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macOS Catalina 10.15.5 Beta Includes Battery Health Management Feature for Macs

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With macOS Catalina 10.15.5, Apple is bringing Battery Health Management features to the Mac for the first time, introducing the functionality on Macs that have Thunderbolt 3 ports.

macbookpro16inchdisplay.jpg

Apple has shared details on Battery Health Management with sites like Six Colors, TechCrunch, and The Verge, giving us a look at what to expect when macOS Catalina 10.15.5 launches to the public.

Battery Health Management is designed to extend the overall lifespan of a Mac notebook by reducing the rate of chemical aging. The feature will analyze the battery health of the laptop and its charging pattern, and in some cases, will preserve battery health by not charging a MacBook to full capacity as this can reduce battery life.

When a Mac is used plugged in and the battery is kept full for the most part, the Battery Health Management feature will kick in and it will stop short of a full charge.

Apple has been using Battery Health Management features in its iPhones for years now, and when the functionality was initially introduced, it caused an uproar as Apple was not clear about its implementation.

In iPhones, the battery management features reduce processor speed at times of peak usage to prevent an iPhone with reduced battery capacity from shutting down. The Mac feature works differently, and will instead limit charging to full in some cases.

Battery Health Management can be disabled by checking the new Battery Health Management option in the Energy Saver section of the System Preferences app once macOS Catalina 10.15.5 has been installed.

The Battery Health Management feature is new in the second macOS Catalina 10.15.5 beta and is limited to developers at the current time. It will be available to all users when macOS Catalina 10.15.5 is released.

Article Link: macOS Catalina 10.15.5 Beta Includes Battery Health Management Feature for Macs
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/16/macos-catalina-battery-health-management/
jpallarest said:
Does using a MBP plugged in the whole timed degrades battery?
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Yes, this is true for any lithium-ion batteries, not just laptops. Same for cars. You have to leave them at 80% to avoid stressing them too much.

I don't think Apple prevents full charging while plugged-in, there's a drip charge over time to maintain it at 100%. You can check with a power outlet tool to check what it does.

This may be the feature that manages it on software level to disconnect charging while plugged in, leave it at 80% instead of drip charging at 100% which may do more harm.

anshuvorty said:
It seems that might be the case....otherwise, why would Apple release such a feature now?
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My guess is since Apple's laptops already have a battery controller built in to manage this; they're likely adding ML now to the OS to manage it even more efficiently based on what they've learned from iPhones with this feature.
 
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jpallarest said:
Does using a MBP plugged in the whole timed degrades battery?
Click to expand...
Per The Verge article:

So, for example, if you’re the sort of user who tends to have their laptop plugged in nearly all the time, keeping your battery at 100 percent charge all the time is a recipe for shortening its lifespan. Apple says a variety of factors will play in to the computer’s decision to engage battery health management, including ambient temperature, processor loads, and charging patterns.

www.theverge.com

Apple is tweaking how MacBooks charge to extend battery lifespan

Battery health management is coming in Catalina 10.15.5
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
First, it assumes that one is willingly upgrading to Catalina from Mojave.
(One has to be a glutton for punishment to sink into the Catalina pit.)

Second, there is coconutBattery, which provides not just the current state of charge in mAh, but most importantly the depleted full state of charge relative to the designed battery capacity, reported in both mAh and percentage. Something that Apple refuses to do.

So, hard no -- my own opinion.
 
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Perhaps I have been lucky or the batteries were made better a few years ago. My early 2013 MBP has been plugged in for 98% of its life and the odd time I use just battery in lasts a few hours.
 
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How is better to use Mac at home ? always with charger ? and sometimes on battery ? for health of battery.
 
I would love to see an option to simply disable charging while using the laptop plugged in. That is the most helpful feature I can think of when it comes to extending the battery lifespan. Bonus points if it automatically charges at like 30% and stops around 70.
 
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I’ve had some bad experience with the “Optimised battery charging” on iOS 13 and I had to disable it, so not sure how to feel about that one, but, I guess, it’s good that more customisation options are made available.
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Kylo83 said:
I wish we had the pro mode for top performance, battery monitors doesn’t interest me
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That’s rumoured so I’m expecting it in macOS 10.16.
 
jpallarest said:
Woah. I always thought it was the opposite!
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The opposite is also true. :)

Using the battery ages it. (There's a limited amount of cycles.)
Keeping the battery at full charge ages it. (less than cycling it, though)
Running the battery completely empty also ages it.

Ideally, it's kept at like 70% charged permanently and only charged to 100% when you'll need it.
Of course that's very impractical for most people, so I wouldn't worry about it too much and just get a new battery when the time arrives.
 
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nortonandreev said:
I’ve had some bad experience with the “Optimised battery charging” on iOS 13 and I had to disable it, so not sure how to feel about that one, but, I guess, it’s good that more customisation options are made available.
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That’s rumoured so I’m expecting it in macOS 10.16.
Click to expand...

This doesn’t work quite like optimized charging on iOS. Rather than using significant locations this takes into account just your charging habits, battery temperature and the like.
 
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Understandable how the batteries work, but did plugging in a laptop just get complicated? Thought it was as simple as plug it in, it charges the battery till it hits a peak of 100% then switches over to the power cable. Might an oversimplification.

Guess they need to accommodate for when a wire is removed, and the laptop needs to switch over to a new power source?
 
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