In this article, we look at ways to track bandwidth usage on a Mac and reduce the impact of anything taking up the network capacity you need. 

To start with, let’s briefly look at how we check network capacity. 

How to track bandwidth usage on a Mac? 

Go to Activity Monitor. It is built into macOS and will give you a rough overview of which apps are using your network connection, along with upload and download speeds. 

  1. Go to Applications > Utilities and open Activity Monitor (alternatively, type Activity Monitor into Spotlight Search or ask Siri to open it).
  2. Now, go to the Network tab.
  3. This shows various apps and processes and the impact they have on network bandwidth.
  4. Click Sent Bytes and rank from highest to lowest to see which apps are using more bandwidth than others.

How to reduce bandwidth usage on a Mac? 

Now that you’ve got an idea of what is taking up network bandwidth, there are several ways to reduce bandwidth usage.

1. Quit anything that is using too much internet 

First, make sure to quit anything that is running in the background and taking up bandwidth.

Either go to the app itself and close it down or use Force Quit in the main Apple menu if an app isn’t responding.

Now, ask whether you need this app. If not, deleting it from Applications is the first step toward clearing out space on your Mac.

Most apps that aren’t responding will comply with Force Quit. You can then use Activity Monitor to make sure they’re not still running in the background.

2. Delete unneeded apps

If you find out that unused apps run silently in the background and take up network bandwidth, consider deleting them. Removing them from Applications should delete most of the data connected with that app and any background processes. However, it may not remove everything, including cache files, that can still impact network bandwidth use, which we can help you solve later in this article. 

But in some cases, when an app keeps running in the background and is not responding to Force Quit or even being deleted, this could indicate that your Mac has a malware infection. Below is how to remove them.

3. Find and delete hidden apps

Apps that shouldn’t be running in the background using all bandwidth and processing memory are real nuisances. Without realizing it, you could be the victim of hackers and bots or simply one or more apps with bugs that don’t close when you need them to shut down.

Either way, apps continuing to run is a problem that needs to be solved, and you can do it with CleanMyMac.

  1. Get your free CleanMyMac trial.
  2. Within this easy-to-use Mac app, there are several tools that solve this problem: Cleanup that can remove junk, Applications that helps uninstall apps, and Performance that can clean up your Login or Startup Items.
  3. To be sure you’ve got your Mac running as good as new, use all three. Then, restart it.

4. Check your Mac for malware

Malware and other viruses are either stealing personal data and sharing it with a control server or using your Mac processing power to mine Bitcoins or other forms of cryptocurrency (in many cases, these viruses go undetected, even if you’ve already got an antivirus software running). 

One solution for this is to use CleanMyMac and run its Protection tool. Click Scan, and you’ll see what has been hiding in the background using valuable processing power and network bandwidth. Thankfully, in a click, you can erase anything that has been lurking around for good.

5. Remove Mac startup apps 

Another way to avoid apps from taking up too much network bandwidth includes checking what is running in the startup menu. 

Normally, when a Mac starts, a set of pre-programmed apps (or apps you once thought were useful) start running automatically. But if you don’t need all of these to open, then now automatically is a good time to change the apps that open on startup. 

Here is how you do that:

  1. Open System Settings.
  2. Go to General > Login Items and Extensions.
  3. Now, use the ‘-’ button to remove apps under Open at Login.
  4. Disable unneeded apps under Allow in the Background.

Now, your startup sequence should be shorter, simpler, and use less bandwidth. 

6. Improve internet speed

Internet speed can be improved in many different ways. Either by contacting your internet provider or making improvements around the home and office or with changes you can make to your Mac. 

There you have it. Hopefully, trying one or more of the above solutions should give you more bandwidth and ensure your Mac runs smoother. Thank you for reading and come back soon for more Mac trips.