# See your Mac by app, not by process.

Canonical page: https://vitalsmac.com/features/apps-not-processes

Activity Monitor hands you a thousand processes. Vitals hands you about sixty apps, each with everything it started added in, so when you ask what is eating the memory you get an answer, not a list.

## Apps: Sixty rows you can read, not a thousand you cannot.

Every process goes under the app that started it, so a working Mac is about sixty rows, and each one tells you what that app is costing you in memory, CPU, energy, disk and network. Click a row and its processes are right there, each with its own numbers.

- Helpers are added to the app that started them
- One line per app for memory, CPU, energy, disk and network
- The busiest app is always at the top, on every tab
- Pin the apps you watch, or press ⌘F to find one

## Browsers: The tab that is eating two gigabytes gets a name.

A busy browser is a hundred processes all called Helper. Click Chrome in Vitals and the total splits into its tabs, its extensions, its graphics and the browser itself, so you know which tab to close instead of restarting the whole thing.

- Works with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Arc and Dia
- Tabs, extensions and graphics, each with its own number
- Slack, VS Code and apps like them split by window
- Quit a single tab's process and keep the rest

## Dropdown: The busiest apps, one click from the menu bar.

Click any Vitals item in the menu bar and the dropdown shows what is using the most right now, with the same apps and the same totals as the window, so most of the time you never open the window at all.

- The apps behind every number, highest first
- Hover an app and a close button appears
- Click an app and the window opens on it
- Tiles or a list, whichever you prefer

## Quitting: It asks first, and tells you what will close.

Quit an app, or one process inside it, from any list. Before anything happens, Vitals tells you how many processes will close and waits for your yes. For an app that has stopped answering, Force Quit is one more click.

- Quit a whole app or a single process
- You are told how many processes will close, before they do
- Force Quit for an app that will not answer
- System processes stay under macOS, or out of the lists entirely

## Why it matters: apps, not processes on a Mac

Open Activity Monitor on a Mac that has been on all day and you get about a thousand rows: Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) a hundred times over, a WebContent process for every Safari tab, a dozen things called node, and the system's own daemons in between. Sort by memory and the top of the list is helpers, each a few hundred megabytes, none of them the answer you came for.

The question is almost always about an app. Is it Chrome? Is it Slack? Is it that build? Activity Monitor cannot group by app and never adds the helpers up, so you do the arithmetic yourself, or give up and quit things until the fans stop.

Vitals does the adding up for you. The list is about sixty apps long, each with one number for memory, CPU, energy, disk and network. Click an app and its processes are listed under it, each with its own numbers, so nothing is hidden. The same grouping runs through every tab, the dropdown, the history, and whatever your AI assistant is told.

## How to use it

1. **Open the window on the tab you need.** Click the Vitals item in the menu bar and then any app in the dropdown, or press the shortcut you set in Settings → General. Memory, CPU, energy, disk and network each have a tab, and every tab lists apps highest first.
2. **Open an app.** Click a row and its processes unfold under it, each with its own numbers, while the charts move aside instead of being covered. Pin an app to the top if you watch it often. Press ⌘F to find one by name.
3. **Look inside a browser.** Click Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Arc or Dia and its total splits into tabs, extensions, graphics and the browser itself. Slack, VS Code and apps like them split by window.
4. **Quit what should go.** Quit an app, or one process inside it, from any list. Vitals tells you how many processes will close and asks first. Force Quit is there for an app that will not answer. Right-click an app to copy its name or its path, or to turn App Nap off for it.

## Compared with Activity Monitor

| | Activity Monitor | Vitals |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The list | Every process, about 1,000 rows | Every app, about 60 rows |
| Helpers | Listed on their own; you add them up | Added to their app and listed under it |
| Browser tabs | WebContent and Helper rows, no tab names | Tabs, extensions and graphics, by name |
| System processes | Mixed in with your apps | Under macOS, or out of the lists with one switch |
| Quitting | One process, with no word on what else closes | An app or a process, told how many will close |

## The words behind it

- [Helper processes](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/helper-processes): Helper processes are separate processes an app starts to do part of its work, such as rendering web pages, running extensions, or handling graphics.
- [Memory column](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/memory-column): The Memory column in Activity Monitor shows how much memory each process is using.
- [App Memory](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/app-memory): App Memory is the amount of RAM being used by apps and their processes.
- [kernel_task](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/kernel-task): kernel_task is the macOS kernel as it appears in Activity Monitor.
- [WindowServer](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/windowserver): WindowServer is the macOS system process that manages windows, composites what apps draw into the final image on your displays, and routes input events such as clicks and key presses to the right app.
- [Unmeasured processes](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/unmeasured-processes): The processes in a system monitor rarely add up to the total in its graph.
- [PID](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/pid): A PID, or process ID, is a number macOS assigns to each running process to identify it.

## Questions

### How does Vitals decide which app a process belongs to?

By who started it. A helper Chrome started counts under Chrome, a language server VS Code started counts under VS Code, and something you ran from a terminal counts under the terminal, or under its project folder on the Projects tab.

### Can I still see the individual processes?

Yes. Click any app and its processes unfold under it, each with its own numbers, and you can quit or force quit any one of them. Vitals adds them up; it never hides them.

### Does it slow my Mac down?

No. With the window closed it takes a reading every five seconds and uses about a tenth of a percent of one core. It only works harder while you are looking.

### Does it replace Activity Monitor?

For the everyday questions, yes: what is using the memory, what is draining the battery, what is keeping the Mac awake, what is making it slow. Activity Monitor keeps a few specialist tools, like sampling a process, that Vitals does not copy.

### Does it show system processes like kernel_task and WindowServer?

Yes, grouped under macOS, with their own numbers once the optional helper is on. If you would rather see only your own apps, turn off Show macOS in Lists in Settings → General.

### Why does Activity Monitor show so many Google Chrome Helper processes?

Chrome runs every tab, every extension and its graphics as a separate process, so a busy browser is a hundred rows. Vitals adds them up under Chrome and, when you click it, tells you which tabs and extensions are behind the number.

### Can I find a process by name?

Yes. Press ⌘F on any tab and type part of its name.

### What is the optional helper?

macOS lets an app measure only your own processes. To measure the system's as well, you can turn on a small helper. It answers one question, how much is each process using, takes no commands, changes nothing, and quits when Vitals does. Vitals works fine without it.

## Read on

- [How to check CPU and memory usage on a Mac, app by app](https://vitalsmac.com/check-cpu-memory-usage-mac)
- [Chrome using too much memory on a Mac? How to find the tab behind it](https://vitalsmac.com/chrome-using-too-much-memory-mac)
- [Why is my Mac so slow? How to find the cause, and fix it](https://vitalsmac.com/why-is-my-mac-so-slow)
- [How to free up RAM on a Mac, and when you don’t need to](https://vitalsmac.com/free-up-ram-mac)
- [The 12 best Activity Monitor alternatives for Mac](https://vitalsmac.com/best-activity-monitor-alternatives)
- [Vitals vs Activity Monitor](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/activity-monitor)
- [Vitals vs ProcessSpy](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/processspy)
- [Vitals vs ProcXray](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/procxray)

## More of Vitals

Every feature is at [vitalsmac.com/features](https://vitalsmac.com/features). Vitals is one payment, with every update for life: [pricing](https://vitalsmac.com/pricing).