System monitor
AppPulse
See which apps are using your CPU and memory.
Download for Mac (.zip)Free · macOS 13 or later
AppPulse shows total CPU use in your menu bar. Click it for a live list of the apps that are running.
What it does
- Grouped by app, not by process. Browsers and chat apps run many helper processes. AppPulse adds them up under the app you actually recognize, with the app's icon.
- CPU and memory per app, sorted by CPU, refreshed every 2 seconds.
- No Dock icon. It lives in the menu bar. Use Quit in the popover to close it.
Notes
The numbers come from the ps command, so they are an approximation of what Activity Monitor shows.
The prompt behind it
This app was generated from the prompt below. Paste it into silicondevkit.com to build your own version, then change it however you like.
Build a menu bar app called AppPulse that shows total CPU use in the menu bar. Its popover shows a live list of running apps with their CPU percent and memory, grouped by app instead of by process, sorted by CPU, refreshed every 2 seconds. Use NSWorkspace for app names and icons and the ps command for the numbers. Add a Quit button. No Dock icon.
Opening it for the first time
This app is signed ad hoc and is not notarized, so macOS may block the first launch. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. See Signing and first launch.