why the finder is always running even Mac in shutdown?

Closing the lid on the laptop does not shut it down.

The proper shut down for the MacBook Pro is to click the Apple menu () > Shut Down...

You can check the "Time since boot:" of your Mac by opening the Terminal app and typing uptime followed by the enter key.

As has been pointed out above, when your computer is properly shut down nothing will be running.

If Screen Time is showing that Finder has been running for 18 hours, then one might assume that Screen Time is misreporting the Finder uptime, or that the computer is not being properly shut down.

Regardless of which is accurate, it really does not matter one way or the other what Screen Time reports. This is simply a way to monitor what apps are running and for how long. It has no effect on the useful life of the machine. The perceived discrepancy of actual and reported runtime is odd, but I wouldn't put much weight in this. Just know that any time the Mac is running, so is Finder. It is thus for all Mac computers.

Do you have more than one Mac in your home?

I ask because there is a setting in Screen Time setup that allows for the reporting of combined application times across more than one device. Look for "Share across devices" on the Screen Time setting panel.

dhamodharan241 wrote:

Can you please tell me what is the usage of "Screen time" in Mac.

In a nutshell, Screen Time is simply a software tool that allows you to monitor and limit application usage on the Mac. What is Screen Time on Mac? - Apple Support

When Screen Time is working properly it would give accurate feedback. Apparently for some users it is not providing an accurate usage report for Finder. This appears to be a bug in the software.

The app is not critical to anything that you do otherwise on the Mac and should have no effect on performance. Unless Screen Time is actively limiting your access to applications on your computer, you can safely ignore it and its reports. Or more simply, just turn it off.

By the way, if you turn off Screen Time, ❝ ...All limits, downtime, content and privacy restrictions, and communication settings will be removed. ❞

Also, you might try turning Screen Time off and then on again and see what effect - if any - that has. Maybe do that while logged into safe mode. How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support 

If you'd like to be proactive and report this problem directly to Apple – they don't participate in the Community –you can leave product feedback using this link: Product Feedback - Apple

KamraanAjmal wrote:

can you please explain how did you resolve

In the case of the OP (dhamodharan241) and others, it appears that Screen Time is incorrectly reporting Finder usage - a bug(?). The OP does not require the use of Screen Time's application usage tracking and limiting functions, so rather than continue to stress about the buggy reporting, the OP simply chose to turn off Screen Time and ignore it.

Unless you shutdown the computer at some point during those 18 hours which does not seem to be the case, the computer has not actually been shut down at all. So, no, Finder is not running when the computer is shutdown.

Closing the lid, or letting sleep, is not the same as shutting down the computer.

Finder won’t run when your MacBook Pro is shut down. The time you're seeing for Finder in the screen time report might be due to background tasks or cached data, but Finder itself doesn’t operate while the machine is off. It's possible that macOS is including idle time, or the timer might be running from the last time your MacBook was on. If your actual work hours are 6 hours and Finder is showing 18 hours, it could just be a display anomaly or miscalculation in Screen Time, but rest assured, Finder won’t run in a shutdown state.

When you shut it down watch the screen. If a screen, including backlight, goes off without displaying any messages it is shut down. It will also usually make a small click when it goes off. Closing the cover does not shut it down; only choosing Shut Down from the Menu and waiting before closing the cover will shut it down.

No one in this thread has provided any evidence that Finder is running when the Mac is powered off. None of the screenshots show that, and, if it is truly powered off, it would be impossible for Finder to be running. Finder will always be running when a Mac is powered on or even on standby; it would not be possible for any app to access any content if it wasn’t, and it would not be possible to wake from standby if it wasn’t.

I will now leave this thread, as none of the posts make any sense at all.

dhamodharan241 wrote:

But finder keeps running even in shutdown. You can find it in the screenshot I attached

If you shut down the computer, NOTHING is running. Everything stops. It's like when you turn off a light. There is no residual light coming out of the bulb.

If you really mean when the computer is sleeping, yes, there can be some background processes still running.

Nothing looks wrong in your screenshots.

Since a simple reboot of your Mac doesn’t appear to fix things, see if the problem still happens in Safe mode. It can take much longer to safe boot so be patient.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support 

Safe mode will often correct weird software behavior by forcing the OS to do disk repair, clear caches and other housekeeping and disables acceleration and third-party mods. When you're in safe boot, the machine won’t be at its best performance, especially with graphics, but that's expected.

Does the same thing happen while in Safe mode?

Exit safe mode by restarting your Mac normally and evaluate the issue again.

The fallacy is that you can’t quit Finder. Even if you force-quit it Finder relaunches immediately. As I (and others) have said, if Finder is running you haven’t actually shut down the Mac completely. That’s the simple (and correct) answer.

dhamodharan241 wrote:

My problem is I started the Mac by evening 18:00, but the screen time for the finder is 18:00 hrs. Is the finder will run in background even in shutdown? If not then why it shows 18:00 hrs for finder.

NOTHING runs when the computer is shut down. The Finder is going to be running most of the time you're using the computer.

And the answer has been given many times in this thread. Here it is again, with emphasis:

NOTHING RUNS WHEN THE MAC IS SHUT DOWN. NOTHING! NOTE EVEN FINDER

And your screen shot shows clearly that nothing, not even Finder, is running when the Mac is shut down.