I hope this is the right place for my question my MacBook Air was bought in 2017 I seem to be having to charge my battery a lot any suggestions on how I can improve my battery life ?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Battery draining
- Thread starter Davycrocket825
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
What do you mean by cycles ? I only use my Mac for usual stuff I'm a light user I don't do big downloads
Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops - Apple Support
Learn how to determine the number of cycles your Mac laptop's battery has.
This explains.
Health Information:Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops - Apple Support
Learn how to determine the number of cycles your Mac laptop's battery has.support.apple.com
This explains.
Cycle Count: 125
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 3289
Voltage (mV): 845
[automerge]1601568299[/automerge]
is this what you mean ?
I would try calibrating the battery. All you have to do is drain it to the point that it turns itself off. Then charge it non-stop for 6 hours, letting it sit charging even when full.
If that doesn't help anything, then you should take it in for service. 150 cycles is very very low, and you shouldn't be having any such issues. And it need to stay off while you calibrate it.
If that doesn't help anything, then you should take it in for service. 150 cycles is very very low, and you shouldn't be having any such issues. And it need to stay off while you calibrate it.
Last edited:
Yes, as others said you shouldn’t be having an issue with the cycle count that low. If I remember correctly MacBook batteries are typically good for 1000 cycles so you’ve barely scratched the surface.
You can take it in to get it checked out but we might be able to narrow it down further before you do.
What apps exactly do you use most often? Web browsing is light usage but there’s a big difference in battery performance depending upon whether you use Chrome or Safari, for example. It could be that an app you use is a battery drain.
Also, I concur with the above post. Try calibrating it too.
What web browser do you use and how much are you using it during the day?
I was recently in a meeting, taking notes on my 2017 MBA (bought new last year, battery cycle count=18) in a Google Docs file in Google Chrome and my battery dropped 20% in 2 hours and the uBlock Origins adblocker was reporting over 1000 ads blocked during that time.
I used to experience that type of behavior with my 2014 11" MBA and got into the habit of using Safari. But since then, I'd been using a chromebook and got into the habit of using Chrome. Looks like I'll need to go back to Safari (or perhaps Brave).
Apple should realize that people use laptops or MacBook primarily for internet browsing. I saw many posts saying that wi-fi and browsing causes faster battery drain in MacBook. Does that mean I should use other laptops for work and MacBook only for watching movies and all? When will Apple fix this issue with Safari and Wi-Fi which eats battery like a demon?
It is a short-sighted thinking from the technology giant!
It is a short-sighted thinking from the technology giant!
I started turning off my bluetooth last week when not using it. I don't use it often.. I believe that has saved quite a bit of battery. I only use BT speakers or EarPods once in a while. If you use BT mouse/keyboard a lot, that can really drain it. I think since late Mojave, or Catalina, Apple has been having Mac and iPhone doing more in background with it than necessary, as well as other things. I think Airplay and Handoff have something to do with it. I turned that off as well. Sad we have to disable some features to get back performance we used to have. More features=more battery.. Just the way it goes. I have a feeling that eventually, with Apple silicon, battery life may get better on new Macs as long as they keep battery capacities up and not shrink them, but then of course, you still have the inability of upgrading SSD or memory yourself later.. I so wish I could put another 8gb of memory in this Air..but at least I did put a 2TB NVMe SSD in it(which uses a tad bit more battery than original).. I've got space for several more years now.If you can turn of BT and Handoff and not impact your use case for it, try that for a while and see if it helps.