What are the managedclient processes?

You may see processes with the managedclient prefix on Macs managed by an organisation.

What are the managedclient processes?

The managedclient family of processes handles Managed Preferences. This is the system that applies configuration profiles and policies to your Mac. It is how organisations enforce settings on company-owned Macs.

Common managedclient processes include:

• managedclient.agent: the user-level agent that applies per-user managed preferences
• managedclient.daemon: the system-level daemon that applies machine-wide policies
• managedclient.enroll: handles enrolment with management servers

What are Managed Preferences?

Managed Preferences let IT staff:

• Enforce password policies
• Set up Wi-Fi and VPN settings
• Restrict which apps can be installed
• Set email and account details
• Control system settings (screen lock timeout, allowed updates, and so on)
• Deploy configuration profiles

These settings come from an MDM (Mobile Device Management) server or from configuration profiles installed locally.

When do they run?

The managedclient processes run on Macs that:

• Are enrolled in an MDM solution (Jamf, Mosyle, Kandji, and others)
• Have configuration profiles installed
• Are bound to a directory service with managed preferences

On a personal Mac with no management profiles, these processes have nothing to do.

Can you check if your Mac is managed?

Look in System Settings, then General, then Profiles. If the Profiles item exists, your Mac has configuration profiles installed. You can also check in System Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Profiles.

Should you worry?

No. If your Mac is managed by your employer, these processes enforce the policies your IT department has set. If you see them on a personal Mac and did not install any profiles, check the Profiles section in System Settings to see what is installed.

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