Use This Tool to Stop Chrome (and Other Apps) From Slowing Down Your Mac
Since the transition to Apple Silicon, Macs are more powerful than ever. But while there’s little chance of your Mac slowing down, there’s always the possibility that an app might want to consume too many resources. Sometimes apps like Messages or Chrome run into bugs that cause them to ask for too much power and this can crash your Mac. To avoid this, try App Tamer , an app that lets you limit the CPU resources any app can use. The app has a two-week free trial after which it costs $15.
How to Use App Tamer to Save System Resources
Once App Tamer is installed, it is launched entirely from the menu bar. You can click the menu bar icon at any time to see a list of all currently running apps and see how much power they’re consuming. You can use the search bar to find offending apps, or scroll through the list of all your running apps to see which ones you need to slow down (looking at you, Chrome).
If you find an app that is using too many system resources, click on it and select Slow down this app if it uses more: . The slider below this option allows you to set a percentage value, which represents the percentage of CPU resources it is allowed to use. For minimal applications such as menu bar management applications, you can set this value to 5% or even less.
For most people, browsers are likely to top the list of resource consumption. In this case, App Tamer has several additional options. Once you have set the CPU percentage limit, you will see two more options below. This:
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Don’t stop or slow down the sound
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Stop or slow down only when the app is hidden.
The first option is great for preventing your browser from slowing down to crawl levels when you’re watching Netflix. The second allows you to limit an application’s CPU usage to only when it is not actively being used. With granular control through these settings, you can be sure that App Tamer isn’t slowing down your apps for no reason. App Tamer no longer considers an app “hidden” unless you manually hide it. Opening another window or minimizing an app will not cause App Tamer to see it as hidden. To get around this limitation, App Tamer also allows you to automatically hide apps after they’ve been idle for a configurable amount of time, which appears in the When Idle menu in the same field where you limit CPU resources.
This application has another nice feature. Like MagicQuit , App Tamer allows you to automatically close apps that have been dormant for a while.
Settings to get the most out of App Tamer
One of App Tamer’s best advanced settings allows you to choose which CPU cores the app can use. Mac processors have Performance Cores and Efficiency Cores, and you can use this feature to send resource-intensive applications to the Performance Cores, while relatively lightweight applications can run solely using the Efficiency Cores to improve battery life.
There are also some interesting options in the App Tamer settings. The Control Settings page allows you to configure all sorts of conditions for App Tamer functions. You can turn off any kind of throttling when your MacBook is charging and the battery charge exceeds a certain percentage. It also allows you to set delays before throttling occurs. Ideally, you also want to launch App Tamer when you boot your Mac. This will allow the application to continue to run smoothly.