Who is using port 7000 on my Mac OS X?

What is this article about?

After you upgrade your MacOS to 12.1 or above, you will notice that something is using port 7000. This will impact developers that start up local development instances that leverages port 7000. The same with people that use Docker Desktop.

TLDR

Port 7000 is used by Mac Airplay Receiver.

On your Mac settings, simply goto:

System Settings -> General -> Airdrop & Handoff -> Airplay receiver
# And turn it OFF / Or optionally choose a different port for your development application

Troubleshoot the details

# Run the following command to see what's using port 7000 on your Mac:
lsof -i TCP:7000
# Sample output, your details may vary
COMMAND    PID     USER   FD   TYPE   DEVICE   SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
ControlCe  617      me    6u  IPv4    0x8ed...   0t0     TCP *:afs3-fileserver (LISTEN)
ControlCe  617      me    7u  IPv6    0x8ed...   0t0     TCP *:afs3-fileserver (LISTEN)
ControlCe  617      me   19u  IPv6    0x8ed...   0t0     TCP localhost:afs3-fileserver->localhost:49683 (ESTABLISHED)

Then toggle AirPlay OFF:

System Settings -> General -> Airdrop & Handoff -> Airplay receiver
# And turn it OFF / Or optionally choose a different port for your development application

You should now be able to run your development server.

My recommendation is that you find a different port to run your development server and leave AirPlay running. This article was written to help you understand what is binding to port 7000 on your system so that you don’t get alarmed about someone or something hacked your system and is now listening on port 7000.

Cheers!

If you would like to show your support then consider subscribing below and/or buy me a cup of joe:

Today’s Quote