If you’re experiencing low battery life on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, the following tips should help improve your MacBook’s battery life.
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Improve MacBook battery life
In general, MacBook battery life depends on how it is used and the overall configuration of power-consuming services on the Mac.
If you constantly use WiFi and watch HD videos at full brightness, your MacBook battery will not last more than 3 to 4 hours.
Making changes to how you use MacBook and fine-tuning settings for power-hungry services on Mac can significantly improve battery life.
1. Check the battery condition
If you notice unusually poor battery life, first check the overall health of your Mac’s battery.
Just click the battery icon in the top menu bar while holding down the button possibility key on your Mac’s keyboard.
If the battery health is good, you will see normal and if something is wrong with the battery, you will see Replace soon.
2. Close open apps
The easiest way to improve battery life on your MacBook is to make a habit of closing apps that you’re not using.
If you leave the apps open, they remain active in the background, consuming resources and power even when not actively used.
To close open apps, right-click the app icon in the taskbar and click on the Stop option in the small menu that appears.
3. Disable Bluetooth
When Bluetooth is turned on on a MacBook, it constantly searches for other nearby Bluetooth devices.
Therefore, disabling Bluetooth (when it’s not required) can help improve your MacBook’s battery life.
Click on that bluetooth icon located in the top menu bar and select Turn off Bluetooth option in the drop down menu.
If necessary, you can always turn on Bluetooth on your Mac by clicking Bluetooth icon and selection Turn on Bluetooth option in the drop-down list.
4. Adjust the power saving mode
With the MacBook’s power saving feature, you can maximize energy savings and extend battery life.
1. Click on that Apple logo in the top menu bar and click system settings in the drop down menu.
2. On the System Settings screen, click energy saver.
3. On the next screen, use the slider to adjust Then turn off the display Set to a reasonable value (the lower the better).
Also activate Hibernate hard drives and Dim the display slightly options.
Note: It’s also good to turn on the Enable Power Nap option so your MacBook can periodically check for updates while it’s in sleep mode.
5. Adjust the brightness
The brighter the screen on your MacBook, the more power it uses. To prolong battery life, you should adjust the brightness to an appropriate level.
1. Click on that apple icon > system settings > To sue.
2. Disable on the next screen Adjust brightness automatically option and use the brightness control to adjust the brightness on your Mac to an appropriate level.
Note: You can also use the F1 and F2 Buttons to increase or decrease the brightness.
6. Disable the keyboard backlight
The keyboard backlight on MacBook can be helpful when working in low light conditions.
However, leaving this feature on all the time or using it for an extended period of time can affect the battery life of your MacBook.
Therefore, consider disabling the keyboard backlight when not needed. This function can be activated or deactivated with F5 key.
7. Use Safari browser
If you have Chrome browser installed on Mac, make sure to switch to Safari browser while your MacBook is running on battery power.
While Safari browser can be buggy at times, it consumes much less power compared to Chrome browser.
8. Disable dynamic desktop
The Dynamic Desktop feature automatically changes the desktop background on Mac based on the time of day.
However, this feature is known to consume battery life, and you can follow the steps below to turn off Dynamic Desktop.
1. Open system settings > click Desktop and screen saver.
2. On the next screen, click writing desk > Desktop Pictures and choose one desktop picture.
9. Reduce motion and transparency
Enabling the option to reduce transparency and reduce motion can also help you save battery life.
1. Open system settings > click Accessibility.
2. On the next screen, click advertisement in the left pane. Select in the right pane reduce movement and reduce transparency options
Note: Selecting Reduce Motion will result in loss of animations on app icons.
10. Disable location services for non-essential apps
The location service feature on Mac constantly tracks your location and this results in a decrease in battery life.
To conserve battery life, you can turn on location services for only essential apps and system services like Find My Mac and Time Zone.
1. Open system settings > click security.
2. On the next screen, click location services in the left pane. In the right pane, make sure you’re checked privacy tab and disable location services for all unnecessary ones applications and Services.
Tip: If storing the MacBook for an extended period of time, discharge the battery to 50% or charge it to 50% rather than its full capacity.
