If your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air’s battery life begins to drain faster than you think it should, you may want to take some steps to mitigate the problem before contacting Apple support.
In most cases, your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro battery life issues are related to the software it’s running. Apps and services can take a heavy toll on the battery.
That being said, there’s also a possibility that this is a hardware issue. If none of these fixes work, you may need to make an appointment with Apple or another vendor to get a replacement. We’ll show you how to check for a hardware problem later in this guide.
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Before scheduling an appointment, you will want to try to resolve issues on your own. In this guide, we’ll show you how to quickly fix MacBook battery life issues. These fixes have worked for us and others in the past, and we hope they work for you too.
Restart Your MacBook
Before doing anything else, try a simple reboot. Turn off your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, wait a minute, and then turn it back on. Watch your device’s battery life a bit and see if it improves.
If the battery consumption is really bad, you can also try resetting your MacBook. If you don’t know how to force restart a MacBook, check out our guide.
Update Your MacBook
Updating your MacBook to the latest macOS software can help resolve your issues. If you are running older firmware, try downgrading to the latest version of the operating system.
Go to your MacBook’s Settings app and look for the Software Update section. If you are not running the latest version on your MacBook, you will be prompted to download it.
Apple probably doesn’t list a battery drain fix in the update’s changelog, but new software always has the potential to help.
For information on the latest version of macOS, see our guide.
Update Your Apps
You’ll also want to make sure the apps on your MacBook are up to date. A new version can help you fix any battery drain issues you’re experiencing.
Go to the Mac App Store and check for the latest updates. If you’re feeling cautious, you’ll want to check out the reviews from Mac users who downloaded the latest update.
Check Your Battery Usage
You can get an idea of what’s draining your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air’s battery life by checking your battery usage.
First, click on the battery icon located in the upper-right corner of your Mac. If you see an app “Using Significant Energy”, you may want to turn it off to save battery. You may also see “Screen Brightness”, in which case you might want to turn it off.
If you see an app there that you don’t use or rarely use, and you see it there regularly, you’ll want to check with the developer to see if there is an update, if there is an update planned, or if there is one. It’s a known issue with your MacBook or operating system.
You’ll also want to use your MacBook’s battery usage history, as it gives you details about your Mac’s battery life in the last 24 hours or the last 10 days. You can find this in the “Battery” section of your Mac’s System Settings.
It’s split into “Battery Level” and “Screen Usage” so you can see how your Mac’s battery is performing. If the readings are very inaccurate, you may need to contact Apple customer service.
Check Your Battery Health
If you’ve owned your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro for a while, chances are its battery has gotten too low to hold a charge. In some cases, you may not be able to unplug it from the charger for more than a new minute.
You’ll know it if you click on the battery icon in the top right corner and see a “Service Recommended” message next to a warning icon.
Clicking on “Recommended Service” will take you to the Battery section of your Settings. In this section you will see “Battery Health” and next to it you will see an exclamation point in a circle. Click this.
In the next section, you’ll want to make sure the “Optimized Battery Charge” and “Manage battery life” options are turned on. Next, click “Service Options” in the upper right corner.
This will take you to the Apple website where you can set up an appointment to replace your battery.
Check Activity Monitor
As we mentioned above, there is a good chance that one of your MacBook’s apps or services is causing the abnormal battery drain. There is another way to see what is consuming your computer’s resources.
macOS comes with a handy tool called Activity Monitor and can tell you exactly what is consuming your computer’s precious resources.
Find and open Activity Monitor in Finder. You should be on a screen like the screenshot above. Click the Energy tab.
Now click on the Energy Effect tab. This will sort the list by apps and processes that use the most energy. If you see an app or process consuming a ton of energy, highlight it and click the “X” in the toolbar.
Monitor Screen Brightness
If you keep your Mac’s screen at maximum brightness all the time, it will drain the battery. We recommend enabling “Automatically adjust brightness” on your device to avoid unnecessary battery drain. (Note that this option is only available if you have a Mac with an ambient light sensor.)
If you prefer to manually adjust the brightness of your Mac’s screen, you can do that too.
One way is to use the F1 and F2 keys on the keyboard. The other way is to use the Control Center located in the upper right corner and adjust the brightness using the slider located there.
Disable Unnecessary Items
Consider disabling services and removing accessories from your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro to better save battery.
You can remove flash drives, SD cards, and other connected accessories that can draw power from your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro to extend battery life.
You may also want to turn off services like Bluetooth as they can drain your computer’s battery life.
Reset PRAM and NVRAM
If none of these solutions really help, you can try resetting your MacBook’s PRAM and NVRAM. This resets some settings, but does not delete your Mac’s data.
Here’s how to reset them. Note that this will only work with Intel-based MacBook models.
reset SMC
The System Management Controller (SMC) manages hardware functions such as the battery in your MacBook Pro/Air. Try the reset and see if the battery life improves.
If you have a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air apple siliconSimply restart your device.
Downgrade Software
If you can’t find a solution to your problem and/or don’t want to wait for the next macOS release, you can try downgrading to an older macOS version.
For more information on macOS downgrade, check out our walkthrough.
Start from scratch
If nothing helps, you’ve determined that your MacBook’s battery is fine and you want to avoid going to the Apple Store, you can try wiping your MacBook from scratch.
This should only be used as a last resort and only after you have properly backed up all data stored on your MacBook.
If you are interested in starting from scratch, check out this guide.
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