Battery and power on a Mac, fixed in plain English.
22 fixes for macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate.
Your MacBook battery drains too fastHeavy apps, background indexing after an update, bright screen or high-power settings drain the battery.Check your MacBook's battery health and cycle countBattery Health shows the condition and maximum capacity, and System Information shows cycle count.Limit your MacBook's charging to 80% to protect the batterymacOS 26.4 and later lets Apple silicon Macs cap the charge between 80% and 100%.Turn Optimized Battery Charging on or offOptimized Battery Charging pauses at about 80% to slow battery aging.Find the app that stops your Mac going to sleepAn app or process is holding a request that stops the Mac from sleeping.Your Mac wakes up on its ownA network request, scheduled task, Bluetooth device or app is waking it.Using a different or phone charger with your MacBookYes: any safe USB-C charger works, even a lower-wattage one, but a small one charges slowly or not at all while you work.Keep your Mac awake and stop it going to sleepThe Mac sleeps after a period of inactivity.MacBook is plugged in but the battery isn't chargingThe cable/adapter has a fault or too little power, the port is dirty, or charging is on hold by a battery setting.Your MacBook's battery menu says Charging On HoldOptimized Battery Charging or a Charge Limit has paused charging at your set level.Your MacBook battery says Service RecommendedThe battery has worn down enough that Apple recommends replacing it.MacBook battery drains while it's asleep or the lid is closedWith the lid closed, the Mac keeps waking up for a moment to check the network and mail, and each wake uses battery.Make your desktop Mac start up by itself after a power cutDesktop Macs stay off after a power cut unless you allow them to start by themselves.Find out which app is draining your MacBook's batteryOne or two apps or processes are using most of the energy.Stop your MacBook screen dimming when you unplug it"Slightly dim the display on battery" is on.Keep big downloads and uploads going when your Mac's screen turns offWhen the screen turns off, the Mac also goes to sleep and stops network work.Make your Mac start up and shut down at a set time each daySystem Settings has no schedule setting on any Mac; a repeating schedule is set with a Terminal command.Charge your MacBook to 100% now when it's holding at 80%Optimized Battery Charging waits at 80% until it thinks you need the Mac.Use High Power Mode for more performance on your MacSome MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Mac Studio models can trade more fan noise and power use for sustained performance.Stop your iMac, Mac mini or Mac Studio sleeping mid-jobDesktop Macs sleep after the display turns off unless told not to.Why your MacBook charges so slowly, and how to speed it upA low-wattage charger, a thin cable, or heavy use means power in is barely more than power used.Fix the "USB Devices Disabled" or "USB Accessories Disabled" alertA device plugged in by USB is asking for more power than the port can give, so macOS cuts power to protect the Mac.