What is the function of Replicatord in macOS Sequoia 15?

danyochim wrote:

Please, has anybody found out what "replicatord" is yet?

It's just one of literally hundreds of Apple tasks to manage various different aspects of the operating system.

I'm not joking about the "hundreds" part. Do you really want 3rd party "security" apps to randomly start popping up dialogs confirming every single aspect of the operating system? Would it really make you feel better to know what each of these processes actually does?

Warning! The computer is trying to access replicatord, which manages iPhone Mirroring. Block or allow?

Warning! The computer is trying to access keychromed, which displays accented characters on a long press. Block or allow?

Warning! The computer is trying to access chronosyncd, which keeps the clock up to date. Block or allow?

...repeat with a different process 900 times...

Do you feel more secure now?

geniene64 wrote:

Unfortunately, my job's policy is for everyone's computer to operate with Norton 360, both Windows and MacOS, otherwise, I wouldn't have the extra 3rd party security. It is super annoying to have to constantly "allow" these things. But I can't get around it. I am just hoping that it's not doing more harm than good.

Windows isn't any different than the Mac in this respect. Microsoft adds new apps and new services all the time. Do you have to constantly "allow" those on Windows? Why not?

True, but the question what replicatord is and does, still remains open.

Then you haven't actually read the topic. etresoft already noted what it's for:

…replicatord, which manages iPhone Mirroring.

rotorblades wrote:

How will a screenshot help in understanding what replicatord does?

It will tell us where those messages are coming from. If they are coming from a 3rd party app, then we can tell you what app you need to delete. If they are coming from an Apple app, then we can tell you what's wrong with that. Otherwise, we just have to guess.

I understand it is a system process - but what does that process do?

Apple doesn't document those details.

The message I am getting is saying to either allow or block the attempt to use the process.

You shouldn't be seeing messages like that. It's an Apple process. If you need to manually approve each Apple process every time it runs, then your life is over. You will spend the rest of your days trying to decide which of thousands of processes you need to approve and under which circumstances. That doesn't make any sense.

How much did you spend for this computer? Do you really want to have to deal with this forever? You want to manually approve each low-level operation? Where does that end?

SONAR3 wrote:

Same error here.

Screenshot indicates it is a Norton 360 alert.

Any further help on this etresoft?

You don't need any antivirus on a Mac. Plus, these kinds of firewalls and networking tools are not working very well with Sequoia.

danyochim wrote:

Please, has anybody found out what "replicatord" is yet?

Read above! There are plenty of answers relating this to Norton.

As HWTech wrote, having this third party software is part of the problem.

I strongly recommend that you read the document that HWTech linked to in his post, and uninstall Norton.

Using the Command Prompt, I identified the IP address associated with the process in question, which appears to be a variation of 151.101.x.x. Upon further investigation, I traced the IP to a data center located in San Francisco, with Fastly listed as the Internet Service Provider. While it’s plausible that this data center could be utilized by Apple, I cannot confirm this at this stage. I recommend continuing to analyze and correlate this information to gain further clarity on the situation.

Receiving popups asking for access to rep… - Apple Community

In their case, the issue was Third Party Security Software and specifically " Norton360 "

Third Party Firewall, any special reason for the need to use it ?

Any worthwhile Access Point / Router would be the IP Address any Hacker from a State Sponsors Group would be seeing

The IP address of the computer is not exposed outside of your Network

If and only if you might be a Worthly Target for such attacks, Apple does offer some protections

About Apple threat notifications and protecting against mercenary spyware - Apple Support

Lock down your Mac if you’re targeted by a cyberattack

Once this type of software is installed Norton AV Software

You can spend hours or days hunting down all the bits and pieces of this software and never really get it all off the computer 

Start Over from Scratch 

For Apple Silicon computer >> Use Disk Utility to erase a Mac with Apple silicon.

For Apple Intel computers >>   Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac followed by How to reinstall macOS

Always make a Time Machine Backup  before  proceeding 

If going this route - I suggest Not using Startup Assist to migrate everything back.

This will probably Re-Introduce (Norton AV Software ) back into the Operating System 

https://xyproblem.info/ is not going to solve the issue of using a Third Party Security Software

There are no known Windows-like Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS, because of the underling UNIX  Foundation and Permission Limitation. 

The Operating System resides in a Sealed and Read Only Volume that cannot be opened by the User nor by Third Party Applications.

The Only thing this Antivirus software is protecting is the Bank Account of the Developers and for zero return to the User aside from the problems this software creates.

AntiVirus Developers purposefully Market their product to create a “ Fear Factor “. In so doing, creating a False Need for their Product.

Security. Built right in

Mac app security enhancements

 The Built in Security  is all that is required to protect the computer.

Protecting against malware in macOS

Yes, there is Adware & Malware which will affect the computer and is generally downloaded from “ Shady “ Websites or Developers who Inject this software into the download.

From a well written User Tip from @Kurt Lang

What is malware? - Apple Community

danyochim wrote:

Please, has anybody found out what "replicatord" is yet?

Very much agree with @Luis S and remove Norton AV Software

Though, Yes a caveat and hopefully not necessary.

Once this type of software is installed >> Norton AV Software

You can spend hours or days hunting down all the bits and pieces of this software and never really get it all off the computer 

Start Over from Scratch 

For Apple Silicon computer >> Use Disk Utility to erase a Mac with Apple silicon.

For Apple Intel computers >>   Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac followed by How to reinstall macOS

Always make a Time Machine Backup  before  proceeding 

If going this route - I suggest Not using Startup Assist to migrate everything back.

This will probably Re-Introduce (Norton AV Software ) back into the Operating System 

Thereby, negating all the hard work of reinstalling a Fresh Copy of macOS 15.0 Sequoia

Pardon my ignorance, but why would I not need/use NORTON AV on my. iMac? i.e. email scanning and download scanning for virus etc

No it wasn't Reddit but a discussion the Norton site.