How to use the console on macos to check log and activities

When your Mac goes wrong, the first step to fixing the problem, is working out what caused that problem in the first place!

Regardless of whether you plan to fix the issue yourself, or pass your Mac along to technical support, the first step should always be gathering more information.

The good news is that behind the scenes, your Mac keeps a log of everything it does, and you can use these logs to figure out exactly what’s going wrong with macOS, or any of the applications you’ve installed. These logs are invaluable if you want to try and fix the problem yourself, but they can also help support staff get your Mac back up and running, as quickly and painlessly as possible.

In this article, I’ll show you how to access and view these logs using macOS’ built-in Console application. Since these logs tend to contain an overwhelming amount of information, I’ll also be sharing tips on how to zero in on exactly the information you need, in order to diagnose what’s wrong with your Mac.

Viewing your Mac’s system logs

You can view all of your Mac’s system logs in the Console application, which you’ll find in your ‘Applications > Utilities’ folder.

The Console app is divided into an ‘All Messages’ tab, which displays all the available logs, and an ‘Errors and faults’ tab, which displays error messages only.

In the left-hand menu, you’ll find the following logs and information:

• Mac Analytics Data. This section contains information about system processes and applications. From left-to-right, each line displays a timestamp, the name of the process or application, and the related log message. If you’re ever unsure about a process, then copy/pasting it into your favourite search engine can usually shed some light on which part of the system or application this process relates to.
• System Reports. This section contains the logs for crashes and freezes. Selecting any of the reports in this section will launch a window displaying more information about that report.
• User Reports. This section contains the logs for crashes and freezes that have affected your applications. Once again, double-clicking any report will display more information about that report. If you’re encountering issues with a particular application, then sharing these reports with the application’s developer can help them to diagnose what’s going wrong with their app. The easiest way to share a report or log, is to copy/paste its contents into a plain text document, which you can then share via all the usual channels.
• System.log. This is the system log folder.

/Library/Logs. This is where you’ll find your system-wide application log.

Struggling to find what you’re looking for?

Every time you launch the Console, you’re confronted with so much information that it can feel overwhelming! Plus, the Console is updating all the time, so you’ll always have new information to sift through.

Finding the information you need can be a challenge, but you can often cut through the noise using the following techniques:

• Only care about error messages? When you’re troubleshooting a problem, the information in the ‘All Messages’ tab can sometimes be an unnecessary distraction. At least initially, try limiting your search to the ‘Errors and faults’ tab.
• Hit pause! By default, the Console continually updates with new logs, reports and general information. When you’re investigating a problem that’s recently occurred, all of this new data might just be burying the information that you’re really looking for. You can temporarily freeze the Console, by clicking the ‘Now’ button, towards the Console’s upper-left corner.
• Search smarter. If you have a rough idea of the kind of information you’re looking for, you can often zero in on that information, by entering a related search term. To perform a search in the Console, type a word or phrase into the ‘Search’ bar and then press the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard. At this point, a new ‘Any’ item will appear in the search bar; clicking this item will open a dropdown where you can choose from a number of different search criteria, including date and time, process, and message ID. If you build a search query that you believe you’ll use on a regular basis, then you can store this search for future use, by clicking the ‘Save’ button. Your saved searches will appear in the Console toolbar, alongside the ‘Errors and faults’ tab, for example in the following screenshot the Console contains a saved search named ‘process.’

Before you go

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Using the Console on macOS Sierra and later

1. Open the Console application (from the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder).
2. Click the leftmost button in the toolbar to show the sidebar, if it’s hidden.
3. Select All Messages in the tab bar.
4. If the Activities button in the toolbar is enabled with a blue icon, click it to turn this off.
5. Switch back to our Omni app, and try to trigger the issue. This will (hopefully!) print some output to the Console.
6. Return to the Console, and select the recent error messages from the main window, or from the Menu Bar choose Edit > Select All.
7. From the Menu Bar, choose Edit > Copy. Then, open the TextEdit application and Paste the copied logs into a new plain text document.
8. Save the text document in .txt format, and attach this to your response so we can investigate further!

Using the Console on Mac OS X El Capitan v10.11 and earlier

Open the Console application (from the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder). It should open to All Messages, showing the log entries for everything that’s happened recently on your Mac. If you’ve previously narrowed the Console results, show the Log List and select All Messages before proceeding.

Switch back to our Omni app, and try to trigger the issue. This will (hopefully!) print some output to the Console.

Return to Console and from the Menu Bar choose File > Save A Copy As… and attach the file to your response so we can investigate further!

Before we start

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Console, which is tucked away in the Utilities folder in Applications, is one of the least well-known tools in macOS. However, it plays an important role, and so is well worth getting to know. So, today we are going to tell you what’s Console app and how you can use it.

What is Console on Mac?

macOS and all the apps and processes that run within it send notes to the system with updates on their status and what they’re doing. Those notes are known as logs, and they can be read in Console. Within Console, you can search for logs, filter them, and create custom queries to find logs that match the terms you dictate. Each record contains a timestamp, the name of the application or process, and the content of the log itself.

What is Console used for?

The most common use for consoles is to troubleshoot the system or applications. If an app crashes regularly, for example, examining the log files generated by the app in Console will reveal what the app was doing just before the crash. If the logs reveal the app was trying to complete the same task each time it crashed, you have the source of your problem.

In addition, because Console logs are generated live, monitoring Console tells you precisely what is going on on your Mac at any time, which may be useful if you suspect processes are running that shouldn’t be.

Logs generated by apps and by macOS, and viewed in Console are stored on your Mac. Over time, Console generates thousands of files with logs, and these can take up quite a bit of space on your Mac. If you never used Console and never need to access log files, you might want to get rid of them. The quickest and easiest way to do that and the way I recommend is to use CleanMyMac X.
CleanMyMac X’s Smart Scan module scans your Mac for old log files that are taking up space. By running a Smart Scan once in a while, you can delete many such files and free up a decent amount of space.

How to use Console on Mac

Logs are written in technical language and won’t mean much to most people. However, you can probably understand enough to work out if a particular task or process is causing your Mac to hang or an application to crash. And you certainly won’t do any harm by searching for and reading log files.

You need to be logged in as an administrator to use Mac Console, so if you’re not already logged into an admin account, do that first.

Here’s how to open Console on your Mac: Go to Applications > Utilities and double-click Console to launch it. You’ll see your Mac listed on the left-hand side, along with any other Apple devices on your Wi-Fi network, and logged in to your Apple ID. If you don’t see them, click on the sidebar button in the Favourites bar.

 

1. Click on the device whose logs you want to examine.
2. You’ll see the logs listed and some will be color-coded. Here’s what those colors mean:
   • Red: Fault
   • Yellow: Error
   • Dark gray: Debug log message
   • Light gray: Info log message
3. To view a log message entirely, right-click it, then choose View > Expand Selected Row.
4. To view the details of a log message, select it in the upper window and then click Details in the lower window.
5. You can search for specific log messages, say those relating to an app or process, by typing text into the search bar. When you do, you will see a filter appear in the left of the bar. You can change the filter by clicking on it and choosing another one from the menu. From this menu, you can also dictate whether the search should contain, not contain, equal, or not equal the search term.
6. To add a second filter, start typing in the search bar next to the first search query. You’ll see another filter appear between the two search queries. You can modify this one in the way described in Step 5.
7. If you create a search with multiple criteria and think you might use it again, you can press Save beneath the search bar to save it.
8. To search for activities, press the Activities button in the toolbar before you create your search criteria.
9. If you find a log that you need to share with someone else, select it and press the Share button in the toolbar, then choose the method you want to use to share it and the person you want to share it with.

How to clear out log files on Mac

As we said above, your Mac creates and stores thousands of log files during its lifetime, and most people never look at them. They can also take up quite a bit of space on your Mac’s boot drive, along with lots of other files you don’t need and will never use. Here’s how to use CleanMyMac X to get rid of them all and free up several gigabytes of space.

1. Download CleanMyMac X – there is a free trial version.
2. Once it’s downloaded, follow the instructions on screen to install it, then launch it from your Applications folder.
3. Choose System Junk in the sidebar.
4. Press the Scan button.
5. Choose the categories of files you want to remove, like User Log Files and System Log Files.

If your Mac isn’t running as quickly or as smoothly as it should be, try CleanMyMac X’s Maintenance module. It can help by freeing up RAM, reindexing Spotlight, and running maintenance scripts.

Console is a handy utility for viewing log files and tracking down the causes of problems on your Mac. However, they quickly grow in size, so you may want to get rid of them every now and again. Using a dedicated cleaner, like CleanMyMac X, for removing logs, you will keep your Mac working fast and smooth.

You can view log messages grouped by the activity they’re associated with. This helps you focus on specific log messages and allows for a more complete analysis of your Mac.

Note: If you’re not logged in as an administrator, you need to enter an administrator name and password to view log messages.

In the Console app on your Mac, click the Activities button in the toolbar (or use the Touch Bar). If the Activities button in the toolbar is dimmed, in the window to the right, click “Start streaming”.

Do any of the following:

View the log messages for an activity: Select an activity.

Log messages for that activity appear at the bottom of the window.

View child activities within a specific activity: Click the Expand button next to the activity.

View all details of an activity: Click Details in the activity details in the lower half of the Console window. If you don’t see the activity details, click the Info button in the toolbar (or use the Touch Bar), or choose View > Show Info Pane. To see fewer details, click Hide.

While viewing activities, you can move columns and change which columns appear; view the most recent activity; and apply saved searches. See Customise the log window.

How to use, troubleshoot, and repair your Mac

When programs and services run on your system, they are programmed to give some sort of indication of what they are doing, either through a graphical interface or some added function for the system. Since no program is perfect, programmers build in logging routines that indicate when specific tasks are done, or at least tried, by their programs.

The Console in OS X is a utility that allows you to see some of these ongoing messages the system and running applications are outputting, by allowing you a central location to access log files generated by system services and applications.

Organization

The console’s logs are categorized in a list to the left (click for larger view).

The Console utility is split into three parts, some of which are redundant.

1. System Log Queries
   This is a feature of the console that gives you access to the main “system.log” file. Since this file logs the activity of background processes that keep the system running, it is given a specially place as the first category in the Console program. Under the “System Log Queries” section is the main “All Messages” query, which shows everything in the system log. In addition to “All Messages,” you can add your own query to filter the system log. For example, if you would like to search for any message from the Security Server process that contains the word “auth” (often tructated for authentication activity), then you can do so by choosing “New System Log Query” from the File menu and then adding the criteria to specify the message as “auth” and the sender as “com.apple.SecurityServer” (see the screenshot).
2. Diagnostic and Usage Information
   While the system log is a view of ongoing activity with the system, the Diagnostic and Usage Information section contains information on system and application hangs, crashes. If a program crashes, the system’s crash reporter will generate a file that contains potential causes why this might have happened, and these will be available in this area. The User diagnostic reports will be for programs that are running within your user account, and the System diagnostic reports will be for more global programs and system services. While these reports may appear cryptic, they can be exceptionally useful for a technician to help diagnose a problem with your system. At most, you might need to find the most relevant one to send to a tech. Luckily, these reports are tagged with a date and time in their name, so if a program you use is crashing regularly, then you can locate the most recent crash reports for it so they can be analyzed.
3. Files
   This section contains links to the raw log files at their various locations on your hard drive. The file at the top of this list is the “system.log” file, which is a link to the /var/log/system.log file on the system. Clicking this will give you the same information as is shown when you click “All Messages” under the “System Log Queries” option; however, being a link to the file, as with all files listed here, you can right-click it to reveal it in the Finder. Next are the individual user log files, located in the current user account at the

/Library/Logs/ folder. The contents of this directory are generally errors, status, and warnings for various user-launched programs and services.

Last is the system log folder, which is at the hidden /var/log/ directory. This contains the output information for various background services like the system firewall, authentication services, printing routines, system updates, and system configuration changes. The “system.log” file that is referenced in the above locations is also located here.

Using the Console

Creating new log file queries can help you follow specific activities in the console (click for larger view).

While you can look up various logs and peruse them for past actions and situations that the system has encountered, you can also use the console to actively troubleshoot the system, or at least help you isolate problems. To do this, first focus on just the relevant logs. These include the “system.log” file, which can most functionally be accessed through the “All Messages” section.

Next, locate the specific application or service log. This step can be a bit challenging, but takes perusing the various log files and locating the ones that represent the service or program you are running. For instance, the “wifi.log” file contains output from the “airportd” background process, for displaying changes to the network configuration.

With these located, you can isolate relevant log messages for a problem or action at hand by performing the following routine:

1. Quit all programs except the one that’s giving you problems.
2. Select the desired log file
3. Click “Clear Display” or “Insert Marker” in the Console toolbar.
4. Go to the problematic program and perform the action that is giving you problems
5. Return to the Console to see if any logged errors seem relevant to your problem.

This process is a bit general, but if you repeat it several times (both with the system log and with relevant application logs) then you may start seeing a pattern of what logged messages correspond to the actions you are performing on your system. As such, while straight-forward, this process is not a guaranteed way to get information about a specific problem, but can help if you have a keen eye for detail.

3 thoughts on “ How to use the system console in OS X ”

How do you view the log(s) of a different machine?

For example, perhaps the GUI is frozen on another machine, but you can still SSH into it (a subject for another MacIssues post).

Or is there a way to get the Console application to view remote logs?

1. Topher Kessler Post author March 25, 2014 at 5:38 pm

You will have to either log in via SSH, or use screen sharing, or be at the machine locally. There is no built-in service (that I know of) to view the logs on one system with another. For a system that is hung up, sometimes you can still log in with screen sharing using another account, but if not, then SSH will have to do. Via the terminal, the use of the “tail” command is the most convenient method I know of, but there are other options to search (combinations of grep, cat, or open in an editor, etc.).

IF you (a) know which log file in the remote Mac contains the info you want to view, AND (b) have “read” access to that file from the local machine, THEN you can simply open that file using the Console application in the local machine.

Of course those are unlikely “IF’s” but if you can figure them out by looking at the logs in the local machine it may work for you.

Some versions of Mac OS support the ability to login any user account directly to the command line right from the traditional login screen, thereby bypassing the familiar Mac user interface. Instead you’re essentially signing a user directly into the Terminal (a bit like using the ssh client to connect to an SSH server), without having to load the desktop, Finder, WindowServer, or any other frills of the GUI. This can be handy for advanced users who need quick access to the complete command line from a particular user account, but want to skip the complete login and loading of the Mac OS graphical environment. Keep in mind not all versions of system software support this feature however, so it’ll take a bit of discovery to determine which do and which do not.

Before diving in, realize this is really only for advanced Mac users thoroughly comfortable with the command line environment. It’s also important to point out the hidden login Console / Terminal is completely different from Single User Mode or the Recovery Mode Terminal, which are supported on all Macs and Mac OS versions. For one, with the Console Login trick you can login directly as any user on the Mac with user level privileges, whereas Single User Mode always uses a root login with many system services and processes disabled, and is aimed for more administrative purposes. Two common uses of Single User Mode are repairing a disk with fsck and changing an admin password, or other troubleshooting tasks. Single User Mode and Recovery Terminal are really best for troubleshooting and is not an appropriate environment for more generic command line interactions, but the direct Console login can be used just like you would the Terminal app.

Does my MacOS version support Login Terminal / Console?

Console Login is not supported by all versions of Mac OS or Mac OS X. The Console login feature appears to be supported in Mac OS X 10.9.x (Mavericks), 10.8.x (Mountain lion), 10.7.x (Lion), 10.6.x (Snow Leopard), Leopard, Tiger, etc but may or may not be supported in MacoS Mojave (10.14) macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra), macOS 10.12.6 (Sierra), OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan), or 10.10 Yosemite. Feel free to report in the comments below if you have success with this or not, and your version of system software.

You can attempt to enable the login console in Mac OS / Mac OS X with the following defaults command, and then reboot the Mac to then follow the directions further below to see if you can access the login screen terminal:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist “DisableConsoleAccess” NO

If you attempt to load the Console from login screen on an unsupported Mac, you will either just see a blank black screen which appears to be inescapable, requiring you to forcibly reboot the Mac, or you will briefly see a flash of white text on the black screen, and then a blank black screen that also requires a reboot to escape. If you know of a way around this, share with us in the comments.

How to Access a Terminal at Login Screen in Mac OS

Note you must have automatic login turned off on the Mac, otherwise you will not have access to the login screen on boot from which to access the console. Remember, not all versions of Mac OS support this feature.

1. Reboot the Mac as usual
2. At the login screen, choose “Other”
3. For username, type the following and then hit return – no password is necessary yet

Assuming you successfully logged into the login Console, you will have full access to everything you would in a normal Terminal environment, but without any of the Mac OS graphical interface. You can exit out of this environment by rebooting from the command line with the shutdown or reboot commands.

Note you can access the “Other” field whenhiding the login user name list or with the list of users at the logins screen enabled, but it will not work with Automatic Login enabled.

This is a little known trick, and that it’s supported in some versions of Mac OS but not in others further muddies the waters of when and where it will work, and if support has been pulled from modern versions (it appears to be missing from the latest macOS releases). MacWorld referenced the secret login Terminal some time ago and uncovered discussion of the trick from way back in 2002, suggesting that the console login may work in all earlier versions of Mac OS X but not in the most recent versions. To find out definitively what versions support the capability, user exploration in a wide variety of more recent Mac OS releases would be necessary. I was able to successfully access Terminal via the login console on a Mac running Mavericks, but not on a Mac running High Sierra or Sierra, for example. It’s entirely possible this feature is gone for good in modern macOS releases, in which case this will only apply to older Mac OS X system software.

Were you able to access the Login Console on your Mac or with your version of Mac OS? Share your experience in the comments below, and if you know any other tips or tricks relating to the little known login terminal screen, share those too.

The average person doesn’t really need to look at their Mac’s logs or status messages, but more advanced users and tech troubleshooters turn to Console to glean important information on what’s going on under the hood. Thanks to a redesign in macOS Sierra, if you’re looking for more information on what your Mac is up, it’s much easier to find and read the information than ever before.

Console gets a new look

Previously, data in the Console app looked like run-on sentences. Distinguishing the process from the event was difficult, at best. Now, these lines of text are separated by columns, which can also be filtered by errors and faults. You can customize the columns to specify what data you are most interested in.

When you search for a term, you’ll be given a secondary search option to look for the queried term under a specific category, like Process, Library Path, Message Type, and more. When you find the term and category you are looking for, you can save the filtered information in your tab bar, so you can click on it to check data at any time.

There is a new Now button that will immediately zoom you to the end of the data stream, looking at the most current threads. Even as new data appears, your window will remain at the bottom, so you can always see the newest incoming information.

You can also view data by Activities to see what actions are taking place by different processes. This is helpful for developers working on debugs for their apps, but is also a quick way to look for issues you may come across.

When you select a line, something that is causing an error or fault, for example, you can view additional detailed information about the problem. You can also share that information to someone else via email, text, and social media. Or, you can save it to your Notes or Reminders app, or another third-party note-saving app.

Unfortunately, Console has also been redesigned to only show you data from the time you open the app. That means, if your Mac crashed and you want to find out why, opening console after the fact may not yield you any useful information. You can browse Console’s log archives, but it is an arduous process that involves creating a system diagnostic report first.

Why should I care?

When you first look at the Console app, it might look like a bunch of confusing tech jargon that only engineers and computer scientists would give a crap about. But, even the everyday Mac user could, potentially, benefit from using Console.

Let’s say your Mac is starting to act up – maybe you keep getting error messages when trying to empty the trash, or a particular app doesn’t load properly.

You’ve tried all of the general troubleshooting options, turning it off and on, deleting and reinstalling software, etc., but you can’t seem to fix this one problem.

You can launch Console, filter the data by Errors and Faults (or search for the app), find the line that seems to refer to your problem, and do a quick search on the internet for a solution. Oftentimes, Console will provide an error code, which is very useful when troubleshooting a problem on your own.

Even if you can’t diagnose the issue yourself, you can send the error details to your IT support, so they can better understand the problem and help fix it remotely.

Console isn’t a go-to app for the average Mac user, but for those that do use it, it’s invaluable. And, thanks to a complete redesign in macOS Sierra, it’s even easier to find and track the data you need.

What do you think?

Are you a regular Console app user? Let us know your best practices and what you think about the redesign.

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This article explains how to obtain iOS device logs using Windows and Mac devices.

• Using Mac Device
• Using Windows

Using Mac Device

Using Apple Configurator 2

1. First, install Apple Configurator 2 from App Store and launch the application.
2. Connect your iOS device to the mac through USB. On the device screen, you will be asked if you trust the computer. Tap Trust.
3. By default, all the connected devices will appear on the home screen. Double click on the device you wish to get the logs from.
4. Click on Console from the menu on the top left corner of the new window. You can see the log activities on the screen.
5. Click on Clear to clear the screen and perform the necessary actions (for example, an app crash) you wish to.
6. Click on Save button to save the logs.

Using Xcode

1. First, install Xcode on your mac machine. Next, launch Xcode.
2. Connect your iOS device to the Mac through USB.
3. Launch Xcode. Go to Windows > Devices and Simulators.
4. Reproduce the problem you encountered.
5. Choose your device from the devices section on the left side of the screen.
6. Click on the up-triangle on the bottom of the screen to view device logs.
7. Click on the down arrow on the bottom right of the screen to save the device logs as a file.
8. Select View Device Logs button under the Device Information section on the right-hand panel to view crash logs.
9. Under Process column on the left, identify and select your app and click on Crash Log to see the contents.
10. Right click the corresponding app entry on the Process Column and click on Export Log to save the crash log.

Using Windows

Using iTools

1. Install iTools on your Windows machine.
2. Launch iTools.
3. Connect your iOS device to the Windows machine through USB.
4. Click on Toolbox.
5. When you are ready to reproduce the issue, click on Real-time log under Advanced Features. You can see the logging happening in real time.
6. Click on Save to save the log activities.

Using iOSLogInfo

You must have iTunes installed on your Windows machine before you start using iOSLogInfo.

1. Install iOSLogInfo on your device.
2. Extract the contents of the folder to the local hard drive.
3. Connect your iOS device to the Windows machine through a cable.
4. Open a new command prompt and make sure that you run as administrator.
5. On your command prompt, use the following command to navigate to the location where you have extracted the files.
   For example, if I have extracted the files to my C drive, the command would be as follows:
6. Type in the following command to start capturing the device log to a file. Give a suitable name for the file.
7. Reproduce the action causing the issue.
8. Click CTRL+C to stop logging.
9. A new text file(logfile.txt) will be created in the iOSLogInfo folder.

Few additional commands are available:

• Capture console logs: