What is AKAuthorizationRemoteView (Messages) process and akd process? I noticed these two processes were causing my computer fan to spin right up, were using practically ALL the CPU % and they had over 40 days of CPU time clocked.
A quick google search revealed nothing. Seems that it may be related to Apple authorization... but why would it use so much CPU??
I'm concerned because AKAuthorizationRemoteView implies it may be performing some remote view operation via Messages.
Any help appreciated.
akd is a background service created by Apple that runs on macOS as part of the AuthKit framework. It is used by other Apple programs to facilitate the process of validating Apple IDs.
For example when you login to iCloud from the App Store, System Preferences or similar, the akd background process is responsible for actually &quot;talking&quot; to Apple's servers. This approach makes it possible for Apple to centrally manage and update authentications on macOS, instead of having to bake that support into each and every app that needs it.
Note that when you log in to iCloud from a browser, akd is not involved.
Usually akd does not take up huge amounts of CPU time. The fact that it does on your computer, indicates that there was a bug in the program. For example it could be that there was some unexpected delay or break in the connection between the program and Apple's server, and that the program went into a never-ending loop waiting for something to happen.
That sort of problem is usually resolved by either &quot;killing&quot; (i.e. stopping) the program and letting it restart automatically, or by simply rebooting the computer.
AKAuthorizationRemoteView is part Apple's AuthKitUI framework. Similar to the purpose of AuthKit, the AuthKitUI framework contains the functionality necessary to provide a user interface for authentication with Apple's services. It is created as a framework that is shared by other applications so that Apple does not have to update each and every program when they make a change to how the user interface for authenticating with their server's look like.
The user interface would include things like a dialog for entering your Apple ID and password, dialog for entering the 6-digit 2-factor authentication codes, a password reset dialog, etc.
You do not need to be concerned about the AKAuthorizationRemoteView. &quot;Remote View&quot; does not mean that something or someone is remotely viewing the screen of your computer. In technical terms a &quot;view&quot; is something that is displayed on your display - like for example a button, a menu, a text input field or similar. A &quot;remote view&quot; is a view that is displayed by a different thread or process than the main process.
I.e. in this case it just means that you have a main program (Messages for example) that is using this external framework and letting it display an authentication dialog on its behalf. This dialog is then &quot;remote&quot; from the Messages program, although everything is contained and running on your own computer.