Lag on a Mac over Wi-Fi
If you play on a Mac over Wi-Fi and get short lag spikes, where the world freezes or jumps for a moment and your actions land late, the cause is usually a wireless link macOS runs in the background. The fixes below take a minute.
What causes it
Macs keep a second wireless link, called AWDL (Apple Wireless Direct Link), for talking straight to other Apple devices nearby. AirDrop, AirPlay, Handoff, Universal Control and Sidecar all use it.
While it is on, your Mac's Wi-Fi keeps stepping away from your network for a moment to listen for those devices, and the game's traffic waits until it comes back. You feel each wait as a lag spike. A wired connection is not affected.
Fix 1: Use a cable
If you can, plug your Mac into your router with an Ethernet cable. Most recent Macs need a USB-C to Ethernet adapter for this. It fixes the problem completely.
Fix 2: Turn off what uses it
Open System Settings from the Apple menu, then:
- General, AirDrop & Handoff: turn off Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices, set AirDrop to No One, and turn off AirPlay Receiver.
- Displays, Advanced: turn off Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad.
Can't find one? Type its name into the search box at the top of System Settings.
This often helps, but macOS can still turn the link on by itself. If the lag stays, use Fix 3.
Fix 3: Turn AWDL off in Terminal
This turns the link off until you restart your Mac. AirDrop, AirPlay, Sidecar and Universal Control won't work while it is off.
- Open Terminal: press Command and Space, type Terminal, and press Return.
- Paste this line and press Return:
sudo ifconfig awdl0 down- Type your Mac's login password and press Return. Nothing shows while you type, which is normal.
macOS may turn the link back on when something asks for it, such as opening AirDrop. If the lag comes back, run the line again.
To turn it back on without restarting:
sudo ifconfig awdl0 upFix 4: Move your router's Wi-Fi channel
AWDL prefers channel 6 on 2.4 GHz and channels 44 and 149 on 5 GHz. If your router uses one of those, your Mac doesn't have to hop away to another channel, and AirDrop keeps working. Change the channel in your router's settings; if one doesn't help, try the other.
Apps that keep AWDL off
These turn AWDL off for you and keep it off. We are not affiliated with any of them in any way, and we haven't reviewed their code. They run with administrator rights on your Mac, so install only what you trust, and use one at a time.
- AWDL Control: keeps AWDL turned off. Free and open source.
- AWDL Toggle: adds an AWDL switch to Control Center or the menu bar. Free and open source. Needs macOS 26 or later.
- Ping Warden: a menu bar app that keeps AWDL off while you play. Its AWDL blocking is a one-time purchase.
- awdlkiller: a small background program that turns AWDL off the moment it starts. Free, installed from Terminal.
Further reading
- Apple's AirDrop makes weird latency spikes for Wi-Fi wonks, researcher finds, The Register, October 2025: the research behind the channel fix.
- AWDL interference, Tuple: a short guide to the same problem in another app.
- macOS wifi ping spikes, Apple Developer Forums: an Apple engineer explains why the spikes happen.
- Disabling AWDL to Work Around Ventura Wi-Fi Issues, Michael Tsai, 2022, with readers' reports in the comments.
Still lagging?
Tell us in our Discord, with roughly when it happened, and we'll take a look.