What is the HomeKit folder in your Mac's Library?
~/Library/HomeKit holds your Home setup, synced from iCloud, even on a Mac you never use with smart home devices. 29 MB on our Mac. What is in it.
What is the HomeKit folder?
It is the Home app's local copy of your home: rooms, accessories, scenes and automations, synced through iCloud so every device signed into your Apple Account has it. The process that keeps it, homed, was running on our Mac. It exists whenever iCloud has Home data, even if you only ever set up devices on an iPhone.
| Item | Size here | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
core-cloudkit.sqlite, core-cloudkit-shared.sqlite and -wal files | 14 MB | The copy synced with iCloud |
core.sqlite, core-local.sqlite and -wal files | 7.5 MB | The local home database |
datastore3.sqlite and others | 3.6 MB | Older data stores |
homeeventsd | 2.4 MB | Accessory events |
chip-vendor-metadata.plist | 380 KB | Matter accessory data (CHIP was Matter's working name) |
29 MB and 43 files.
Is it safe to delete?
It is rebuilt from iCloud, so deleting it does not delete your home. It also saves very little, and the Home app on the Mac stops working until it resyncs. If you never use Home on this Mac, turning Home off in System Settings, your name, iCloud, stops the sync.
Find what is left in one look
Free Mac measures HomeKit and other protected Library folders and shows them to scale. More synced data in iCloud Drive taking up space and what is safe to delete in Library.
Related: du says Operation not permitted and DuetExpertCenter.
Common questions
Why does my Mac have a HomeKit folder?
The Home app syncs your home through iCloud to every device on your account, including Macs you never use with accessories.
Can I delete ~/Library/HomeKit?
Your home is safe in iCloud, but the folder resyncs and saves little. Turn Home off in iCloud settings if you do not want it on this Mac.
What is homed on a Mac?
The process that keeps the Home app's data and talks to accessories. It ran as our user.