What are the systemstats processes?

You might see several processes with the systemstats prefix in Activity Monitor. They all collect system performance data.

What are the systemstats processes?

• systemstats.analysis: studies collected performance data, looking for patterns and oddities in system behaviour
• systemstats.daily: runs once a day to take a snapshot of processor use, memory pressure, disk activity, and energy use over the past 24 hours
• systemstats.microstackshot_periodic: takes lightweight stack traces (microstackshots) from running processes at set intervals to see what the system is spending time on

What are microstackshots?

Microstackshots are very light snapshots of what every process is doing at a given moment. They are far less heavy than a full spindump. They capture just enough to build a statistical picture of system activity over time. Apple uses this data to find performance problems in macOS.

Do they slow down my Mac?

No. These processes are built to be light. Microstackshots take microseconds to capture, and the daily collection runs briefly at low priority. You should not notice any effect on speed.

Do they send data to Apple?

Only if you have opted in to analytics sharing in System Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Analytics and Improvements. The data helps Apple improve macOS performance in future updates.

Can you turn them off?

Turning off analytics sharing stops the data from being sent to Apple. The processes may still collect some data locally for system health, but they use very few resources.

Should you worry?

No. They are normal macOS diagnostic processes that help Apple understand real-world performance. They are built to have no noticeable effect on your Mac.

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