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Apple Explains Why You Might See 'Not Charging' When a Mac is Plugged In

It uses some "artificial intelligence" to learn your usage habits. I dont trust it to work well. Atleast, not in its first iteration. Maybe over time it will get better. I have switched it off.
 
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samelot628 said:
Agree. Maybe it should just say "Charging paused" to distinguish from other states when there is an issue with the battery or charger.
Click to expand...
This makes a lot of sense. “Paused” would show its intentionality. I saw “Not Charging” on my MacBook Air and thought something was up with the Anker charger I was using.
 
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zorinlynx said:
Some people tend to use their Macbooks at their desk all day, every day, only occasionally taking it out and about and using the battery. Is this feature smart enough to leave those Macbooks at 80-85% all the time?
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Just the other day, my MBA was hovering around 98% charge, even though it had been plugged in since the night before. I unplugged it to do some website work and when I plugged it back in, the machine charged up to 100% like normal. I have been using this machine off battery with some regularity over the last couple of weeks, so it may not need to drop into that calibration mode as often (or maybe it has to calibrate more often - who knows?).
 
Tagbert said:
I wish that they would offer this on older models. I just had to have my MBP 2014 batter replaced for the second time. It sits on the desk plugged in all the time. I’ve tried to unplug it now and then but it’s hard to remember to plug it back in. Would love to be able to tell it to never charge about 80% Until further notice.
Click to expand...

Check out the Al Dente app. Currently using it to set a charging limit on my Early 2015 retina.
 
This is not consistent with what the iPhone shows when it pauses charging at 80%.

The phone will look like it's charging , icon will have a bolt, etc but it will stay at 80%. Why can't apple do exactly the same on the Mac? Why make it look like there is a fault?
 
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I have the issue of "not charging" a lot of times, i though my macbook 15'' 2018 was getting defective. In my case i put the cable, i dont realize is NOT charging, and then it drops to 2-5% and then i realise laptop is working super slow, so then i unplug and plug the cable. Other times it drops to 0% ****ing me up in the middle of a working day. So in my case, it doesn't keep 20% to 80%, it really drops to 0. If this is a feature, it is the worst experience, as it is not explained and doesn't protect the laptop and me from being at 0% in the middle of a work videoconference....

I will switch off this "feature".
 
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uofawildcats96 said:
I'd rather it just said it was charging; the vast majority of the world who doesn't read Apple support articles will probably just unplug and replug back in their cable to try to fix it, defeating the purpose of Battery Health Management.
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Fair point, it’s not “not charging”, it’s just going through normal charging cycle and management.
Myself, if I were not a mac rumors lurker, would have totally missed this article and found myself plugging/unplugging in the future... maybe later searching online something like “Mac not charging issue”.
 
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zorinlynx said:
Some people tend to use their Macbooks at their desk all day, every day, only occasionally taking it out and about and using the battery. Is this feature smart enough to leave those Macbooks at 80-85% all the time?
Click to expand...
Maybe if it fully charges it before use time it’s not as bad as the MacBook wasn’t left there idling or off at 100% battery for long periods without use.
 
B4U said:
It is getting too confusing.
Plugged in, but does not mean it is charging.
Same with the iPhone control center's WiFi settings. Turning it off does not mean it is actually turned off. 😓
Why, Apple...Why??
Click to expand...
Apple: we are far smarter than you. Listen to us experts and stop thinking.
 
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bartszyszka said:
How low can this get? I have a non-Apple USB-C cable and thought something was wrong with it when I saw this happening. Seems like it wouldn't be ideal if it decided to dip low for someone about to do some traveling and needing their laptop charged to the max.
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With Tim focusing more on money than UX, I bet this was by design, so people run to the store buying Apple’s luxury cables.
 
- As much as I like Apple Products, it always feels like Apple covers up flaws as a “Feature”. This is a “Feature”, that’s a “Feature”. It feels sketchy.
 
Ikertxo40 said:
I have the issue of "not charging" a lot of times, i though my macbook 15'' 2018 was getting defective. In my case i put the cable, i dont realize is NOT charging, and then it drops to 2-5% and then i realise laptop is working super slow, so then i unplug and plug the cable. Other times it drops to 0% ****ing me up in the middle of a working day. So in my case, it doesn't keep 20% to 80%, it really drops to 0. If this is a feature, it is the worst experience, as it is not explained and doesn't protect the laptop and me from being at 0% in the middle of a work videoconference....

I will switch off this "feature".
Click to expand...
I’ve got the same problem with my 2017 15” MBP. It will say ‘plugged in not charging’ and power source as ‘power adaptor’ but the battery will slowly run down until it gets to 0% and shuts down. In the last few % points the laptop runs really slow.
 
They should of had it say "not charging due to calibration" or "or not charging (calibrating)" because I imagine a lot of people will be confused by this.
 
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zorinlynx said:
Some people tend to use their Macbooks at their desk all day, every day, only occasionally taking it out and about and using the battery. Is this feature smart enough to leave those Macbooks at 80-85% all the time?
Click to expand...

This isn't as big a deal as people have lead you to believe. I use my MacBook Pro plugged in on my desk for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I use it on battery power maybe once every 2 to 3 months, if I have to do something on a weekend that I can't do on my phone. So the battery sits at 100% almost all of the time.

This computer is 7 years old, with 323 charge cycles, and 90% capacity. Under the "worst case" conditions for battery health, it's only lost 10% capacity across it's entire lifespan (it's replacement arrives today, coincidentally). So don't worry about it so much.
 
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samelot628 said:
Agree. Maybe it should just say "Charging paused" to distinguish from other states when there is an issue with the battery or charger.
Click to expand...

I agree with this proposed UX change. "Not charging" gives the sense that something is wrong or not working. In addition, Apple could elaborate on this in the Energy Saver preference panel.

I actually like this battery management feature. They just need to communicate it better. [This is oddly reminiscent of the way they handled "throttlegate"…]
 
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Wish they did this for Music apps. Very tired of pushing bluetooth play and Apple music opens instead of Spotify. I do have both but much prefer Spotify.
 
Zeus65 said:
Wish they did this for Music apps. Very tired of pushing bluetooth play and Apple music opens instead of Spotify. I do have both but much prefer Spotify.
Click to expand...
Right click on one of your music files, then use the menu option that allows you to select the default application used to open the file.
 
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