Is Apple deliberately killing our batteries?

[@sunknudsen]

51, 89%, October 2021

[@ronan9403]

That is... quite a bad figure indeed. Apple should apply warranty in some situation like that.

[@seanlowe5547]

MacBook Air M1 | 95, 100% - Feb 2022

[@MyDogSteppedOnaBeee]

29, 100%, Sept 2021, M1 MBP. I use low power mode with lower brightness and don't charge it a lot. I also like to use coconut battery it is a great app for IOS and MacOS battery stats with temp, watts, everything, etc.

[@spqr6973]

158 100 % M2 November 2022, almost never low power mode Je pense qu'il y a une incompréhension concernant le systeme optimization de battery d'apple, la chargement est ralentie à la fin du cycle de charge, c'est visible sur mon mac mais cela l'est encore plus sur mon Iphone, car j'ai tendance àa le laisser charger trop longtemp. Mon Iphone va mettre facilement 20 min pour charger de 98% à 100% au lieux des 2-3 min necessaire afin de preserver la batterie. Pour arriver à maintenir 100% sur mon Mac j'ai globalement fait des cycles de 10-30% à 100% par contre arrivé à 100% je deconnecte systematiquement ce qui est facile avec la led à l'extremité du cable qui passe d'orange à vert sur les M2 Je n'arrive pas à croire que ta batterie est à 89% avec seulement 50 cycles, de l'avoir laisser plug in en permanence est la cause, un hub qui charge est une trés mauvaise idée. Pour conclure je suis plutôt d'avis que le 20-100% est meilleur que le 20-80% et que la plage 0%-100% est necessaire pour les deplacements avec sont laptop, personellement je me rachete un nouveau Mac chaque année ou presque (a chaque nouveau modéle), mais la santé de la batterie + acheté il y a un an est un argument de vente qui fait mouche à chaque fois

[@avery_IO]

375, 88% Dec 2021

[@lightcerous1093]

This happened the same with me. After doing some research, I later realized that you need to turn significant location for optimized battery charging to work. I know you have this turned off because of privacy reasons in one of your videos. In my case however, turning on significant location didnt really turn on the optimized battery charging. It worked here and there but not consistently which is kind of annoying. I hope this helps!

[@Kay-1234]

I'm pretty sure that there is a big difference between what you just did and what Apple does when it keeps your Macbook at 80%. When a Macbook is connected to a power source and you're using it, it will take around 80% (i don't actually know the exact split) of the power it needs directly from the power source (and not the battery). This actually reduces the battery cycle count by a lot and therefore protects the battery. Now if you tell the Macbook to stop charging (like you just did in the video demonstration) it will not take 80% of the power it needs from the power cable anymore but rather 100% from the battery which will lead to (this is gonna be my assumption anyway) an even bigger decrease in the battery's lifespan. My battery health stats are also quite awful though, so who knows... Health Information: Cycle Count: 35 Condition: Normal Maximum Capacity: 94 %

[@SPL-6]

He really needs to delete this video.

[@SPL-6]

Never discharge your battery to 20% if you don't have to. Keep it charged and steady at 75% at all times.

[@hubert4646]

16" 1M Max, bought 6 months ago: 90 cycles, 98% Battery capped at 66% using al dente, mostly plugged all the time

[@MinghuiChen]

Hey Sun, good content! I was wondering that what the terminal theme do you use on iTerm2?

[@johannstiges1421]

No, actual reason many products lose battery health is because they are charging while being used. This overheats them and causes to deteriorate.

[@screweddevelopment12]

410 80%, May 2021; Macbook Air M1; Optimized battery charging on The optimized battery charging doesn't stop at 80%. It holds the battery at 80% until shortly before it predicts that you will start using your computer again. If it is working correctly, you shouldn't notice any difference in your user experience because it should have allotted enough time for the battery to charge close to 100%. It's just minimizing the time spent >80%, not entirely avoiding it. I imagine that the use case is plugging your computer in overnight to charge for the next day, and then using primarily battery power during the day. This comment data might be more interesting if people say if they have optimized battery charging on. You could see if the two different groups have a significant difference in battery lifespan.

[@PortugalCarp]

MacBook-Air bought December 2021 (the 23rd), 9, 100% This laptop is on all the time plugged into an Anker PowerExpand+. The power/charge indicator usually hovers around 80% and below, in other words, yes my system's optimised battery charging is working.

[@sunknudsen]

Thanks for sharing… not sure why feature isn’t working on my M1 MacBook Air.

[@paulanderegg5536]

My 2019 i9 MBP went down to 94% at 162 cycles (first history reading), 91% capacity at 200 cycles, 90% capacity at 300 cycles, 89% capacity at 400 cycles, and has been at 85% capacity since 480 cycles. I am at 550 cycles now. Coconut Battery has a nice history function. It also says the Macbook has an OEM DSY battery.

[@msodev]

I always wondered why the F the optimased battery charging wasnt working… now i see it is something common

[@charlesdupuy4431]

Merci pour tes recherches Sun !

[@Chris-jx4qr]

Yes. It definitely is. I tried to point this out in a discussion group and Apple actually censored my response out of the group.

[@vassi1is]

I tried it on my late 2018 MBP, but upon running the script I get a 'Error: SMCWriteKey() = e00002bc' message and nothing happens

[@ronan9403]

I guess it really depends on the charging behavior of the user. I have two macs: one from work and one I bought myself. In my case, apple optimization feature work very well on my pro machine. It has picked up very quickly my charging habits: in only couple of weeks, the feature kicks in almost every day. For my personal machine: it's almost never used... One side note: the feature does not limit charging to 80% per say. Instead, it push the charging to 100% and then start to drain the battery from the computer usage down to 80% where it sits for most of the day. Then charge again to 100% in the middle of afternoon in my case. (pro machine: MacBook M1 pro 14 2022; personal machine: MacBook Air M1 2020, 56, 100%, august 2021)

[@tompov227]

337, 87% purchased November 2020. I think this is a pretty ridiculous title. Apple is very much known for their "it just works" approach to things and I don't know of any big manufacturers that are currently offering a la carte battery percentage control. The idea that Apple is unique hiding these settings specifically to kill batteries is ludicrous. They even have a feature that-for 95% of people-does exactly what you're asking. I also Dock my MacBook Pro and it frequently stops charging at 80%. In fact, I usually override the setting because I know I am going to be on battery later and I want the full charge

[@sunknudsen]

Sorry for clickbaity title… this is the stuff that typically works on KZbin to get people to watch episode. That said, I do believe there is value in episode and I am trying to establish if my experience is singular or if there is a systemic issue with M1 MacBook Air computers. Also, even with Optimized Battery Charging, discharging to 20% once in a while is a healthy practice.

[@tompov227]

@@sunknudsen I suppose that’s fair enough. I’m not a KZbinr so I don’t know what performs well. For what it’s worth tho as a viewer I would have also clicked on “the best way to save your MacBook” or “the reason ur MacBook battery doesn’t last any more”. Again I don’t know what gets clicks so I understand the need for a catchy title but I don’t think apple is really at fault

[@szabiakanich]

MBA M1, bought March 2022, cycle count 141, maximum capacity 97%. Using it plugged in during the day, on battery in the evening / on the weekend. Not very worried. It should last a good 6-8 years.

[@Paviste93]

Are you aware of the AlDente project? Seems like it is doing pretty much the same in the other direction. It is preventing the system from charging higher than 80%

[@veemyu]

I was thinking about AlDente the whole time, glad it exists. It's really robust too.

[@cbedry]

Will this still allow power to be passed? I use my mac in clam shell mode often with external monitors and docks. In order for this to work your mac must be plugged in. Has anyone tested this in a similar setup? will clam shell mode still work? Thanks!

[@pseast]

I use Aldente to stop charging at 80%. Probably would be better to stop at 70%, but 80 is more reasonable if I am charging and then will use the battery unplugged for some time. However, if I am plugged into my dock, 70%, may be a bit better. I also have 89% battery health. However, I've been using my MacBook Air m1 for over a year and I've got 189 cycles on it. And, no, I haven't seen the built-in battery optimization work, but it didn't take me long to install Aldente, so I didn't give it much trial.

[@rosshathaway8580]

I have m3 pro mac. Would this method still work?

[@aytunch]

What is the command to see the battery health in mac?

[@rpinut]

Running a Microsoft Surface Laptop Go, 210 cycles, 89% battery. I noticed this capacity, could vary. Sometimes it's 84% sometimes 91%. And an other idea, is to only charge your iPhone, iPad, Macbook, Laptop to a 100%, and directly disconnect. I've a smart plug connected to my charger, shortcuts turning it off, when iPhone or iPad reach 100% for 30 seconds. The smartplug also detects power consumtion unter 1W when the laptop is full, so it don't overcharge.

[@thenbaplayer9485]

Hi just a question do you have any update on your privacy from beginner to expert course ?

[@michaelscheid2283]

thxs Sun for this video. I´m asking me this since ever, why Apple don´t give us this config-option, especially because my first thinkpad back in 2004 has this litte tool to control the charging behavior - and now, almost 20 years later the tool is still there and still nothing equivalent on macOS. For my M1-MacBook I found an App, called AlDende from an little Developer Studio called AppHouseKitchen located in Austria, which is very helpful. In the free Version of the App you can configure: Start Charging if the battery is at 20%. The 20 € paid-Version works with "start" and "stop" charging levels. Unfortunately there is the same problem with the reset of the configuration while in sleep mode you mentioned in the Video. But, better than nothing..

[@veemyu]

AlDente is great! If you leave it running in the background, it usually works even through sleep :)

[@mattiagl]

Don't know if in the free version it works, but there is a setting that stops the charger when the laptop goes to sleep. It doesn't charge if you need it, but there is no risk of overcharging

[@edrumsense]

I have an ancient Windows Laptop since 2012, this laptop came with some Battery Guard feature that stops charging at a given setpoint, I set it at 60% and it still holds about 80% of it's charge capacity, it's funny that apple never applied something like that. Also Spamdroid phones are implementing this 85% top charge in some samsung phones.

[@MrLocsei]

that's because when the MacBook says it's charged to 100% it is actually at about 90-ish percent. In other words Apple is over-provisioning their batteries for longevity. Same technique is used nowadays with SSDs. Apple will never disclose how much over-provisioning they are doing because it's trade secret and don't want to give other makers a competitive advantage. There's a reason Apple products are the best money can boy.

[@RJszn24]

Optimised battery charging works rly well for me

[@andreifernandez5443]

is there a way to do this on ios or my thinkpad?

[@andreifernandez5443]

i found an option on lenovo vantage that caps max charge

[@inspiringalchemy]

119, 93%, August 2021 Edit: the model is 2020 M1 MacBook Pro 13”

[@martinlutherkingjr.5582]

Optimize battery charging only works in my experience if you have your computer plugged in all the time.

[@00bikeboy]

Couldn't you just select the "Always" option in Low Power Mode? It's supposed to restrict the battery from charging over 80% regardless of whether you're on battery or using the charger.

[@sunknudsen]

Interesting, would you happen to have link to docs?

[@giedi7644]

M1 MBA, 2022 APRIL, 162, 99%. Battery drain is also based on usage too tho, heat can also damage the lifespan when being connected all the time, which could be an issue to MBA not having a fan.

[@lightcerous1093]

Thats a really good battery health percentage, may I know how you charge your battery?

[@giedi7644]

@@lightcerous1093 I keep it plugged most of the time so I use a third party app called Al Dente to prevent it from charging past 50%. Only once every two weeks for work reasons and schedule I’ll bring it to work so I charge it to 100% before hand. I will completely drain the battery to 20% once a month Guidelines that I take : -Never keep it plugged in overnight -Set low power mode by default when on battery -Never plugged an external device (ssd, usb dongles) when on battery. they will drain your macs battery even on idle -Turn off wifi & bluetooth, quit all apps (even your browsers and vpn) overnight to prevent drain in the morning (i use a shortcut script for that). -Careful of your usage when on battery, don’t do anything too intensive even though the m1 macbooks are deemed efficient, suchs as transferring huges files, watching long 1080p youtube videos -Downloading updates or huge files More info via apple support: www.apple.com/uk/batteries/maximizing-performance/

[@proto7688]

Samsung phones and tablets have the don't charge past 80% feature now in software to save battery life

[@I_Love_my_adblock4408]

🙋🏾‍♂️ I believe that they are. 🤔

[@DenisVolin]

115 87%, November 2021, Air M1 ~70% of the time laptop is connected to USB-C Dell monitor. And yeah, sometimes is charges to 80%, sometimes to 100%. So this Apple battery saving thing is working... randomly. I would be glad to see check option like "Charge always to 80% max", but unfortunately it's not in Apple style.

[@MyDogSteppedOnaBeee]

29, 100%, Sept 2021, M1 MBP. I use low power mode with lower brightness and don't charge it a lot. I also like to use coconut battery it is a great app for IOS and MacOS battery stats with temp, watts, everything, etc.

[@beefvalve]

what i did: homekit compatible smart plug, to which my charging brick is connected. and so i can turn charging on and off with a button or via siri (which i dont use) any time i feel to

[@sunknudsen]

Love the creativity!

[@beefvalve]

@@sunknudsen i just wish i could have a shortcut that activates the smart plug whenever the battery reaches 20% and disables it ar 80%

[@MyDogSteppedOnaBeee]

@@sunknudsen 29, 100%, Sept 2021, M1 MBP. I use low power mode with lower brightness and don't charge it a lot. I also like to use coconut battery it is a great app for IOS and MacOS battery stats with temp, watts, everything, etc.

[@ytn6662]

I bought 14inch m1 pro and using aldente pro. Currently my 3 month old Macbook has only 18 cycles, and battery health is 102%. (which means it still keeps more than the designed capacity)

[@ytn6662]

Strongly recommend aldente pro version. I set them to stop charging at 60%, and when I need to go out, I change the limit to 80%.

[@lemarcheur2359]

MBA December 2020, 154 cycles 95 % Have a great Day!

[@NicolaMastrandrea]

I’m using aldente on my 14" M1 pro so I can’t help.

[@AlessandroArangino]

I don’t know but I suppose you’re Italian. Can you share your experience with it? I’m looking for buying it.

[@brandonw1604]

I use my MacBook in clamshell almost exclusively. It has minimal cycle counts and 100% battery since the M1 came out. I do only use the Apple charger and then a Dell monitor with a built in dock.

[@ghost-user559]

That doesn’t actually give you an accurate reading. What often happens is the sensor will just one day register the actual degradation and you will have it sneak up on you when your battery just instantly dies. I have had that happen with a Mac in clamshell full time. The sensors don’t have enough data to accurately report the battery health unless you regularly charge and discharge your device. At a certain point it will just magically not hold a charge and it will happen without warning because keeping it plugged in full time tricks the sensor.

[@brandonw1604]

@@ghost-user559 well that’s depressing. Mine shows 65, 100%, 2020.

[@ghost-user559]

@@brandonw1604 Yeah it is very depressing. I was so excited to use mine clamshell for years and then suddenly the fking bottom case and trackpad started to bulge. All I could see was my trackpad stopped making a click sound and it turns out the lithium was expanding and could have caught fire. Also clamshell on the old intel models can get so hot you get screen artifacts and it could physically ruin your lcd panel. So don’t ever do anything hardcore in clamshell either, because the heat that would normally dissipate up the keyboard assembly just gets trapped against the most expensive components like the screen. Basically clamshell is convenient but terrible and using it open on the desk is better for the machine. Make sure you unplug from your monitor like once a week and use it like a laptop on battery until you get it to around 10-20% charge, then plug it in. Get an app like Al Dente and manually set your charge limit to around 40% capacity.

[@brandonw1604]

@@ghost-user559 thanks for the advice.

[@ghost-user559]

@@brandonw1604 No problem. Once you learn the hard way it’s actually super easy to take care of it with a charge limiter app and a regular discharge and charge like once a week. My new battery in that same machine is fine after being plugged in almost constantly for two years now. But if you use it like a desktop we both wanted to then you definitely run into problems no one tells you about. With M1 it’s probably less an issue because it’s so cool, but with anything past that the Max and Ultra or M2 is probably hot enough under load to still be careful. And don’t forget you can actually install new batteries now from ifixit or get it done under warranty if you ever need a fresh start.

[@calv1n777]

M2 MBA, 42, 100% May 2023

[@francescofra751]

m1 air October 2021, 299. 87%

[@_elroyjetson]

MacBook Air (M1, 2020) Purchase Date: October 2021 cycle count: 71 maximum capacity: 98%

[@sunknudsen]

Thanks James… is Optimized Battery Charging enabled and working on your device?

[@_elroyjetson]

@@sunknudsen Yes it is enabled and it works sometimes. But I usually leave the laptop unplugged until the night before I have to use it. I use a Mac mini at my desk and I only use the MacBook Air when I am mobile away from my desk.

[@MyDogSteppedOnaBeee]

@@sunknudsen 29, 100%, Sept 2021, M1 MBP. I use low power mode with lower brightness and don't charge it a lot. I also like to use coconut battery it is a great app for IOS and MacOS battery stats with temp, watts, everything, etc.

[@TheodoreChin-ih7xz]

It's true

[@lambertax]

You should know that the Apple product you purchased IS STILL the property of Apple!

[@_marcobaez]

703 % APR 26 2024

[@RelimzGaming]

My computer only lets me know that I am at 20 and 80%. That’s it. Like it’s useful if I am using it. That’s what the feature those for me. It works like my phone. I have a M1 PRO.

[@twentythree5609]

evil apple!

[@CongMNguyen]

80 91% Dec 2023 108 89% Jun 2024

[@carlosmgpinheiro]

Macbook Pro M1 161, 88% May 2021

[@sunknudsen]

Thanks Carlos… looking forward to establishing a better dataset.

[@MyDogSteppedOnaBeee]

@@sunknudsen 29, 100%, Sept 2021, M1 MBP. I use low power mode with lower brightness and don't charge it a lot. I also like to use coconut battery it is a great app for IOS and MacOS battery stats with temp, watts, everything, etc.

[@Adrian-fy1zx]

My m1 suddenly not working

[@TheAxeForgetsTheTreeRemembers]

My mac book pro is at 1037 cycles and the State of Charge is at 80%. This is not bad after years of letting it plugged half the time and drained to 0% the other half. The information you are giving here is at least partly available in battery settings and on apple's support wep pages. A bit over dramatic.

[@KatsushikaMatsumoto]

Air M1, 101 88%, Summer 2021

[@McFly.]

191, 85%, Dezember 2020

[@cassandraspencer1476]

Hey Sun, Love the advice you gave but your videos are a little too long. Is it possible to pre-script them and then even edit them down afterwards?

[@Q-Ball.]

77, 93%, September 2021

[@Paviste93]

103, 98%, May 2022

[@liamfarishta8409]

M1 Macbook Air 139, 97% , April 2021 i've mostly made sure that i plug my charger out before the battery reaches 80% and plug it back in before it goes below 20%.

[@that1kiN]

49 99%, August 2021

[@mls4108]

219, 88%, October 2021

[@Luis-ky7hb]

307 90%, October 2021 MacBook Pro M1

[@mattv5281]

I just looked at a M2 MBP on display in a store yesterday, and the battery indicator said something like "stopped charging because the computer is usually plugged in" and it was at 78%. But that's a computer that's on display and probably powered on literally 24/7. So it must work in some situation. It's better than not having the option at all, but even better would be to make it like Tesla where you can use a slider to tell it what percentage to charge to. My 2008 MBP was usually plugged in, and it hit 80% battery health after about a year. I think I got three free batteries out of Apple Care, and then it swelled up a few years later. These days batteries should be a bit more reliable, but it's disappointing to hear that they aren't that much better in your computer.

[@LeCyProductions]

Macbook Pro M1 220 91% Jan 2022

[@sunknudsen]

Thanks for sharing Chris.

[@peteradam4740]

178, 88%, 2021 December, M1 Max 16''

[@clothesontheground]

I keep my laptop docked 90% of the time and battery stops charging at 80% automatically (MBP M1 Max) - seems to work as designed for me, battery health 99%. I've never researched a workaround, as I've never needed to. I'm also still using an older 2012 MBP, they seem to be one of the few laptop makers that give you a 8+ year laptop, instead of replacing every 2 to 3 years. Nice