How to Monitor Mac Temperature: Tools and Apps

The bottom of your MacBook is hot, the fans are loud, and you want a number. Here is the awkward truth first, then what you can actually do about it.

The short answer: macOS does not show your Mac's temperature anywhere, not in Activity Monitor and not in System Settings. To read the sensors in degrees you need a third-party app such as iStat Menus or Stats. What macOS does track is its thermal state, which tells you whether the heat is affecting performance, and Activity Monitor tells you what is causing the heat.

Why there is no temperature in Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor shows CPU, memory, energy, disk and network. It has no temperature column, and macOS has no temperature panel elsewhere. The sensors exist, but Apple does not display their readings in any built-in app.

What macOS does track: thermal state

Instead of a temperature, macOS keeps a thermal state with four levels: nominal, fair, serious and critical. Apps can read it, and macOS uses it to decide when to slow the processor down to shed heat. For most people this is the more useful signal, because it answers the question behind the temperature: is the heat costing me performance?

You can check whether macOS has recorded any thermal or performance limit from Terminal, without an administrator password:

pmset -g therm

On our test Mac, idle on macOS 27.0.1, it answered:

Note: No thermal warning level has been recorded
Note: No performance warning level has been recorded
Note: No CPU power status has been recorded

That is what you want to see. If macOS has started limiting performance because of heat, this is where it says so.

Find out what is making it hot

Heat comes from sustained work, so the cause is almost always visible in Activity Monitor even though the temperature is not.

1. Press Command-Space, type Activity Monitor, and press Return.
2. Click the CPU tab.
3. Click the % CPU column so the busiest processes are at the top.

A video export or a game at high CPU explains itself. A background process you do not recognise, stuck high while you are doing nothing, is the one to look into.

If kernel_task is near the top, that is often macOS deliberately occupying the processor to cool the machine down rather than the cause of the heat. Our guide to what kernel_task is explains it, and why a Mac overheats covers the usual causes and fixes.

If you want the actual degrees

For a temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, use an app that reads the hardware sensors:

• iStat Menus has the most comprehensive temperature and fan sensor coverage of the common Mac monitors. It is paid.
• Stats is free and open source, and it reads temperature, voltage and power sensors.

Our comparison of MacStats, Stats and iStat Menus sets out what each one covers.

Where MacStats fits

MacStats does not read temperature sensors either, and it does not pretend to. It shows the macOS thermal state in its dashboard, next to live CPU, memory and your busiest apps and processes, so you can see in one place whether the Mac is under thermal pressure and whether one of your apps is causing it. With MacStats Pro, clicking the thermal state or one of your busy processes gives you a plain-English explanation of what is going on and whether you need to act.

If you want a degree reading, use one of the sensor apps above. If you want to know whether the heat matters and what is causing it, that is what MacStats is built for.

See what is heating your Mac, not just how hot it is.

Download MacStats for Free

Frequently asked questions

Can I check my Mac's temperature in Activity Monitor?

No. Activity Monitor has no temperature readout, and neither does any other built-in macOS app. To see the sensors in degrees, use a third-party app such as iStat Menus or Stats.

What is the thermal state on a Mac?

It is macOS's own measure of thermal pressure, with four levels: nominal, fair, serious and critical. macOS uses it to decide when to slow the processor down to reduce heat. Nominal means heat is not affecting performance.

How can I tell if my Mac is throttling because of heat?

Run pmset -g therm in Terminal. If macOS has recorded a thermal or performance warning, it reports it there. A busy kernel_task in Activity Monitor while the Mac is hot is another sign that macOS is holding the processor back to cool down.

Does MacStats show CPU temperature?

No. MacStats shows the macOS thermal state rather than individual sensor temperatures or fan speeds. For degree readings, use an app such as iStat Menus or Stats.