cost.
See whether it's working or wedged
An update quietly running in the background is a common reason a Mac feels busy for a while. Plumby shows live CPU in your menu bar with the process named plainly, so you can tell "an update's installing, let it finish" from "this is stuck", measured from your Mac's real state, never estimated.
