com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent using a lot of CPU

[teidon]

I have Public Beta 1 on my Late 2010 11" MBA.

AmbientDisplayAgent uses a lot CPU. Sometimes it idles at around 1%, but most of the time it uses 20-30% and up to 100% CPU time (out of 200% available).

As far as I know this process has something do with the ambient light sensor, but my Mac doesn't have one.

Anyone else have this issue? Any solutions or just wait until the next beta? Killing the process gets rid of it for a while, but after a while it comes back.

 

[Chrysaor]

Had the same issue on 2015 rMBP 13".

Disabled the process by renaming the binary at /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AmbientDisplay.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/ (you need to disable SIP).

 

[albertsw]

Had the same issue on my 2015 15" rMBP but after a few days it stopped.

 

[freddobonanza]

Similar story with macOS Catalina public beta release (19A501i).

I fixed this on my 2017 MBP 15" with a SMC reset.

 

[appleofmyibook]

Similar story with macOS Catalina public beta release (19A501i).

I fixed this on my 2017 MBP 15" with a SMC reset.

I'm glad you wrote this because my MacBook was draining so much battery for no reason. I'll do an SMC reset now.