Questions, answered plainly.

Any Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 14 or later. Intel Macs are not supported, and the app does not run under Rosetta.

One tool asks for a little more: App Volume needs macOS 14.2.

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No. You download the app and open it. There is nothing to sign up for and no key to enter.

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Open the downloaded disk image and drag l/Activity onto the Applications folder. That is all. The first guide shows it, and gives a short tour of the window.

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When it starts, l/Activity checks a signed statement from lslash.app that says which builds are current. On a new installation that check has to succeed once before the app opens.

The request contains a random number and nothing else. There is no identifier in it, and your readings, scans and recordings are never part of it.

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Yes. Each successful version check allows up to seven days without a connection. The app checks again when it starts, when the Mac wakes and every few hours, so on a Mac that is usually online you never notice.

Settings → General → l/Activity updates shows the date your offline time runs until, with a button to check right now.

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l/Activity finishes what it is doing first: a running cleanup, an export or a recording is completed and saved. Then it shows a screen that says a version check is required, with buttons to retry, to check for updates and to quit.

Nothing is deleted. As soon as a check succeeds, the app opens as before.

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Updates are signed and come from lslash.app. Choose l/Activity → Check for Updates… at any time. In Settings → General you can let the app check about once a day, and download and install on quit.

An update replaces the app and nothing else. Your settings, saved scans and recordings stay in their folder.

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If the app is in your Applications folder, everything is in ~/Library/Application Support/app.activity.desktop: a Profile folder with your settings, recordings, summaries and cleanup receipts, and a .cache folder with saved scans and indexes.

If you keep the app in a folder of your own, those two folders sit beside it, so the whole thing can be moved as one. Settings → About & Privacy shows the folder in use and opens it for you.

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1. In the app, turn off Start l/Activity at login and the menu bar organizer if you use them, then quit.
2. Move the app to the Trash.
3. Delete its data folder (see the question above).

macOS keeps the app's entries under System Settings → Privacy & Security until you remove them there.

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English only, for now.

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There are two scales, and l/Activity labels both.

The Mac as a whole runs from 0 to 100%. An app is measured per core: 100% is one core kept fully busy. An app using three cores reads about 300%. Wherever you see an app figure, the words 100% = one core are nearby.

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That there is no reading. l/Activity never shows a zero it did not measure.

You will see a dash for the first sample of any speed (a rate needs two samples), right after a pause or after the Mac wakes, for a process macOS does not let other apps inspect, and for a source you turned off in Settings.

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A star marks a partial total: some processes in that group had no reading, so the real figure is at least that much. A dagger marks a memory total that had to fall back to a rougher measure for some processes.

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Usually not. macOS fills spare memory with a cache of recent files and gives it back the moment an app needs it.

Look at memory pressure instead. If it reads Normal, your Mac has what it needs. Read memory the right way walks through the Memory page.

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l/Activity shows the kernel's own categories: app, wired, compressed, file cache and free. "Memory used" is the first three added together. Apple's app groups things a little differently. Both are estimates, and l/Activity says so on the page.

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No. The GPU page shows how busy the whole GPU is. "GPU time" per app is how much time the graphics driver spent on that app's work, and it can pass 100% when an app uses the GPU in several ways at once. The two are different measurements and are labelled as such.

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It shows the power the Neural Engine draws, in watts, and the energy it used over a window of time. That is what macOS makes available. Power is a good sign of activity, but it is not a percentage, and it cannot be split by app.

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No. It is an estimate for the CPU, the GPU and the Neural Engine together. The display, storage, memory and everything else are not in it, so it will always be lower than what a meter at the wall would say.

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Yes. Readings are taken every 1, 2 or 5 seconds, depending on the sampling mode you choose. Anything that starts and ends between two samples is averaged into them. Choose Detailed in Settings → Monitoring when you are hunting something brief.

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It freezes the readings on screen so you can study them, and stops collecting until you resume. The stage loses its colour so you can tell at a glance. It pauses l/Activity's measuring, not any app.

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Many Apple silicon Macs do not expose them to apps. Where a Mac does, l/Activity shows them on the Hardware page. Where it does not, you see a dash. The thermal state (Nominal, Fair, Serious, Critical) is a status from macOS and is always shown.

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• The last 120 seconds on Overview, by pointing at the timeline.
• The last 5, 10 or 30 minutes in full detail in History.
• Up to a year of summaries for the Mac as a whole. Thirty days are kept by default.
• Up to a year per app, if you turn on saved app history.
• As long as you like, in full detail, with a recording.

Look back at what happened earlier shows each one.

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Only if it was keeping per-app records at the time. Summaries describe the Mac as a whole. To know about apps, turn on Saved app history in Settings → History & Recording, or make a recording while the problem happens.

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Yes, as long as the app is running. With the default settings, closing the window leaves l/Activity in the menu bar, still measuring. Live history is kept in memory, so it is lost when you quit. Summaries and recordings are saved on disk.

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Press ⇧⌘R to start and the same again to stop. The recording appears in Sessions. Record a slowdown, then compare covers naming, markers and comparison.

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A recording stops by itself at the first limit it meets. By default that is 24 hours or 2 GiB of compressed data. You can set 1, 8 or 24 hours and 1 to 8 GiB in Settings → History & Recording. The Sessions page shows the limits and, while recording, how much room is left.

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Samples are written to disk as they arrive. The recording is kept up to that moment and marked Interrupted.

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No. "Move to Session Trash" moves it into a Trash folder inside Profile/Sessions in the app's data folder, and l/Activity never empties that folder.

To get a recording back, open the folder in Finder, move the recording's folder up into Profile/Sessions and rename it to the identifier written in its metadata.json file. Then click Refresh in Sessions. If that sounds fiddly, write to support@lslash.app and we will walk you through it.

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No, and it says so. An observation reports that a measured pattern lasted (for example, CPU stayed above 90% for 30 seconds) and names the app that was using the most at that moment. That is where to start looking. It is not proof.

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It can tell you that an app's memory kept growing over a period. It does not call that a leak, because growth alone does not prove one.

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Check four things in Settings → Alerts: notifications are switched on, macOS shows Allowed, the rule that would have fired is on, and, for observations about a single app, Include memory growth and recurring CPU observations is on. Banners are also limited to one a minute.

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Nothing is measured while it sleeps, so that time is a gap. Charts show the gap. Averages only count time that was measured.

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No. Nothing is ever selected for you, and every removal, from every tool, passes through the same review that lists the exact paths. You press the button.

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Never. Move to Trash is the default, and the Trash is left for you to empty.

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If you chose Move to Trash, yes: open the Trash in Finder and use Put Back. The receipt in Storage → History has a Show in Trash button for each item.

Delete Permanently cannot be undone. That is why it sits in its own red frame and is never the default.

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Items in the Trash still take space until you empty it. Also, on a Mac's file system, copies of a file can share the same space, so removing one copy can free less than its size.

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"At least". Part of that folder could not be measured, or a scan was stopped early, so the true size is that or more.

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macOS shares disk space between copies, keeps local snapshots and holds some space it can release on demand. None of that belongs to a single folder. l/Activity shows it as Not attributed to this scan instead of guessing where it goes.

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No. The first scan reads everything. After that, a refresh rechecks only the folders that changed. By default this happens every hour while the app is open, and you can choose manual, every six hours, daily or as files change.

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Yes. Pause saves a checkpoint, and Resume Scan carries on from it, even after you quit and reopen the app.

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Only if you want a scan to include folders macOS guards, such as Mail and Messages. Without it the scan still runs and is honestly marked Partial coverage. Let l/Activity see protected folders shows how.

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Some things are refused on purpose: system folders, your home folder and the main folders in it, running apps, l/Activity itself, and anything you excluded from cleanup. The review shows a lock and the reason. Granting more permissions does not change this.

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Yes. Storage → History keeps a receipt for every cleanup, with the date, the method and the result for each path, including attempts that failed. Receipts are stored on your Mac in the app's Profile/Cleanup folder.

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It removes the app and the related files you tick: support files, caches, preferences, saved state, logs and containers that carry the app's exact identifier.

It does not remove system extensions, background services or data shared between several apps. Those are listed for your information. For them, use the maker's own uninstaller.

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Because they can contain your documents, settings and sign-in data. Only the app itself is ticked at the start. What goes with it is your decision.

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Support files whose app is no longer installed. The word "possible" is deliberate: l/Activity shows the evidence for each one, and you tick only what you recognise.

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It can update apps you installed with Homebrew, after you ask it to check and you review the list. For apps from the Mac App Store, the App Store Updates button on the same page opens the App Store on its Updates page.

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Not until they are verified. Files of equal size are only candidates. Verify Contents compares what is inside them, and only files that match completely are listed as identical.

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No. The Similar photos view is for looking. It groups pictures that resemble each other so you can compare them, and removes nothing. If one should go, reveal it in Finder.

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No, names only. It searches the file and folder names recorded by your last Storage scan. That is why it answers so quickly, and why it finds things in every folder the scan could read.

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Locate works from the saved scan. Refresh Storage, then click Reload Saved Index in Locate.

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CPU, GPU, Memory, Network, Power, Disk, Temperature and Battery. Each can be shown in four styles: Compact, Value, Graph, or Graph + value. Put live readings in your menu bar has the steps.

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Yes. In Settings → General, set Run l/Activity to Menu bar only. The window then opens from the menu bar.

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No. It only hides it. To make the app do less, choose Economy in Settings → Monitoring, turn off extended readings you do not need, or switch Monitor off in the sidebar.

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It is a native app, and it is built to stay out of the way. When its window is hidden it stops drawing. You choose how often it measures: every 5, 2 or 1 seconds. The switch beside Monitor stops all measuring when you want none.

You can check for yourself: l/Activity appears in its own Processes list like any other app.

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No. It asks macOS to stay awake while a session runs, and lets go when the session ends. Your Energy and Lock Screen settings are untouched. Choosing Sleep or closing the lid still puts the Mac to sleep.

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Yes: when a timed session ends, when a MacBook on battery falls to the level you chose, or when macOS reports critical thermal pressure. The page tells you which one ended it. It also ends when you quit l/Activity.

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Not for hiding and revealing icons. It only asks if you use the optional lists that name other apps' icons.

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No. The chosen app's sound passes through l/Activity to your speakers at a lower level. It is not saved and not sent anywhere, and the microphone is not used. Control ends when you restore it, when the Mac sleeps or when you quit.

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No. It reads whether Gatekeeper, FileVault, the firewall and System Integrity Protection are switched on, lists what is set to start with your Mac and lists local Time Machine snapshots. It changes nothing and scans no files.

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No. There is no telemetry and no account. Your readings, history, recordings, scans and receipts stay in the app's folder on your Mac.

The app itself contacts lslash.app for two things only: signed updates and the signed version check. The privacy page lists every connection.

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Not for monitoring. macOS can ask for it in a few specific moments: when Finder moves a protected item to the Trash, when an update replaces an app installed for all users, and for two optional hardware actions on the Hardware page. The prompt is always the system's own.

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Only when you use the feature that needs one:

• Files and folders, Full Disk Access: for scans of protected places.
• Finder automation: the first time you move something to the Trash.
• App Management: when removing an app.
• System audio: for App Volume.
• Notifications: if you turn on alerts.
• Accessibility: only for optional lists that name other apps' menu bar icons or browser tasks.

Settings → Permissions shows them all, with what each is for.

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It reads counters (how much was sent and received) and the addresses of open connections. It does not capture packets, inspect contents, look up host names or install a network extension.

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That depends on the export. A process snapshot or a recording contains process names, program paths and their owners. A connections export contains remote addresses. A visual snapshot hides app names unless you tick the box to include them. Read an export before you share it.

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Only if you allow it. Settings → General → Read-only automation has a checkbox, off by default, that lets a command-line tool or an MCP client on the same Mac read current readings and process names. It cannot control anything, and it stops when you untick it or quit.

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No. There is no background helper and no system extension. When you quit l/Activity, it is gone until you open it again, unless you chose to start it at login.

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