Applications running in the sandbox have to specifically request access to things like your files or your webcam, giving you an added level of security.You may fail to import iPhone pictures through Microsoft Photos if the installation of the Photos app is corrupt. This was nice for simplicity’s sake, but it meant every single application was a potential path to all of your data and hardware. It is designed to contain damage to the system and the user’s data if an app becomes compromised.īefore sandboxing, every application had access to everything the user did. So what’s a sandbox? You can check out our explainer on sandboxes for an overview, but for the most part a sandbox prevents applications from accessing parts of the system it doesn’t need. The macOS sandbox is outlined on Apple’s developer page:Īpp Sandbox is an access control technology provided in macOS, enforced at the kernel level. RELATED: Sandboxes Explained: How They're Already Protecting You and How to Sandbox Any Program Sandboxd performs services on behalf of the Sandbox kernel extension. This particular daemon handles the macOS sandbox, as running man sandboxd in your Terminal will show you: Today’s process, sandboxd, is a daemon, which means it runs a system task in the background on macOS-daemons generally have a “d” at the end of their name. Don’t know what those services are? Better start reading! This article is part of our ongoing series explaining various processes found in Activity Monitor, like kernel_task, hidd, mdsworker, installd, WindowServer, blued, launchd, backup, opendirectoryd, powerd, coreauthd, configd, mdnsresponder, UserEventAgent, nsurlstoraged, commerce, parentalcontrold, and many others.

RELATED: What Is This Process and Why Is It Running on My Mac?

You noticed something called “sandboxd” while looking through Activity Monitor, and now you’re here.

Apple sandbox erroe photos app