Diagnosis · P1
Why is my Mac slow? One click, a ranked answer.
iKnowMyMac reads the last hour of history, ranks what is slowing your Mac down with the evidence for each cause, and suggests one action per cause. It runs on your Mac and works offline.
The problem
Activity Monitor shows numbers. You still have to work out the story.
A slow Mac is rarely one process at 100%. It is usually memory pressure building for twenty minutes, a few apps that grew, and swap filling your SSD. Activity Monitor shows a thousand rows as they are right now. The answer needs history, grouping and context.
- 40 rows called “Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)” and no total for Chrome
- Memory pressure is yellow, but nothing looks big on its own
- The spike is over by the time you open Activity Monitor
How it works
Three steps, no setup
- 01
Press “Why is my Mac slow?”
No setup. iKnowMyMac has been keeping history since it started, so there is already something to read.
- 02
It reads the last hour
A deterministic rules engine looks for memory pressure with swap growth, sustained CPU saturation, heat, disk I/O saturation, and idle dev servers, containers or simulators.
- 03
You get ranked causes with evidence
Each cause names the apps behind it, shows the numbers, and suggests one action, such as quitting an app or stopping an idle server. Every action asks first.
Details
What you get
Causes, not charts
Memory growth is attributed to the apps that grew most. CPU saturation names the apps behind it. Heat is correlated with the top energy users.
Measured
In 1,200 seeded test runs (memory leak, runaway process, thermal load, swap storm), the right cause was ranked first 1,200 times.
On-device
Diagnosis runs on your Mac from local history. Nothing is uploaded, and it works with no network connection.
Deterministic
The same history gives the same answer. On macOS 26 and later, Apple's on-device model phrases the summary in plain English. It only rewords findings; it never adds causes.
Apps, not processes
Every Chrome and Electron helper is counted under its app, so “Chrome grew 3 GB” is one line instead of forty.
Nothing happens on its own
Suggested actions always show what will close and ask for confirmation. iKnowMyMac never quits anything automatically.
FAQ
Questions
Something else? support@iknowmymac.com
Does diagnosis send my data anywhere?
No. The rules engine runs on your Mac from history stored on your Mac. The app has no account, no analytics and no telemetry.
Is it an AI feature?
The diagnosis itself is a deterministic rules engine, so it works on macOS 15 and offline. On macOS 26 and later, Apple's on-device model turns the structured findings into two or three plain sentences. It never invents a cause.
How accurate is it?
In our seeded test scenarios (memory leak, runaway process, thermal load, swap storm), it ranked the correct cause first in 1,200 of 1,200 runs. Real Macs are messier, which is why every cause shows its evidence so you can judge it yourself.
Will it quit apps for me?
Only if you ask. Each suggested action opens a confirmation that says how many processes will close. Nothing runs automatically.
Is it a cleaner or a “RAM booster”?
No. iKnowMyMac explains what is using your Mac and why it is slow. It has no “optimize” button and does not “free up RAM”. See memory pressure for why free memory is not the goal.
Know why your Mac is slow.
macOS 15 Sequoia or later · Apple silicon. A 4.2 MB native app, notarized by Apple. No account, no analytics, no telemetry.
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