How to Stop High Network Activity from Remote Pairing on MacOSX

MacOSX, like any other operating system, performs various background activities that might consume significant network bandwidth. One such activity is called "Remote Pairing," which is governed by the "com.apple.CoreDevice.remotepairingd" daemon. This process might lead to high network activity, causing potential concerns for users with limited or metered internet connections. In this article, we will discuss the concept of Remote Pairing in MacOSX, its implications, and ways to stop it if necessary.

Understanding Remote Pairing

Remote Pairing is a feature in MacOSX that allows Bluetooth devices to connect and pair automatically. It uses the Internet to exchange information about the devices and their capabilities. This process helps in improving the user experience by reducing the manual effort required to pair devices. However, it might result in high network activity, especially when there are multiple Bluetooth devices nearby.

Identifying Remote Pairing Network Activity

If you suspect that Remote Pairing is causing high network activity on your Mac, you can use the following steps to identify it:

1. Open the Terminal application.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:
sudo killall -KILL system_profiler
3. Type your administrator password and press Enter.
4. Type the following command and press Enter:
sudo system_profiler SPNETWORKCONDITION -xml > network.xml
5. Wait for the command to finish executing.
6. Open the "network.xml" file using a text editor.
7. Search for the following line:
<key>com.apple.CoreDevice.remotepairingd.observed-network-activity</key>
8. Check the value under this key to see the amount of network activity related to Remote Pairing.

Stopping Remote Pairing

If you want to stop Remote Pairing and reduce the associated network activity, you can follow these steps:

1. Open the Terminal application.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:
sudo nano /etc/launchd.conf
3. Press the "Control + O" keys to save the file, then press "Enter" to confirm the filename.
4. Press the "Control + X" keys to exit the editor.
5. Type the following command and press Enter:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.CoreDevice.remotepairingd.plist
6. Type your administrator password and press Enter.
7. Type the following command and press Enter:
sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.opendirectoryd.plist
8. Type your administrator password and press Enter.

These commands will disable Remote Pairing and Open Directory, which is responsible for discovering nearby devices. Note that disabling these features might affect the functionality of some applications that might require automatic device discovery.

References

• Apple Support: About Bluetooth pairing
• Apple Support: Change Bluetooth preferences
• Apple Support: Use the System Information app to view system configurations