Com.apple.icloud Helper

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Vita Wanberg

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Aug 3, 2024, 2:43:36 PM8/3/24

to reficavec

Various things seek access - "com.apple.icloudhelper", "sharingd", Safari, my VPN, etc. I must enter the keychain password, which is the same as my user account password. It happens every few minutes.

I installed the 1st beta of El Capitan, and now I cannot update anything via software update, including OS X itself. I just get the "couldn't communicate with a helper application" error. I even reinstalled the OS, and Im still getting it. Anyone have any ideas? I tried manually installing via command line using "

If you're not sure if your Mac is started in safe mode, you can use System Information to check this. The Software section of the System Information lists the Boot Mode as "Safe" instead of "Normal" when you're started in safe mode.

I did just try that and it didnt work either. I know I can rebuild the OS and maybe do a time machine restore.. I am just not wanting to redo my massive iTunes library if I can avoid it. This is my main itunes server for apple tv, etc, and invariably, itunes tags things incorrectly when you redo the library. If you or anyone has any other suggestions, I would be appreciative..

Did you reinstall by booting into recovery (cmd+R at startup) or by redownloading the installer and starting again? Booting into recovery and reinstalling that way (unless you explicitly choose "erase and install") will preserve your iTunes library and other User data.

So, I reinstalled from the recovery partition, and it still came up the same way. I think Ill just bite the bullet and reinstall from scratch and try and do a reinstall and then restore from backup..

I just had this happen to me and all of the recommendations weren't working. I tried so many things from checking updates, to restarting my computer, to checking my applications and making sure Xcode was up to date (it wasn't) and once that updated, the issue still wasn't fixed. I am running Monterey for my system and recently started backing up my files to iCloud. Last night was the first occurrence when I received the forsaken "couldn't find a helper application" error when trying to compress a file for class.

It took me forever and a half, but I took note that iCloud had my documents backed up and stored in the iCloud Drive folder. I went to my system preferences >> clicked on Apple ID >> clicked on my iCloud tab in the left menu. It lists all the things that can be backed up to iCloud. Click on "options" for the iCloud Drive. For me, at that moment in time, "desktop and document folders" was unchecked. I checked the box for it and clicked "done", then let my Mac process this change. I then tried compressing my files again and it worked. I'm so mad but completely relieved this issue was resolved. I hope this works for anyone else who is struggling.

Since I ended up here for the same error, but different situation... I got this error when opening files that were saved to OneDrive. For some reason the OneDrive app wasn't running. Once I ran the app the files started opening fine with no error. Hope this helps someone.

I'm using the iOS Files app to access Dropbox files, because I have >10 GBs of other files in iCloud, Box and elsewhere (working with different organisations), so just using the Dropbox app is not a solution for my filing needs. I have a Dropbox Pro subscription.

I need to wait for over 2 minutes, without change, until an error message comes up saying "couldn't communicate with a helper application". It also tells me to try again, and if that doesn't work, to quit the application and try again.

Since I can download files from my standard Dropbox folders, could this be an issue with settings/restrictions on the folders in the shared corporate Dropbox folders? This doesn't seem likely because surely, if this was just the result of a setting in the corporate Dropbox, then surely Dropbox would have created an error message that told me that. (Such as "your System Administrator has restricted you from downloading.")

i had one last thought, now that I'm on 13.1.3. I quit both Files and Dropbox apps, then reloaded them, and finally the files are downloading. It looks like Apple did fix the problem but I had to also reload the apps for it all to come together.

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I have not been able to reproduce the error message I got last time (the 'helper application' one), mostly what I just get now is the words 'Waiting to download' and the whirring circle, even waiting for 5 minutes on one occasion. On another test, I (only once) got the message in the attached screenshot.

Your question on file types was spot on. I had mainly been trying to download PDF apps, and they are the problem files! If I click on a not-downloaded Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, it immediately opens the relevant Word/Excel/PowerPoint app, and quickly downloads the files into the app. All the files I am failing with are PDFs - all the rest seem fine.

It turns out that the local items keychain contains many passwords, that can be synced with iCloud. In my understanding, granting access would allow Adobe to read a lot of passwords that have nothing to do with Adobe products.

Nevermind, it turns out that a Mac app can only access its own items in the keychain. I wish this information was more visible, or the prompt was more clear. For anyone who's interested, here's the reference from the Apple docs: -secitemcopymatching

@Stan19 No, Adobe cannot access the other passwords in your keychain. That's not how keychain works. All Adobe can do is ask to store your Adobe PW in keychain. If you deleted all the passwords from macOS keychain, you

When you use Xcode to create an application, Xcode adds an application-identifier entitlement to the application bundle. Keychain Services uses this entitlement to grant the application access to its own keychain items.

This seems to happen if you quit the Creative Cloud app from the top menu bar tool icon. Apparently not all the CC processes exit. This helper process must normally request access from the Creative Cloud app, which caches access when you boot the system or restart that program. I'd guess that when it fails to get the credential from the CC app, it defaults to prompting the user.

@Kelly28426700yhzt : the pw for keychain is the same as for login for your computer unless you change it on purpose. If your Mac keeps asking for your keychain password, see this help page from Apple:

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