Syspolicyd making apps very slow to open on M1 Max

[miguelbesy]

So I just noticed that the process "syspolicyd" makes the apps very slow to open on M1 Max.

Is there a way to reset this process?

If I disable SIP the apps open instant.

Here are some more info about this issue:

On affected system - if you launch Activity Monitor and look at CPU resources - then launch App - syspolicyd will spike to 60-70% of CPU.


Syspolicyd is linked to SIP, protection against system integrity attacks. On M1 it works slightly different as SIP in M1 is more restrictive.


On fresh installs - there is no issues.

It will work normally without delays.

But if you fiddled with SIP or Recovery terminal commands (still has to be determined which ones) - this syspolicyd bug is triggered and will persist until you reinstall/update the OS.

It manifests as super slow 1st launch of the apps after boot. But consequent launches will be happening normally.

Reboot again - and 1st launch of the same app will be again super slow, but the next one will be normal. Most people dont notice this at all - but... some do...

To only solution to this - that I am aware of is reinstall. I noticed this bug incidentally when I migrated apps from M1 MBA (affected with bug) to my new M1 MBP (fresh install) and immediately noticed difference in launch speeds. Launching activity monitor on both devices - syspolicyd process was having completely different behaviour.


Can Anyone tell a fix for this but keeping SIP enabled?

Thank you!

 

[Agentsmurf156]

Has anyone come across a sudden delay in opening apps, seems to start happening randomly and then stay like this until you do a clean install. For example, from a fresh restart Adobe bridge takes 4 second to open, now 24 seconds., similar with photoshop etc, although apple apps still seem snappy, .5 ish seconds for music/photos/safari etc. After the app is loaded then its around 1 second to open from cache. I have tried disabling wifi, tried safemode, nothing fixes this.

Macbook pro M3 max and my previous m1 max.

Cheers

 

[DarkPremiumCho]

During the launch of an app (bouncing in the Dock), in Activity Monitor, did you notice the syspolicyd process taking a fairly high CPU usage?

 

[Agentsmurf156]

yes, jumps to about 150% then hovers at 80% for a few seconds after the app started.

 

[Agentsmurf156]

Cant help you but I have the same problem, apps that took 3-4 seconds now 20-30 seconds on m3 max. Driving me slightly crazy. Haven't fiddled with anything out of the ordinary in terms of installing software.

 

[DarkPremiumCho]

I see multiple people reporting the same issue today. My guess is something expired or an online service is experiencing an outage.

 

[Agentsmurf156]

I have had this problem on and off for 2 years. I did just use the "erase all content and settings" function in system settings, then restored from a current time machine i made today, I restored everything including the apps and now the problem is gone. Will check if any current apps trigger the issue.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I have had this problem on and off for 2 years. I did just use the "erase all content and settings" function in system settings, then restored from a current time machine i made today, I restored everything including the apps and now the problem is gone. Will check if any current apps trigger the issue.

Two years…so this isn't a Sonoma thing?

My M1 Max Studio is on Ventura and I'm pretty sure I've never experienced this.

I'm wondering if the issue is tied to some particular system setting that I'm not using.

 

[miguelbesy]

Cant help you but I have the same problem, apps that took 3-4 seconds now 20-30 seconds on m3 max. Driving me slightly crazy. Haven't fiddled with anything out of the ordinary in terms of installing software.

exactly!
The only solution that I found to resolve this problem is to disable SIP (do not recommend) or Fresh install macOS and recover from Time Machine.

After that is fast as it should be!

Even my intel MBP from 2017 is opening the exact same apps faster on the first boot when this problem shows. lol.

 

[miguelbesy]

so I just clean installed everything a week ago and everything was fine, until today the Sonoma 14.3 update did the job to put syspolicyd making the apps very slow to launch again!

 

[Agentsmurf156]

same here.

 

[BrianBaughn]

If not every user is having this issue (they're not) then you folks that are need to compare notes to see if there's something common to your systems that might be causing this.

 

[Shun13]

Same problem here on an M1 Max, both with Sonoma 14.3 and with Ventura 13.6.4 previously today. Syspolicyd is also highly active here before the apps are finally launched.

Does anyone know where syspolicyd stores its caches, so it doesn't have to re-scan an app each time it launches? Perhaps the caches could be reset.

Edit 6 hours later: Now the apps launch at normal speed again after a fresh boot, without any changes on my side.

 

[PyerCoffin]

MbP Apple M3 Max 36Gb
Same problem.
Disabling SIP makes everything snappy again.
Very weird problem as, at least for me, it seems to randomly come and go (with SIP ON).
EDIT: I used the Migration Assistant to transfer my files to the new computer. Dunno if it's relevant...

 

[Fishrrman]

I immediately DISABLE SIP on all my Macs.
I don't need it or want it running.
This thread is an example of why.

 

[Shun13]

Hi Fishrrman,

I immediately DISABLE SIP on all my Macs.
I don't need it or want it running.
This thread is an example of why.

I know where you're coming from, but I appreciate the extra firewall of protection against exploits offered by SIP. They can't do anything to your core system even if they've obtained root access. Otherwise it would be really easy to break or infiltrate the system as root, requiring a full reinstall.

Of course, it's all a matter of personal preference and of what you use the system for.

 

[miguelbesy]

Hello all, I noticed that this issue starts to happen after doing a TimeMachine backup! Any help?

 

[Agentsmurf156]

Do you have little snitch installed? Still testing, but after turning off little snitch in "System Settings" "VPN & Filters", the problem went away. I turn it back on and the problem hasnt come back yet. I have been chatting to apple to try and fix identify the issue, so far the only guarantee to fix it is TimeMachine restore.

 

[miguelbesy]

Do you have little snitch installed? Still testing, but after turning off little snitch in "System Settings" "VPN & Filters", the problem went away. I turn it back on and the problem hasnt come back yet. I have been chatting to apple to try and fix identify the issue, so far the only guarantee to fix it is TimeMachine restore.

Nope, I do not have little snitch installed

Yes at the moment is the only solution to me also is a restore from Time Machine, clean install OS

 

[Brian33]

The syspolicyd process is part of Gatekeeper. One of the functions of Gatekeeper is to ensure that the downloaded apps you run are either from the Mac App Store, or from an Apple-identified ("trusted") developer. (Much technical detail here, up through Mojave: https://knight.sc/reverse engineering/2019/02/20/syspolicyd-internals.html)

The only user-accessible Gatekeeper control I know of is the system setting for "Allow apps downloaded from". I'm not sure where that is found in newer macOS versions; in Monterey it is in System Prefs-->Security&Privacy-->General.

This may sound wacky, but I seem to remember a posting where someone reported a similar Gatekeeper issue was fixed by switching the setting from "App Store and identified developers" to "App Store", and then switching it back again. (Or maybe vice versa.)

A real shot in the dark, but maybe worth trying!

Hello all, I noticed that this issue starts to happen after doing a TimeMachine backup! Any help?

Do you mean, a fresh install causes the problem to disappear, and it only reappears after a TM backup? That would be hard to verify, but if it held true for everyone affected by this issue, it would be an important clue.

 

[miguelbesy]

So... the weirdest thing just happen. lol.
I went to work for about 3 days off, did not touched the computer.
I came back today and somehow the problem is gone, what the hell?

Im not going crazy, I have screen recorded the issue and everything!
This is messing with me, I have Apple calling me tomorrow for us to do some logs and now the computer fixed itself? What?!

UPDATE: went to settings, went to Security and for some reason its only on "App Store" I had it on "App Store and identified developers"

HMMM

 

[Brian33]

Heh heh. I believe you! Sometimes that happens with complicated systems. I always find it frustrating because I want to understand why it was behaving the way it was, and the opportunity to figure it out is gone if it is inexplicably fixed!

 

[miguelbesy]

Heh heh. I believe you! Sometimes that happens with complicated systems. I always find it frustrating because I want to understand why it was behaving the way it was, and the opportunity to figure it out is gone if it is inexplicably fixed!

well it is still happening on my Intel machine running Ventura, maybe we can run the logs on that one..

 

[Agentsmurf156]

Yeah had the same experience, mine was a problem, then suddenly it fixed itself, and has been working ever since. Perhaps Apple fixed something on their end. I turned off Little snitch, then it worked, turned it back on and it still works. Have done time machine backups and they work, and the problem hasn't come back.

 

[Fishrrman]

I keep Gatekeeper completely disabled.
sudo spctl --master-disable

Things have worked just fine for me this way, since Gatekeeper was first introduced.