icloud Code 4044

How to Fix iCloud Error 4044

Diagnostic Procedures

  • 1 What Causes iCloud Error 4044
  • 2 Restart iCloud Drive Daemon Processes
  • 3 Clear Corrupted iCloud Drive Cache
  • 4 Check for macOS and Software Updates
  • 5 Diagnose Persistent Crashes with System Logs

How to Fix iCloud Error 4044

iCloud error 4044 indicates that the iCloud Drive daemon process has crashed, stopping all file sync operations. You may notice uploads stall and the error “iCloud Drive encountered an unexpected error and needs to restart (Error 4044)” appears.

Step 1: What Causes iCloud Error 4044

  • Memory pressure forcing the daemon to terminate
  • Corrupted sync database causing the daemon to crash on launch
  • Large number of files exceeding the daemon’s processing capacity
  • macOS bugs in the current operating system version
  • Conflicting third-party software interfering with iCloud Drive
  • Disk errors on the volume hosting iCloud Drive data

Step 2: Restart iCloud Drive Daemon Processes

On macOS:

  1. Open Activity Monitor, search for bird, and Force Quit it
  2. Do the same for cloudd — macOS will restart both automatically
# Force restart via Terminal
killall bird && killall cloudd

# Verify processes restarted
sleep 5 && pgrep -l bird && pgrep -l cloudd
  1. Open Finder > iCloud Drive to check if syncing resumes
  2. If processes don’t restart automatically, restart your Mac

Step 3: Clear Corrupted iCloud Drive Cache

A corrupted sync database commonly causes repeated crashes.

# Stop daemons and remove cached sync state
killall bird && killall cloudd
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/CloudDocs/
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/CloudKit/
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.bird/
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.cloudd/

Restart your Mac. iCloud Drive will rebuild its local database by re-syncing from Apple’s servers. This does not delete your files — it only removes local sync metadata.

Check disk health:

diskutil verifyVolume /

If errors are found, boot into Recovery Mode (Cmd+R) and run Disk Utility > First Aid.

Step 4: Check for macOS and Software Updates

  1. Open System Settings > General > Software Update and install all updates
  2. Restart your Mac after updating

Check for conflicting software — antivirus tools (Norton, McAfee) and backup utilities (Carbon Copy Cloner) can interfere with iCloud daemons.

  1. Boot into Safe Mode to disable third-party extensions:
    • Intel Mac: Restart and hold Shift
    • Apple Silicon: Hold Power, select Safe Mode
  2. Test iCloud Drive in Safe Mode
  3. If it works, re-enable third-party tools one at a time to identify the culprit

Step 5: Diagnose Persistent Crashes with System Logs

# View recent crash reports for bird daemon
ls -lt ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ | grep bird | head -5

# Search system logs for iCloud errors in the last hour
log show --last 1h --predicate 'process == "bird" AND messageType == 21' --info

Common crash indicators:

  • EXC_BAD_ACCESS — memory corruption, fixed by clearing cache (Step 3)
  • EXC_RESOURCE (Memory) — daemon exceeded memory limit; close other apps
  • SIGKILL (Jetsam) — system killed the process due to memory pressure

Report persistent crashes: Use Feedback Assistant and attach crash logs from ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/.

Tip: If you have over 100,000 files in iCloud Drive, the bird daemon may crash during initial sync. Let it run overnight with your Mac plugged in — it will process files in batches and stabilize.