Everything you need to get the most out of MacPulse. From first launch to advanced fan curves.
Download MacPulse from the website. The file is a standard macOS disk image.
Open the disk image and drag the MacPulse icon to your Applications folder.
Open MacPulse from Applications. macOS may ask you to confirm since it was downloaded from the internet. Click "Open" to proceed.
On first launch, a brief onboarding screen introduces the key features. Your 14-day free trial begins automatically — no account needed.
MacPulse runs outside the App Store sandbox to access hardware sensors (SMC temperatures, fan speeds, GPU stats). This is why it's distributed directly rather than via the Mac App Store.
The dashboard is your command center. It uses a sidebar + detail layout (NavigationSplitView) with an adaptive grid that adjusts to your window size.
The sidebar is divided into two sections:
Click any item to see its detail view on the right. Your last sidebar selection is remembered between sessions.
When you select a monitoring module, you'll see a detail view with:
The dashboard window remembers its size and position between launches via macOS frame autosave. Resize it once to your preference and it'll stay that way.
MacPulse monitors seven hardware subsystems in parallel. Data is collected every 5 seconds (configurable) using low-level macOS APIs.
Per-core usage, P/E clusters, user/system split
Wired, compressed, cached, free, swap, pressure
Per-interface throughput, upload/download rates
Volume usage, I/O rates, external drives, eject
SMC temps, fan RPM, manual control, curves
Charge, health, cycles, temp (laptops only)
Utilization, memory, device name, temperature
Shows total CPU usage with a circular gauge, plus a per-core grid that visualizes each core as a bar. On Apple Silicon Macs, cores are labeled as P-cores (performance) and E-cores (efficiency) with distinct color coding. The detail view also breaks down user vs. system usage.
Displays total memory usage with a composition bar showing wired (kernel), compressed, cached (app), and free memory as stacked segments. Also shows swap usage and the current memory pressure level (nominal, warn, critical).
Tracks per-interface throughput for all active network interfaces (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, etc.). Shows upload and download rates as a dual-line chart with color-coded series. Total byte counters are displayed in human-readable format.
Lists all mounted volumes with usage bars. Shows real-time I/O read/write rates. For external drives, displays the connection type (USB, Thunderbolt, etc.) and provides an eject button for removable volumes.
Reads SMC temperature sensors (CPU, GPU, ambient, and more) and fan RPMs. Includes fan speed control with custom curves — see the Fan Control section for details.
Shows charge percentage, power source (battery/AC), estimated time remaining, health status, cycle count, and battery temperature. This module is automatically hidden on desktop Macs that don't have a battery.
Reports GPU utilization (via IOKit IOAccelerator), memory usage (via Metal), device name, and temperature. On Apple Silicon, memory is unified — the GPU shares the same RAM pool as the CPU.
Every data point is persisted to a local SQLite database at ~/Library/Application Support/MacPulse/macpulse.sqlite. The History & Trends view lets you browse this data across three time ranges:
Select any module from the dropdown to see its historical chart. Charts use date-based X-axes and support all the same metrics as the real-time view.
MacPulse automatically compacts old data to save disk space:
The Insights view analyzes your historical data and generates plain-English summaries about your system's behavior. These are rule-based observations, not AI-generated — they're deterministic and based on actual thresholds.
Example insights:
Insights are color-coded by severity and refresh automatically when you navigate to the view.
Performance Sessions let you capture detailed system metrics at 1-second intervals during intensive tasks. This is ideal for gaming benchmarks, video export monitoring, or build performance analysis.
Each sample captures:
Select any completed session from the list to see summary statistics (average FPS, 1% low FPS, average frame time, max temperature, average CPU/GPU) and detailed timeline charts. You can export sessions to CSV for further analysis.
Performance sessions use dedicated collector instances that poll at 1-second intervals, which uses slightly more CPU than normal monitoring. Stop the recording when you're done to return to normal resource usage.
MacPulse can override your Mac's automatic fan management with custom temperature-to-RPM curves. Navigate to Thermal & Fans to access fan controls.
Four built-in presets are available:
Create your own curve by dragging control points on the temperature-to-RPM chart. The curve uses linear interpolation between points. Custom curves are saved as JSON at ~/Library/Application Support/MacPulse/fan_curves.json.
Setting fans too low at high temperatures can cause thermal throttling or shutdowns. The built-in thermal watchdog provides a safety net, but use custom curves responsibly.
MacPulse includes WidgetKit widgets that display system metrics on your macOS desktop.
The main MacPulse app writes averaged system data to a shared location every 15 minutes. Widgets refresh every 5 minutes using WidgetKit's timeline system. This approach minimizes battery and CPU impact while keeping widgets reasonably up-to-date.
MacPulse must be running for widgets to receive updated data. If MacPulse is quit, widgets will show the last known values until the app is relaunched.
MacPulse supports exporting data to CSV files for analysis in spreadsheets, databases, or custom scripts.
In the History & Trends view, select a module and time range, then click the export button. The CSV includes all columns for that module (timestamps, values, granularity level).
In the Performance view, select a completed session and click Export CSV in the session header. The CSV includes per-second readings of FPS, frame time, CPU/GPU usage, temperatures, and memory.
Both export methods use a standard macOS save dialog so you can choose where to save the file.
Access settings via the menu bar: MacPulse → Settings (or ⌘ + ,).
Configure alert thresholds for CPU usage, memory pressure, temperature, and battery level. Notifications have a 15-minute cooldown per type to avoid spam. CPU alerts require sustained high usage (multiple consecutive readings) before triggering.
Toggle which modules appear in the menu bar companion popover. Each of the seven modules can be shown or hidden independently.
Shows version info, license status, and activation controls. You can activate, validate, or deactivate your license key from this tab.
MacPulse starts with a 14-day free trial that includes all features. The trial countdown is shown in Settings → About with a progress bar. No account or credit card is required.
Your license is validated online and stored securely in the macOS Keychain. An offline grace period of 7 days allows continued use when you don't have internet access.
To move your license to a different Mac, go to Settings → About and click Deactivate. This frees up the activation slot so you can activate on another machine.
Your historical data is never deleted when a trial expires or a license is deactivated. It will be fully accessible once you activate a valid license.