Safe to Quit
Accounts · macOS process

accountsd on Mac: what it is and why it uses CPU

accountsd is the Accounts framework daemon: it keeps track of every account you have added to your Mac (iCloud, Google, Exchange, Yahoo, and the rest) and hands their sign-in details to Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Notes and Messages when they ask. It is normally idle and spikes for a few seconds when an account refreshes. It became famous in 2020 when a Catalina update made it sit at 400 percent CPU for iCloud users. Today a high number almost always means Mail or iCloud is re-syncing, or an account has a bad password. Leave it running; it finishes on its own.

Leave itA core part of macOS. Quitting it does nothing useful, and macOS starts it again.

Updated 12 November 2026 · macOS 12 Monterey to macOS 26 Tahoe · 4 min read

Verdict
Leave it. It stops on its own, usually within a minute.
Normal CPU
0 percent, brief spikes to 10 to 30 percent on account refresh
Normal memory
Under 50 MB
Common cause
Mail or iCloud re-syncing after an update, an account with an expired password
Famous for
The Catalina 10.15.7 bug: 400 percent CPU with iCloud, fixed by a reboot or sign-out

What accountsd does

Every account you add in System Settings, Internet Accounts is stored by the Accounts framework, and accountsd is its daemon. It holds the list of accounts, which services each one provides (mail, calendars, contacts, notes), and the tokens that keep them signed in. When Mail checks for new messages, it asks accountsd for the credentials. When Calendar syncs, same thing. When iCloud needs to refresh a token, accountsd does it. It also mediates with the keychain, which is why a broken login keychain shows up as a prompt that says accountsd wants to use your confidential information.

None of that is heavy. A token refresh is a small network request. The process only becomes visible when something makes it refresh over and over, or when the operating system itself has a bug in how it handles accounts, which is what happened in 2020.

What normal looks like

Normal use0 percentNothing to do between refreshes.
Mail checks accounts, iCloud refreshes a token5 to 30 percent for a few secondsA burst, then back to zero. You will rarely catch it.
First sync after adding an account or a macOS update30 to 80 percent for a few minutesEvery service for every account refreshes at once. Finishes on its own.
Pinned at 100 to 400 percent for an hour100 to 400 percentA loop. The Catalina bug looked like this. Fix order below.
accountsd CPU in Activity Monitor. 400 percent means four cores busy; that only happens when the daemon is stuck in a loop.

Why accountsd is using CPU right now

  1. Mail or iCloud is re-syncing. After a macOS update, a password change or a new account, every service refreshes. Mail with several large accounts can keep accountsd busy for a few minutes. Normal, and it ends.
  2. An account has a wrong or expired password. Mail asks accountsd, the server refuses, Mail asks again. The loop costs CPU and usually shows a password prompt or a warning triangle in Mail's sidebar.
  3. The keychain is out of step with the account list. If the login keychain was reset or the Mac was migrated, accountsd has accounts whose credentials are missing. You see repeated keychain prompts and a busy accountsd. Entering the password once, correctly, usually ends it.
  4. The 2020 Catalina bug. The macOS 10.15.7 update caused accountsd to run at 400 percent CPU for people using iCloud, with fans at full speed. Mr. Macintosh documented it at the time, and the workarounds were a restart or signing out of iCloud and back in. Apple fixed it in a later update. If you are on a supported macOS today you do not have this bug, but the symptom pattern it left in search results is why so many people look this process up.
  5. Many accounts, many services. Five mail accounts, three calendars and two contact sources is a lot of tokens. Each refresh is small; together they are visible.

Is it safe to quit accountsd?

Do not quit it. accountsd runs as a system daemon and launchd restarts it immediately. The fresh copy picks up the same accounts and the same stuck sync, so the number comes straight back. Meanwhile Mail, Calendar and Messages lose their account access for a second and may show errors or prompts. Some people force quit both accountsd and Mail and then restart the Mac. The restart is the part that helped. Skip straight to it.

What are you about to quit?

The accounts side of macOS has several helpers. If you see identityservicesd, cloudd, bird or Mail rising alongside accountsd, type them above; they usually spike together during a sync.

What to do, in order

  1. Wait five minutes

    If accountsd spiked after an update, a new account or a password change, give it time. A first sync of several accounts takes minutes, not hours. Most people who check back later find it at zero.

  2. Open Mail and look for a warning

    A triangle next to an account in Mail's sidebar means the server is rejecting the credentials. Click it, enter the current password, and the retry loop ends.

  3. Check Internet Accounts

    System Settings, Internet Accounts. Any account marked as needing attention or sign-in is the one looping. Sign in again or remove it if you no longer use it.

  4. Quit Mail, then restart the Mac

    Quitting Mail stops the biggest source of account requests. A restart resets accountsd, the keychain session and every token. This was the fix for the Catalina bug and it still clears most stuck syncs today.

  5. Sign out of iCloud and back in

    Only if the restart did not help. System Settings, Apple ID, Sign Out. Keep a copy of your data when asked. Sign back in. This rebuilds every iCloud token from scratch. Expect a few minutes of accountsd and iCloud activity afterwards, then quiet.

  6. Update macOS

    Account-handling bugs are the kind Apple fixes in point releases. If you are on an old version of a major release, Software Update may be the real fix.

When to worry

Worry if accountsd stays above 100 percent for more than half an hour, comes back within minutes of a restart, and no account shows a warning. That is a loop in the system itself, and the iCloud sign-out and a macOS update are the two fixes that reach it. Worry a little if you get repeated keychain prompts for accountsd that your correct password does not stop; that points to a damaged login keychain, which Apple's support article on keychain passwords walks through. Do not worry about a burst after an update, after adding an account, or when Mail first opens in the morning. That is the daemon doing the small job it exists for.

Safe to Quit, the Mac app behind this site, shows this same leave-it verdict next to accountsd and tells you when it is expected to settle, so you can stop watching Activity Monitor and get back to work.

  1. Minute 0macOS update finishes, you log in. accountsd at 60 percent. Normal: every account refreshing.
  2. Minute 5Down to zero. Done. Most Macs land here.
  3. Minute 30Still at 100 percent or more, fans on. Not normal. Check Mail for a credentials warning, then restart.
  4. Hour 2, after a restartBack at 100 percent within minutes of login. Sign out of iCloud and back in, then update macOS.
How long accountsd gets before it is a problem. Short bursts are the design; an hour is a loop.

What people hit, in their words

“Catalina 10.15.7 Update is causing problems with the accountsd process.”

“As accountsd is icloud sync process, I signed out from iCloud and re-signed in.”

“Yes it's OK, those are 2 essential Apple services.”

Watch: the 2020 bug as it happened

Catalina 10.15.7 Update accountsd using 400% CPU with iCloud by Mr. Macintosh. Long and detailed. Useful if you want to see the 400 percent pattern in Activity Monitor and the reboot and iCloud sign-out workarounds demonstrated.

Questions people ask

What is accountsd on a Mac?

It is the daemon behind the Accounts framework, the part of macOS that stores the accounts you add in Internet Accounts (iCloud, Google, Exchange and others) and gives Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Notes and Messages their sign-in details. Every Mac runs it. It is idle most of the time and busy briefly when accounts refresh.

What does the message 'accountsd wants to use your confidential information stored in your keychain' mean?

accountsd is asking the keychain for a saved account password and the keychain wants your permission, usually because your login keychain password no longer matches your account password after a change or a migration. Enter your current login password and click Always Allow. If it keeps asking, Apple's support article on keychain passwords explains how to bring the two back in sync.

What happens if I delete Keychain Access?

You cannot delete the app; it is part of macOS. What people usually mean is deleting the login keychain, which removes every saved password on the Mac, including the ones accountsd uses. That forces every account to ask for its password again and is a drastic step. Fixing the keychain password through Keychain Access, or signing in again in Internet Accounts, is almost always enough.

Why did accountsd use 400 percent CPU on Catalina?

The macOS 10.15.7 update in September 2020 introduced a bug that sent accountsd into a loop for people signed into iCloud, pinning four cores and running the fans flat out. A restart or an iCloud sign-out and sign-in cleared it, and Apple fixed it in a later update. The same symptom today is almost always a stuck Mail sync or a bad password rather than that bug.

How do I keep my Mac secure if accountsd handles my passwords?

accountsd never stores passwords itself; they live in the keychain, encrypted with your login password. Keep that login password strong, turn on FileVault, use two-factor authentication on your Apple ID and Google account, and install macOS updates. Those four steps protect everything accountsd touches.

Sources and further reading