Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about MacStats.
What exactly does MacStats monitor?
MacStats monitors CPU usage, RAM with an estimated pressure indicator, disk, network speed, battery health, and individual process activity in real time. It complements Activity Monitor with a compact menu bar view and AI explanations.
What are the system requirements?
MacStats requires macOS 13 Ventura or later and an Apple silicon (M-series) Mac. It is a native Swift application with no Electron runtime and no background daemon.
How much CPU and memory does MacStats itself use?
MacStats is built to stay out of the way. On an Apple silicon Mac it typically uses around 1% CPU and roughly 65 MB of memory while monitoring. Exact figures vary with your hardware and refresh interval.
How is MacStats different from Activity Monitor?
Activity Monitor shows raw numbers in a separate window that you have to open and interpret yourself. MacStats lives in your menu bar, keeps historical trends over 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days, learns what is normal for your Mac so it can flag genuine anomalies, and explains in plain English what a process such as kernel_task actually is.
Does the AI Explainer send my personal data to the cloud?
No. The AI Explainer only sends the literal name of the process (e.g., kernel_task) and coarse system metrics such as CPU percentage and memory pressure level to our servers to generate the explanation. We do not send file paths, execution arguments, document contents, or any personal context. Read our Privacy Policy for full details.
Is it really a one-time purchase?
Yes. We hate subscription fatigue as much as you do. When you purchase MacStats Pro, you own that major version forever, with no recurring fees.
Is there a limit to how many AI Explanations I can request?
Yes. To prevent abuse and keep MacStats free from subscriptions, each license includes a massive fair-use quota of 500 AI Explanations per month. For 99% of users, this acts as an unlimited quota. Cache hits (when the system already knows the answer) do not count toward your limit!
Why isn't MacStats on the Mac App Store?
MacStats requires low-level system access to provide accurate monitoring and process insights. Direct distribution allows MacStats to deliver the best experience outside the restrictive App Store sandbox.
Why does macOS warn me about opening MacStats?
MacStats is not yet notarized by Apple, so Gatekeeper shows a warning the first time you open it. To proceed, right-click (or Control-click) the app and choose "Open", then confirm. This only needs to be done once. On macOS 15 Sequoia or later you may instead need to open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click "Open Anyway". Notarization is planned once our Apple Developer Program enrolment completes.
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