The hidden process in the Mac system is a human-machine interface device daemon, responsible for ensuring that macOS recognizes input devices, including keyboard, mouse and trackpad. You can see this process in Activity Monitor and may want to know if hidden is normal and safe.

This article will explain hidden on your Mac in more detail, see if it will affect performance, and understand what you can do if you encounter problems.

What is hidden on Mac?

hidd stands for the human-computer interface device daemon, which is a feature that allows your mouse, keyboard and trackpad to communicate with your computer. The hidden process on the Mac recognizes keys, clicks, touches, and gestures and passes them to relevant parts of the macOS operating system.

Hidd on your Mac also allows your Mac to recognize game controllers, drawing boards, and other peripherals you may use to interact with your machine. Therefore, the hidden process is an important part of macOS and should not be stopped unless absolutely necessary.

How does the Hidd process affect Mac performance

hidd process should not have any obvious impact on your Mac's performance, but, like any other software, it occasionally encounters problems that cause its behavior abnormalities. When this happens, you may notice an increase in CPU and RAM usage and we recommend restarting the system to correct the problem.

You may also notice that when the hidden process is not running properly, your Mac stops recognizing input from your keyboard, mouse, and other devices, cannot connect to the controller, or there is a significant delay before registering the input.

How to troubleshoot hidden issues on Mac

To troubleshoot hidden issues on Mac, the first step we recommend is to check whether the process is running normally. Go to Apps > Utility and open Activity Monitor. Click the CPU column and see if hidd is near the top of the high usage list.

hidd usually requires very little system power to function properly, so if it occupies CPU or RAM resources, we need to fix it. Let's take a look at some effective troubleshooting tips.

1. Check the connected input device

When you suspect that there is a problem with hidden, the first thing you need to check is not the hidden itself, but the input device itself. Make sure the wired device is securely plugged in with the right cable and the wireless device is properly paired and the battery is sufficient.

2. Restart the hidden process

If you are sure that hidden on your Mac is not working properly, restart it via Activity Monitor:

1. Go to Apps > Utility and open Activity Monitor.
2. Find and select hidd and click the X button to terminate the background process on your Mac.
3. When the system prompts you to confirm, click to exit .

hidd process will automatically restart. You won't be able to use the input device until it's run again, so wait a moment before trying to interact with your Mac.

3. Update macOS and drivers

If you still encounter hidden process issues after trying the fix above, please update macOS and any third-party drivers you are using. To update macOS:

1. In the system settings , select General.
Click
2. Software Update.
Select
3. Update now or Update now to install the update (if any).

macOS contains support for common peripherals, but if you have devices that use third-party drivers, please follow the manufacturer's instructions to update these drivers. At this point, it's best to make sure your Mac is free of viruses and malware as they can impact performance.

How to exit hidden process on Mac

You can use Activity Monitor (Task Manager on Mac) to exit the hidden process as shown above, or use a terminal, as follows:

Go to
1. Apps > Utility and open Terminal.
Enter
2. top and press Return to view all processes, such as Mac WindowServer, kernel_task, and other processes.
Find
3. hidd and note its PID number.
Enter
4. kill -9 PID** (Replace PID with the PID number of hidden), and press Return*.

When should I exit the hidden process

Exiting the hidden process should be a last resort and should only be adopted if other troubleshooting solutions fail. Here are some reasons you might want to consider it:

hidd uses too much CPU and RAM and you need to free up memory on your Mac.
Your Mac becomes unstable and crashes.
The input device stops working and you cannot control your Mac.

Restarting hidden is a temporary solution. It is best to restart the system completely, if you have problems frequently, try reinstalling macOS.

Risk of exiting the hidden process

Exiting hidden comes with some risks that you should be aware of, and the most notable of which is that it may not restart itself, which means you won't be able to control your Mac. So we think it's better not to turn off hidden unless you know what to do if that happens.

Conclusion

hidd is an important macOS process that allows your computer to recognize input from your mouse, keyboard, and other peripherals. It is safe and it should not be modified unless it stops working as expected, in which case you can restart it.

If you find that hidden is affecting the performance and stability of your Mac, it may be infected with a virus. Use the MacKeeper's antivirus utility to remove malware from your machine and strengthen your security measures to prevent new threats.

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