What is homed on Mac, and why is it using the network?

Last updated: 2026-07-31

What it is

homed is Apple’s per-user daemon for home services. According to its macOS manual page, it manages home state and controls HomeKit accessories. Apple Home also supports Matter accessories, so the work surrounding homed can include devices using either ecosystem.

The daemon supplies system services used by the Home app and by authorized HomeKit-enabled clients. Those services keep track of information such as homes, rooms, scenes, accessories and users, then help clients read or change accessory state. The name can be misleading if you encounter it in a process or network monitor: homed has nothing to do with your macOS home directory or the files stored there.

Apple’s copy is located at /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/HomeKitDaemon.framework/Support/homed and is signed with the identifier com.apple.homed. That identity and path matter when deciding whether a process is the expected system component.

Why it talks to the network

Network activity from homed can begin when the Home app, or another authorized HomeKit client, reads an accessory’s state or sends a command. Discovering and pairing accessories also requires communication. Other triggers include synchronizing changes to homes, rooms, scenes or users; receiving invitations or notifications; and using remote Home control.

Depending on the task, the other side of that communication may be a local HomeKit Accessory Protocol or Matter accessory, an accessory bridge, or a HomePod or Apple TV acting as a home hub. Home services can also communicate with Apple infrastructure used for iCloud, iCloud Keychain, Apple Identity Service and push notifications.

That list describes connection categories, not a verified endpoint inventory. Apple does not document stable hostnames for every homed connection. It also does not document exactly which related process owns each connection in every situation. A hostname attributed to homed on one Mac should therefore not be treated as a universal endpoint list without separate evidence.

How much traffic is normal

There is no reliable numerical answer. Apple publishes no normal bandwidth baseline for homed, so a specific daily or monthly figure would be invented rather than measured guidance.

Ordinary accessory control, state updates and configuration synchronization should be sparse, message-like traffic. In general, this should be much smaller than a download or a continuous media stream. Short bursts can occur while pairing an accessory, resynchronizing home data, or processing numerous state changes.

Cameras and audio accessories can involve media-scale traffic. However, whether macOS attributes that traffic specifically to homed depends on implementation details and has not been verified. Seeing substantial traffic near camera or audio activity does not, by itself, establish that homed carried the media stream.

Can you turn it off

If you do not use Apple Home on this Mac, Apple provides a supported Home feature switch:

Apple menu > System Settings > [your name] > iCloud > See All (next to Saved to iCloud) > Home > Off

Apple states that after Home is turned off on the Mac, the Mac cannot manage accessories or share control of the home. It also loses iCloud synchronization and remote Home control. Home-related scenes, notifications and Siri requests on that Mac may stop working as well.

This setting controls the Home feature on the Mac; it is not a documented disable switch for the homed executable itself. Apple provides no supported per-process control that guarantees the daemon will remain stopped. macOS may still launch homed on demand, so the process appearing after Home has been turned off does not prove that the setting failed.

Force-quitting the daemon or trying to unload it is not an official bandwidth-control method. It can interrupt Home functions, and the operating system can start the daemon again.

What people get wrong

• “homed manages the user’s home folder.” It does not. Apple identifies homed as the home-services daemon responsible for home state and HomeKit accessories. It is unrelated to the user’s home directory.

• “Any process named homed is malware or a cryptominer.” Apple includes a legitimate system component with this name. The executable at Apple’s protected system path is signed with the identifier com.apple.homed. A same-named executable at another path is a separate case and should be investigated on its own.

• “A Mac becomes a Home hub whenever homed is running.” Running homed makes the Mac a Home controller, not a home hub. Apple identifies HomePod and Apple TV as the current home-hub devices.

• “Force-quitting or unloading homed is an official way to save bandwidth.” Apple documents no supported per-process disable control. The daemon can be relaunched on demand, while interference with it can break Home functions. Use the supported iCloud Home setting if the goal is to turn off Home on the Mac.

• “The HomeKit switches under Privacy & Security disable homed.” Those switches control third-party applications’ access to home data. The documented user-facing switch for the Home feature is under the Apple Account’s iCloud settings.

• “Home synchronization means Apple can read the home configuration.” Apple’s security guidance says that data for homes using the new Home architecture is protected by iCloud end-to-end encryption and is not accessible to Apple.

Seeing what it actually used

Because Apple provides no traffic baseline, the practical next step is to measure homed on your own Mac during the period you are investigating. Bytetally’s per-process statistics can show how much data was attributed to homed, letting you compare quiet periods with pairing, synchronization or accessory activity. Treat those measurements as evidence from that Mac and time window, especially when media accessories or related system processes are involved.

Related processes

Common questions