That’s where Low Battery Saver (Mac App Store link) comes in. The app’s purpose in life is solitary: It warns you when your battery hits a certain amount of time remaining, and then shuts down your. So I downloaded one of those battery apps. Last night when it showed that 'Service Battery' warning the app said that my battery could charge up to 74.6% of its original capacity. Now this morning the warning is gone, and it can apparently charge up to 81% of its original capacity.
The more a battery is taxed via apps and processes, the more it works, and faster it drains. Multitasking and overuse. Your Mac may be suffering from too many apps or services running at once. This happens most often when we fail to close apps after using them. To check on the apps in-use by your Mac, open Activity Monitor on your Mac. Make sure to back up your Mac/MacBook before using the terminal commands below. How to Use Hibernate 25 to Fix macOS Mojave+ Battery Issues. Note: Keep in mind that hibernatemode25 will result in slower wake times on your Mac. You’ll have to consider your priorities. Just food for thought.
Understanding batteries in Mac notebooks
Optimizing battery life
Troubleshooting batteries
Understanding batteries in Mac notebooks
MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro computers come with lithium polymer batteries to provide maximum battery life in a compact space. To understand battery technology and battery life, it's good to know common battery terminology:
- Cycle count: Batteries are expected to function for a certain number of cycles. This number represents the sum of total and partial discharge cycles throughout the life of the battery. You can see the cycle count limit for your computer by reviewing Determining battery cycle count for Mac notebooks.
- Full charge capacity: Measured in mAH (milliampere-hours), this refers to the amount of power the battery is capable of containing, less the energy required to shut down the device. This number lowers as the battery becomes depleted with usage and age.
- Remaining charge capacity: This number represents the current amount of power left in the battery as measured in mAh (milliampere-hours). Using the computer when not connected to AC power will cause this number to lower as power is depleted from the battery.
- Consumed / depleted: Consumable parts are those that deplete over time as their internal components are used. Batteries, due to their chemical components, are considered consumables, and over time they lose their ability to hold a charge. If the cycle count on a battery exceeds its expected limit, the battery is considered consumed.
- Defective: Batteries are considered defective when they stop working due to a defect in materials or workmanship, or due to a manufacturing defect. Defective batteries are covered under Apple's one-year limited warranty and extended-service contracts.
- Load: The amount of activity being performed by a task or tasks. Certain power-intensive processes place a heavier load on the battery and result in a much-reduced runtime per charge.
Setting up your Mac for the first time
When you set up your Mac for the first time, some activities—like setting up Mail and Photos, downloading your files from iCloud, and indexing your files with Spotlight—can use more power than your Mac requires in general use.
If you have a large amount of data to transfer over Wi-Fi, it might take a few days for your Mac to finish its setup process. It's best to keep your computer connected to a power source during this time. Once setup is complete, the battery life will begin to reflect the regular activities you perform on your Mac.
The battery status menu
Your primary resource for viewing battery status is the battery status menu. It shows you how much charge your battery has and whether it's currently charging. This menu is at the right side of the menu bar:
The battery status menu also tells you if your display or any apps are using significant energy. Click Display Brightness if it's listed under Using Significant Energy, and your display dims to 75% brightness. Also consider closing any apps that are listed to save battery power.
To see the health of your battery, hold the Option key and click the battery icon in the menu bar to reveal the battery status menu. You'll see one of the following status indicators:
- Normal: The battery is functioning normally.
- Service Recommended: The battery's ability to hold charge is less than when it was new or it isn't functioning normally. You can safely continue to use your Mac but you should take it to an Apple Store or Apple-authorized service provider to get your battery evaluated.
In earlier versions of macOS, the battery status might display Replace Soon, Replace Now, or Service Battery if your battery holds less of a charge than when it was new or needs to be serviced. If the battery's lowered charging capacity is affecting your experience, get your battery evaluated at an Apple Store or Apple-authorized service provider.
While some third-party apps report on battery health conditions, the data reported by these apps may be inaccurate and isn't a conclusive indication of actual diminished system run time. It's best to rely on the information reported in the battery health menu, described above.
Optimizing battery life
Your notebook battery life depends on your computer's configuration and how you're using the computer. Here are some settings and steps you can take to get the most from your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro battery.
Check Energy Saver settings
The Energy Saver pane in System Preferences has options to help improve the battery life on your Mac notebook when it's idle. For instance, setting your display to sleep when idle temporarily turns off the backlight and significantly improves the battery life.
Deselecting 'Enable Power Nap while on battery power' can also extend your battery's charge.
On Mac notebook computers introduced in 2016 or later, the display brightness adjusts to 75% when you unplug the computer from power if you have 'Slightly dim the display while on battery power' enabled.
The example above is from macOS Catalina. Some features such as Automatic graphic switching and Power Nap aren't available on all Mac notebooks or versions of macOS.
Adjust keyboard and display brightness
Your Mac notebook's built-in keyboard has settings that can help automatically conserve battery power:
- To allow your keyboard's backlight to automatically dim or brighten, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, select Keyboard, then select 'Adjust keyboard brightness in low light'.
- In the Keyboard section of System Preferences, you can also allow your keyboard's backlight to turn off after a period of inactivity.
You can use the F5 and F6 keys to manually adjust your keyboard's brightness, setting it as low as possible while still allowing you to see the keys.
Your display's brightness has a major effect on battery life, and allowing your display to automatically adjust can significantly help to conserve power. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then select Displays. Enable 'Automatically adjust brightness' to allow your display to dim or brighten based on your surrounding's light levels.
To manually adjust your display's brightness to a comfortable level, use the F1 and F2 keys.
MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can quickly adjust your display brightness by tapping in the Control Strip on the right side of the Touch Bar. To access the keyboard brightness buttons, tap in the Control Strip:
The Control Strip expands, and you can tap to adjust your display's brightness, and tap to adjust keyboard brightness:
Check graphics settings
MacBook Pro 15-inch and 16-inch notebooks commonly include two graphics processors, or GPUs. You might see them documented as a discrete GPU and an integrated GPU. The discrete GPU generally provides substantial performance at the expense of high power draw. The integrated GPU allows for optimal battery life, but in most cases doesn't have the performance of a discrete GPU.
For optimal battery life on your MacBook Pro, use automatic graphics switching.
Turn off features and technologies that use power
Mac notebooks have a number of integrated technologies which can have a significant effect on battery power.
- If you don't need Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, you can turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from their menu bar icons or in System Preferences. This will help save power.
- External USB, SD card, and Thunderbolt devices connected to your notebook can also draw power and should be disconnected for optimal battery performance.
Troubleshooting batteries
A great place to start when troubleshooting battery issues is the built-in diagnostics that are available on your Mac notebook. Learn how to use Apple Diagnostics on your Mac.
If Apple Diagnostics tells you that your battery requires service and cites reference code PPT004, you should confirm this issue by running Apple Diagnostics over the Internet, which uses the latest diagnostic information. To do this, turn off your Mac by choosing Shut Down from the Apple menu . Then press the power button to turn on your Mac. Immediately press and hold Option-D until Apple Diagnostics begins.
If running Apple Diagnostics over the Internet confirms the issue, contact Apple or take your computer to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store. They'll tell you which service and support options are available.
If you don't find any issues with Apple Diagnostics read on for more information about troubleshooting your battery.
My battery runtime is low
- If you recently set up your Mac, wait until your Mac is finished with initial setup. When you use your Mac for the first time, activities like setting up Mail and Photos, migrating your iCloud content, and indexing your files with Spotlight use more power than your Mac requires in general use. If you have a large amount of data to transfer, it can take several days before your battery life returns to average daily use.
- Identify what the battery life should be for the product you're using. The Tech Specs site provides Apple's battery life expectations for battery usage. The specifics for wireless web usage and standby time are included in the Tech Specs article for each product.
- Learn how to minimize common causes of battery drain:
- Optimize your battery life using the Optimizing Battery Life section earlier in this article.
- Learn how apps can affect Mac battery performance. Some applications—such as web browsers, video editing software, and video games—require more power based on how you're using them. Check regularly for updates to your software—it's important to use the latest versions available.
- Configure automated backup and sync software to run only when your computer is connected to a power source or to pause when your battery level drops below a certain percentage.
- Check Activity Monitor for any malfunctioning software processes, especially after installing software updates or a new operating system. Installing updates is important to ensure optimal performance for all applications.
- If you still have battery issues after optimizing your computer's performance and checking for malfunctioning software processes, test in safe mode. Safe mode limits the active items on the system and allows testing in a more minimal environment. If the battery life is better in safe mode, you might need to do further software isolation for the items disabled by safe mode to determine what the power draw is while not operating in safe mode.
My battery isn't charging
Confirm the correct wattage AC adapter for your computer. A power adapter rated for a lower wattage than is required for the system might not reliably charge the computer. If you're not sure which power adapter to use with your computer, learn how to find the right power adapter and cord for your Mac notebook.
For more help, learn what to do if your USB-C power adapter isn't charging your Mac notebook. If issues persist, reset the SMC.
My battery won't charge to 100%
Occasionally, the battery might not show a full charge (100%) in macOS, even after the power adapter has been connected for an extended period of time. The battery might appear to stop charging between 93 percent and 99 percent. This behavior is normal and will help to prolong the overall life of the battery.
My battery isn't recognized
If the battery in your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro is fully drained of power, the battery will put itself into a low power state to preserve its ability to charge in the future.
Connect your Mac notebook to AC power and allow it to charge for at least five minutes. If the 'connect to power' screen persists after charging for five minutes, reset the SMC.
The low battery warning doesn't display
If you don't receive a warning when your battery has a low charge, generally reported at or under 15%, it might be because the battery menu bar icon is disabled. Follow these steps to enable the battery status menu item:
- Open System Preferences.
- Click Energy Saver.
- Select the 'Show battery status in menu bar' check box to display the battery status menu item.
Portables using OS X Mavericks v10.9 or later display the low battery warning when the battery has approximately 10 minutes of power remaining. Earlier versions of OS X report it at 15% or less.
Servicing the battery in your Mac notebook
MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro computers with built-in batteries should only have their batteries replaced by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store. Attempting to replace a built-in battery yourself could damage your equipment, and such damage is not covered by warranty.
Most older Mac notebooks have removable batteries that you can replace yourself. Contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store for assistance servicing a removable battery.
Battery warranty information
Your Apple One Year Limited Warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. If you purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan for your Mac notebook, Apple will replace the notebook battery at no charge if it retains less than 80 percent of its original capacity. If you don't have coverage, you can have the battery replaced for a fee.
Learn more
Learn more about the batteries used in Apple products.
Stay charged with Batteries
Check your devices’ battery levels right from your Mac
We buy MacBooks for their portability, for being able to do our work from a desk, couch, conference room, cafe, or plane. MacBook Pro or MacBook Air battery life is a key aspect of such portability — the longer it lasts the longer we can stay on the go.
With time, however, batteries wear out and lose their advertised capacity. If you have an older MacBook, say, from 10 years ago, you’d be lucky to get two hours of battery out of it right now, if any.
The process of servicing batteries is also changing. While you used to be able to just replace MacBook Pro battery yourself, without any special tools, it’s now much more difficult to do. So let’s dive into the issue of Mac battery cycle count, how to find a proper MacBook Air battery replacement, and other ways to prolong your MacBook Pro battery life.
What’s Mac Battery Cycle Count?
If you read anything about Mac batteries online, you might often see the notion of a MacBook Pro battery cycle count. What does this MacBook cycle count mean?
A cycle count simply represents the number of times your MacBook Pro battery has used up its 100% battery charge. Since every time you charge your laptop your battery capacity decreases, a high MacBook cycle count is a good proxy for the overall health of your battery life.
According to Apple, 1,000 cycles should reduce your Mac’s battery capacity to about 80%, after which you’re likely to start seeing notifications about servicing your battery.
It’s worth adding that only using some of your battery and then charging your Mac again counts as a cycle too — so it’s better to let your Mac drain the battery completely before recharging. Similarly, don’t leave your MacBook plugged in all the time, and if you have to put your Mac in storage make sure to leave it semi-charged and shut it down completely rather than just put it to sleep.
So how do you find out the battery cycle count of your Mac right now?
How to test your MacBook’s battery
There are lots of things that can go wrong with your MacBook battery, but most are simply the result of the battery cycle count being too high. To check your battery cycle count:
- Launch Applications (⌘ + Shift + A) ➙ Utilities
- Double-click on System Information
- Under the Power category, find Cycle Count and Condition
As mentioned above, a general rule of thumb is to consider everything lower than 1,000 as normal. But often knowing cycle count and battery condition isn’t enough — you need a more detailed solution.
iStat Menus is an advanced system monitor that would give you real-time information about every aspect of your Mac right from the menu bar. On the battery front, iStat Menus meticulously tracks the battery level in your Mac over time, provides you with exact battery capacity in mAh, monitors time spent on charger, and much more.
Battery App Download
Besides, iStat Menus is an indispensable tool to track your CPU, GPU, RAM, network, sensors, and any other aspect of your Mac, right at your fingertips.
How to fix Mac battery problems
Once you notice there’s a problem with your Mac’s battery (maybe you’ve already got the service battery MacBook warning), there are a few things you can do.
Generally, if your Mac is relatively new and has under 1,000 battery cycle count, it might still be covered under Apple’s warranty or AppleCare+. In this case, you can just bring your Mac to any Apple Store, and they will fix it at no cost. To check the warranty status of your Mac:
Battery Warning Laptop On
![Warning Warning](/uploads/1/3/4/1/134134042/841598007.jpg)
- Click the Apple logo in the menu bar ➙ About This Mac
- Copy your serial number
- Visit checkcoverage.apple.com
- Paste in your serial number and enter the code ➙ Continue
If your Mac is out of warranty, you could still go to Apple and pay for a MacBook battery replacement, which will cost you anywhere from $130 to $200, depending on your MacBook model.
Before you spend any money on replacing MacBook Pro battery, though, why not take some quick actions that might resolve the problem. First, see what’s actually taking up battery life in your Mac. Just click on iStat Menus and it’ll show all the apps using significant energy. Want more information? Open Activity Monitor:
- Open the Applications folder
- Navigate to Utilities ➙ Activity Monitor
- Switch to the Energy tab
It’s likely that your worst battery life offender is your browser, especially if you use Google Chrome. Try finding a lighter substitute. Mozilla Firefox or Safari consume much less battery, for example.
Since most of your battery life goes to your screen, try dimming it by just a few bars (use F1 key), and you might get another 30 minutes or more of battery time as a result. Additionally, see how you can adjust your Energy Saver preferences:
- Open System Preferences ➙ Energy Saver
- Check to “Slightly dim display while on battery power” and “Put hard disks to sleep when possible”
- Disable Power Nap
- Reduce the time before your display turns off
- Repeat in the Power Adapter tab
More tips would include switching to Dark Mode (in System Preferences ➙ General) as displaying dark pixels takes less energy. Turn off your Bluetooth as well (in System Preferences ➙ Bluetooth) if not needed. Mac logout shortcut.
Finally, if your battery won’t charge at all, first, try a different charger (almost always works) or try resetting your SMC:
- Turn off your Mac
- Hold Shift + Control + Option for seven seconds
- Keep holding and press the power button too
- Hold for seven more seconds
- Release, wait a few seconds, and turn on your Mac
How to replace MacBook Pro battery yourself
When it comes to Apple MacBook battery replacement, it might be worth paying Apple (or an authorized service center) to do the work and save the risk of seriously damaging your Mac.
However if you still want to do the Apple MacBook Pro battery replacement yourself, check that you have an old enough MacBook first. For battery replacement MacBook Pros and MacBooks from around the 2008–2009 are perfect, as they simply require you to unscrew the bottom and take the battery out. However, it’s nearly impossible to replace MacBook Air battery or any new MacBook models.
How to extend MacBook Air battery life in seconds
It’s worth noting that the most effective service battery MacBook options are not in physical tinkering with the battery at the risk of breaking your Mac but rather using simple apps designed for this purpose.
Endurance is a unique tool designed to seamlessly extend your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro battery life by up to 20%. The app uses just a few simple tricks automatically in the background: slowing down processor, pausing web browsers, shutting down WiFi or Bluetooth, dimming your screen, etc. You can set the battery level at which Endurance will turn on and enjoy extra hours of productivity without pressing a single button.
Mac Battery Warning App Download
OneSwitch is the utility you need if you’d like to control what’s happening with your Mac. App mac reading difficulties. Using a simple on-and-off toggle, you can turn on Dark Mode, put your display to sleep, connect to Bluetooth devices, clear your Desktop, empty trash, and so much more. OneSwitch not only saves your battery life but also significantly cuts down the time it takes to perform repetitive tasks.
Now you know how to check battery health on MacBook, how to replace MacBook Pro battery, and even a few tricks for prolonging your Mac’s battery life manually. You also know that iStat Menus is probably your best bet when it comes to monitoring what’s going on in your Mac, Endurance is the easiest way to extend your battery life by up to 20%, and OneSwitch gives you complete control over a wealth of repetitive tasks.
Best of all, iStat Menus, Endurance, and OneSwitch are all available to you absolutely free for seven days via Setapp, a platform with more than 170 indispensable Mac apps for making your life easier and more productive — and saving on Mac repair costs too! Try them all at no cost and see for yourself. Why not?
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