- Sep 27, 2018 Apple rates the Apple Watch has having an “18-hour all day battery life”. However, sometimes, you end up using Apple Watch more than anticipated. This means you need to start micromanaging.
- Aug 23, 2019 Now that you understand what a Mac battery cycle is, we can have a look on how to check this. How much charge a Mac currently has is automatically displayed in the top toolbar, shown as a percentage and when clicked on it will give you the option to open Energy Saver Preferences.
Since OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the Battery status menu on your menu bar has provided a helpful list of “apps using significant energy.” If your battery seems to be draining faster than usual, a quick click on the battery menu on your Mac’s menu bar will show you a list of the most battery-hungry apps.
With macOS 10.12.2 Apple has removed the 'time remaining' readout from the Mac menubar, the one that told you you had 3:14 — or whatever — left on your battery. That leaves only the percentage indicator to help you guess how much power is left on your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro battery. Needless to say, not everyone is happy about the loss. If you wish you could get it back, the bad news is you can't. The good news is, there are a couple of alternatives.
Why you may not really want 'time remaining' back
I'm not going to miss 'time remaining', and I'm not going to replace. In my experience it was often inaccurate to the point of being farcical, especially when load changed frequently, which is what load does on a laptop.
Oh 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, you tease…
(3 hours into using it on airplane Wi-Fi, primarily Notes + Safari.) pic.twitter.com/cT6WAjDvMe
— Rene Ritchie ? (@reneritchie) November 30, 2016(3 hours into using it on airplane Wi-Fi, primarily Notes + Safari.) pic.twitter.com/cT6WAjDvMe
Here's what I wrote in my MacBook battery life troubleshooting tip:
The Mac's menubar shows the percentage of battery life left, just like iOS. When you click on it, though, you get an estimate of how much time is left — 4:35 remaining, for example. Ignore that.
It's almost impossible to correctly guestimate how much time is left on a battery in a highly dynamic environment but, worse, Apple's battery API has been wonky for a while. You'll see it go from an impossible 14:21 to a stress-inducing 1:35 and back with the launch or closing of an app or the start or completion of a task.
You might think it's useful to have a rough idea of how much work time you have left, but that's not what you're getting. What you're getting is a constant source of stress. Pretend it doesn't exist and stick with the percentage. After a week or so, you'll figure out what that means just like iPhone and iPad.
If your experience has been different or you simply really, truly, want to see 'time remaining' on your MacBook, read on.
Activity Monitor
When Apple introduced battery shaming — sorry, 'apps using significant energy' — on the Mac, they set it up so that it could take you to Activity Monitor, where more specific information was available. Though 'time remaining' is gone from the Menubar, it remains in Activity Monitor.
To get to it, you can:
- Click on the on the Battery icon on the right of the Menubar.
- Click on the name of an app using significant energy.
- Look at Time Remaining at the bottom of Activity Monitor, once it launches.
Alternatively, you can:
- Launch Activity Monitor with Spotlight, LaunchPad, or Finder.
- Click on the Energy tab at the top.
- Look at Time Remaining at the bottom.
FruitJuice and iStat
Apps Using Battery In Background
In addition to its own 'time remaining' metric, Apple provides an application developer interface (API) for developers so they can pull a 'time remaining' number as well and use it in their own apps. The numbers third party apps get from the API doesn't always match the number Apple shows, but if you're this far down already you skipped my advice about ignoring this lunacy and really want a readout. So, here are your options.
FruitJuice is a an app that tries to help you optimize battery life on your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro by keeping detailed records, analyzing them, and recommending best practices based on them. For me, it's more trouble and stress than it's worth, but if you love to micromanage that stuff, FruitJuice is awesome at it. It even includes — wait for it! — a 'time remaining' indicator all it's own.
- $9.99 - See on Mac App Store
iStat Menu is more of a multitasked that tracks and displays everything about your Mac, including time remaining on battery. It's like having Activity Monitor available, in highly polished form, at the click of a menu item.
Full disclosure: The developer of iStat is a friend of mine, but I used the app for years before we met. I still use it to see if my chips are really being pegged by video coding, especially when it seems slow.
- $8.00 - See at Bjango
Will you be adding your time remaining back?
I'm fine with percentage but what about you? Will you be using Activity Monitor? FruitJuice or iStat? Something else? Let me know!
MacBook Pro
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if only you knew the power of the dark side...Apple doubles trade-in value of select Android devices for a limited time
Apple has quietly upped the trade-in price of several Android smartphones for a limited time, doubling the value of some handsets.
Every device, such as a MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, benefits from a limited number of cycles until a battery is used up and needs replacing. As a Mac battery gets older, the time in between full charges reduces. This means, you aren't getting as many hours of charge that you would have when it was new.
Check Mac Battery Life
Once a battery hits its maximum number of charging cycles, it can still be used. But it does mean that you might only get a couple hours at most of use until it needs charging again. In some cases, you might not be able to use a Mac without a power cord. This is clearly a sign of a dead battery.
So to avoid this happening unexpectedly, let’s first look at what a battery cycle means and how to check your currently battery cycle.
Mac battery cycle: What does this mean?
Think about how you normally use your Mac. Do you work from the same desk, plug it in, keep it charging all day, then close it down and not use it until the next day?
In that case, it’s getting fully charged, but not using any of that charge. It could take years for it to reach the maximum number of cycles possible.
In that case, it’s getting fully charged, but not using any of that charge. It could take years for it to reach the maximum number of cycles possible.
However, if you charge the Mac in before going somewhere - until the charge reaches 100% - and then you take your Mac without the plug and it uses 50% of the charge. And then you do the same the following day, this is one full cycle. It would only count as two if on both occasions the charge went down to zero, then it needed fully recharging again.
So every time you use as much of the battery as possible, then recharge it, this is a complete battery cycle.
How to check my Mac battery cycle?
Now that you understand what a Mac battery cycle is, we can have a look on how to check this.
How much charge a Mac currently has is automatically displayed in the top toolbar, shown as a percentage and when clicked on it will give you the option to open Energy Saver Preferences. It also displays what is currently using a large amount of the battery charge.
Now here is where to check how many charging cycles your Mac has remaining.
- Go to the Apple () menu in the top toolbar (you can also search for System Information using Siri or Spotlight Search)
- Click on System Information
- Within this is a Hardware section of System Information
- Click on Power
- Listed under Health Information is the current Cycle Count
- It also provides a Condition status of your battery
The current Cycle Count it displays is how many cycles are remaining until the battery has reached its maximum. It’s helpful to know how many cycles most Mac models have. Apple have documented this information for Mac users.
Does my Mac model make a difference?
Yes, it does. Depending on how old your Mac is, some models have different amount of cycles than other. As a general rule, older Macs are not as energy efficient as modern models, so these usually have much shorter total battery cycles.
Based on information from Apple, here are the various models of MacBooks, MacBooks Air and Pro and their battery cycles:
- MacBook (2009 - 2017 models): 1000 cycles
- MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008): 500 cycles
- MacBook (all earlier models, except the one above): 300 cycles
- MacBook Pro (most models): 1000 cycles
- MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2008): 500 cycles
- MacBook Pro (every other 2008 model): 300 cycles
- MacBook Air (most models): 1000 cycles
- MacBook Air (Mid 2009): 500 cycles
- MacBook Air (original and late 2008 model): 300 cycles
We hope this is useful. Now you know how to check current battery percentages, how many battery cycles your Mac has and where to find that real-time data. Below are a few quick ways to improve the battery health of your Mac.
How to improve Mac battery health?
1. Use Energy Saver mode
- Open System Preferences (via the Apple () menu, Siri or Spotlight) > Click on Energy Saver:
- Switch on Automatic graphic and check the box for Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible;
- Also switch off Wake for network access.
2. Switch off or delete power-draining apps
- Download CleanMyMac X (you can download a free edition here);
- Use the Optimization > Heavy Consumers to identify battery-draining apps;
- Close the ones you don't need, or click on Uninstaller to remove the apps you don't need anymore;
Battery Check App For Laptop
3. Reduce screen brightness
Brighter screens use too much power.
It is always going to be a balancing act between too bright and not bright enough. Other factors, such as light from external sources, what you are doing at the time, and internal lights will also impact how bright or not the screen feels.
To change the brightness, go to System Preferences (either through the top toolbar Apple icon, Spotlight or Siri) and click on Displays. Use the Brightness slider to adjust this. Or you can use the F1 and F2 keys on MacBooks (F14 and F15 on desktop Mac’s).
4. Update your macOS software
When you update to the latest version of macOS software, newer versions often include the latest in battery saving technology. Every time and update happens, Mac’s that upgrade to the newest version experience improved efficiencies and faster processing power.
Before downloading a new macOS, make sure to back everything up first. To update, click on the Apple icon in the top toolbar select Software Update (it will always show you if a new update is needed).
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/6/126640489/452920739.png)
5. Close background apps
Launch Agents are small background applications that are normally hidden. Still, they can be primary battery-drainers on your Mac. It can be equally useful to keep the number of Launch Agents and Login Items to a minimum, which CleanMyMac X can quickly and easily tidy up.
While you are in CleanMyMac, click Optimization > Launch Agents
Disable everything to the bare minimum.
Getting the most out of your Mac battery keeps it going for longer. You can do more with a Mac that has a healthy battery. To keep this healthy for as long as possible, we recommend making sure your Mac is running as efficiently as it can.
CleanMyMac X is a valuable tool for getting your Mac up and running as good as new. It can monitor the health of your Mac, clear out system junk, remove viruses and tidy up long-forgotten folders and files. Everything you do that improves performance will reduce the strain on the battery, keeping it running for longer.