Even though MacBooks offer excellent battery life out of the box, battery performance will degrade over time. Theres not a lot you can do about this, it’s just a natural part of owning any rechargeable device in the modern age.
As your MacBook battery starts to wane over time, here are a few ways that can help you increase how long it lasts.
15
Lower the Screen Brightness
Your MacBook’s screen plays a crucial role in determining how long its battery will last. The brighter your MacBook’s screen, the higher the power it draws from the battery to maintain the intensity, accelerating the battery depletion.
Setting the screen brightness to more than 50% will significantly reduce the overall battery life. Therefore, lowering the screen brightness is one of the easiest and most effective ways to boost your MacBook’s battery life.
If you want your MacBook to last as long as possible or you’re running out of charge and have an important email to respond to, consider dimming the screen as low as possible. You can use the keyboard shortcuts (the F1 and F2 keys) to decrease/increase the brightness.
You can also go to the menu bar, click on the screen icon, and then use the slider to adjust the screen brightness.
14
Decrease the Screen Timeout
To maximize battery life, don’t use a screen saver on your MacBook as it keeps the display active and constantly draws power from the battery. Further, set the screen timeout to the least possible duration. If you ask me, I keep my screen timeout at one minute.
To change these settings, head to Settings > Lock Screen. Now, select “Never” in the drop-down menu next to “Start Screen Saver when inactive.”
Next, select “For 1 minute” from the “Turn display off on battery when inactive” menu.
13
Turn Off the Keyboard Backlights
Like the screen, your MacBook’s keyboard backlighting also draws energy from the battery. While the backlights surely help a new user figure out the position of the keys, especially when using the MacBook in a poorly lit room or at night, they are of little to no use to experienced users.
Based on your dependence on the keyboard backlighting, I recommend either dimming them to the lowest possible level or turning them off entirely. To adjust the backlighting intensity, head to Settings > Keyboard and use the “Keyboard brightness” slider.
12
Turn Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
When you’re not using wireless connectivity features like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, consider turning them off. While the former keeps scanning for available networks, the latter looks for other Bluetooth-based devices nearby. In the process, the features keep eating your MacBook battery bit by bit.
You might argue that continuity features like Handoff, Universal Clipboard, and automatic switching for AirPods require Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to remain on, and that’s correct. However, turning Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off should provide the battery life boost you need if you’re down to the last few minutes of usage.
Go to the menu bar, click the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth buttons, and switch the wireless connections off.
11
Don’t Enable Location Unless Necessary
When enabled, location services keep running in the background to determine your MacBook’s position, and like any other active process, the feature adds to the battery consumption.
I know that location services could be useful, especially when you’re traveling with your MacBook and want to keep tabs on it via the Find My app, but what about when you’re at home? Do you need location services to track you all the time?
If you answer no, consider turning the location services off. It will not only help you extend your MacBook’s battery life but also save you from the unnecessary tracking used for personalized ads and recommendations.
To disable location services on your MacBook, head to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, and click on the toggle.
10
Prevent Apps From Opening Automatically at Startup
Usually, an app doesn’t open unless you click on it, but a few apps gain special permission to open when you boot up and start consuming your MacBook’s resources (including the memory and battery).
If the app is of no use to you, go to the Settings > General > Login Items, and “Open at Login” menu, select the app, and click on the minus button underneath the menu.
If the app doesn’t show here but still opens on its own, go through the in-app settings. Look for and turn off any settings that allow it to execute independently.
9
Enable Low Power Mode
The battery saver mode, or Low Power Mode (as Apple calls it), is one of the most straightforward MacBook settings to boost battery life.
The feature conserves battery life by making several tweaks, like lowering screen brightness and limiting peak system performance. In macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later, the Low Power Mode also reduces fan noise for silent environments, like a library or a meeting room.
To enable Low Power Mode on your MacBook, go to Settings > Battery and click on the drop-down as shown in the screenshot. If you’re using an old MacBook with reduced battery health (less than 80%), consider setting the Low Power Mode to “Always.”
Otherwise, you can set it to “Only on Battery,” which saves energy when your MacBook isn’t plugged into the charger.
In addition to enabling the Low Power Mode, you should also refrain from using the High Power Mode (available on MacBook Pro models) unless necessary (as it increases battery consumption to make room for more demanding workflows).
Aside from Low Power Mode, a couple of other battery-related settings can help you get more usage time from your MacBook.
If you don’t want to use Low Power Mode as it limits the system’s performance, you can enable other power-saving settings. To start, go to Settings > Battery > Options and enable the toggle beside “Slightly dim the display on battery.”
You can also enable the “Optimize video streaming while on battery” in the same menu. This swaps high-dynamic range (HDR) content (which requires more power) with standard dynamic range (SDR).
7
Enable Optimized Battery Charging
There’s another setting that doesn’t help improve the battery life immediately but preserves the battery’s health in the long term: Optimized Battery Charging. Similar to what it does on an iPhone, the feature learns from your usage pattern and delays charging over 80% until you generally use it on the battery.
6
Close Apps When They’re Not in Use
This is not as much a setting as a habit that will help you make your MacBook last longer between charges, and that’s quitting (and not minimizing) apps you’re no longer using. Users might forget to close the apps they’re not using actively and switch to other apps on another full-screen workspace. However, the apps hog the system resources, including the battery.
Hence, you should always quit apps with the Command+Q keyboard shortcut. If there’s a dot below the app’s icon in the Dock, right-click on it and select the “Quit” option at the bottom.
You can also use the Activity Monitor to find the apps that use the most energy, select them, and press the cross button to close them.
5
Disconnect Peripherals After Use
If you frequently use an accessory like an external SSD, a wired input device, or an external monitor, disconnect the device when you’re done.
Since these devices rely on your MacBook being awake (even the external monitor to an extent, as it requires video transmission via cable and engages the GPU), they’ll keep consuming the battery even if you’re not using them.
4
Keep Your MacBook’s Temperature Under Control
The MacBook Air models don’t have an active cooling mechanism. As a result, they tend to heat up faster than the MacBook Pro models with either one or two cooling fans. Heat is bad for batteries in general, and if you have a MacBook Pro then you’ll be expending energy on the fan.
A MacBook Air isn’t as battery-efficient at higher temperatures like it is under cooler conditions. Avoid using your MacBook under direct sunlight or in a hot environment to prevent it from reaching higher temperatures.
If you’re using an older MacBook and it heats a lot, consider purchasing a laptop stand with active airflow for cooling.
3
Plug in Your MacBook While Charging Devices
Charging your iPhone, AirPods, or Apple Watch from your MacBook is convenient (especially since it has a massive battery), don’t make it a habit when using battery power. Regularly charging your devices with your MacBook can accelerate the battery’s degradation, increasing the time the battery stays under tension.
One tip Apple mentions on its official support page for maximizing the battery life and lifespan is to plug in and power on your MacBook while charging other devices. Otherwise, charging other devices will eat your MacBook’s battery and increase the charge cycles.
2
Restart Your MacBook Regularly
It might seem like a redundant fix that finds its way to every MacBook troubleshooting guide, but restarting the device can help with more problems than one. Rebooting your MacBook restores all the system services to their default settings, the ones at which the MacBook is supposed to work fine.
The process clears a MacBook’s RAM (by terminating the battery-draining processes), resolves minor software glitches, reloads the macOS, and reinitializes the hardware components, among other things, bringing it back to a battery-efficient state.
To restart your MacBook, click on the Apple menu at the top left and select Restart.
1
Download and Install the Latest macOS
Apple keeps pushing macOS updates, and every release contains some or the other refinements that may directly or indirectly contribute to a MacBook’s efficiency. These could include power management optimizations and bug fixes related to battery drain issues.
Even otherwise, it is a good practice to stay updated with macOS releases, as they often contain new features and security patches. To check for updates, head to Settings > General > Software Update. If there’s a newer macOS version, consider downloading and installing it.
There you go. Now, you know plenty of battery-saving techniques for your MacBook to last longer between charges. Check out the other differences between a MacBook Air and a Pro here. Thinking about getting the latest M4 MacBook Air? Check out our review of the device here.
