Some macOS 12.2 Users Experiencing Bluetooth-Related Battery Drain Issue During Sleep Mode

[godsenvyusx]

Since you guys sound all tech Savvy... Ya’ll need to chill and just update to 12.3 beta in the interim. its def not happening on 12.3... Attached you can see two different 2018 MBPs, one I keep on beta, the other was in 12.2 until I realized that 12.3beta has been the fix. oh and btw...........UNIVERSAL CONTROL IS BEASTTTTTT MODE! bye....

 

[3460169]

Dear MR Editors,

Consider tweaking the title of the article and description to reflect that this is a computer sleeping issue due to bluetoothd, that affects portables and desktops alike. One nasty side effect of this, if the computer happens to be a portable (e.g. laptop) and is unplugged, is that the battery will drained. It'll also cause other external devices to spin up and down as the computer cycles between sleep and darkwakes.

Here's hoping 12.3 indeed fixes this...

 

[minik]

I tend to switch off the Magic Mouse and keyboard before closing the MacBook Pro lid.

 

[Jonas07]

“Behaving like Windows”. What a child. Owned Windows PCs my entire life. Never had this issue.

Maybe, it’s “Behaving like a Mac!”

Cue down votes from fanboys.

Windows is just better these days; reliable, less bugs, and it works with everything with an USB.

 

[netsped]

Happened to me today, prepared some stuff yesterday for a meeting today and today at the meeting the battery was dead and my charger was at home. Luckily the other person had a 13" MBP so at least my 16" MBP was able to turn on while plugged in with it's smaller charger.

Had a mini heart attack for sure while I figured out what was the issue.

 

[wlow3]

Today I tried to wake my iMac with the wireless keyboard. Nothing. Thought there might have been a power outage. I pressed the button on the back to "restart" it and it instantly woke. The wireless trackpad and keyboard still would not work. I plugged both in thinking the respective batteries were depleted. While plugged in, they worked normally but under the bluetooth menu they showed up blue, then grey, then they would disappear. I restarted the iMac and now they work normally though it appears they were very low in battery.

I think that not only does something with bluetooth peripherals cause a laptop to drain, but the peripherals themselves also drain.

 

[creativesmith]

Today I tried to wake my iMac with the wireless keyboard. Nothing. Thought there might have been a power outage. I pressed the button on the back to "restart" it and it instantly woke. The wireless trackpad and keyboard still would not work. I plugged both in thinking the respective batteries were depleted. While plugged in, they worked normally but under the bluetooth menu they showed up blue, then grey, then they would disappear. I restarted the iMac and now they work normally though it appears they were very low in battery.

I think that not only does something with bluetooth peripherals cause a laptop to drain, but the peripherals themselves also drain.

I'm noticing a precipitous drain of our Magic Keyboard battery along with that of our MBP. Ugh.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

“Behaving like Windows”. What a child. Owned Windows PCs my entire life. Never had this issue.

Maybe, it’s “Behaving like a Mac!”

Cue down votes from fanboys.

ikr,at least windows let you set sleep options better than macOS interface does

 

[Wackery]

Today I tried to wake my iMac with the wireless keyboard. Nothing. Thought there might have been a power outage. I pressed the button on the back to "restart" it and it instantly woke. The wireless trackpad and keyboard still would not work. I plugged both in thinking the respective batteries were depleted. While plugged in, they worked normally but under the bluetooth menu they showed up blue, then grey, then they would disappear. I restarted the iMac and now they work normally though it appears they were very low in battery.

I think that not only does something with bluetooth peripherals cause a laptop to drain, but the peripherals themselves also drain.

Waking from bluetooth accessories for me and my m1 air is always slow, usually need to press the keyboard or trackpad maybe 20 times (or what feels like 20 times) before it actually wakes from sleep

 

[steve123]

Since you guys sound all tech Savvy... Ya’ll need to chill and just update to 12.3 beta in the interim. its def not happening on 12.3... Attached you can see two different 2018 MBPs, one I keep on beta, the other was in 12.2 until I realized that 12.3beta has been the fix. oh and btw...........UNIVERSAL CONTROL IS BEASTTTTTT MODE! bye....

Can you please check the System Firmware Version on both laptops? I would like to know if there was a firmware update with 12.3. The version info can be viewed here: About this Mac -> System Report -> Hardware Overview.

 

[Mrjoedot]

There is such a thing? Never had any battery issue. Draining too slow that expected here

 

[robinp]

I’ve Screentime off and literally nothing is running in the background. I've even reset the phone and installed the latest iOS and with every connection, plus background updates and location services off I still get like a 50% drain. The battery is at 93%. It started behaving like this when I upgraded to iOS 15.

Do you use any HomeKit devices?

 

[creativesmith]

Can you please check the System Firmware Version on both laptops? I would like to know if there was a firmware update with 12.3. The version info can be viewed here: About this Mac -> System Report -> Hardware Overview.

FWIW 447.80.3.0.0

 

[Alwis]

These workaround solutions are of course welcome, but they don’t help when you actually need a Bluetooth device to wake your computer.

If your devices can be switched off, you can switch them off after putting your computer to sleep and switch them on again before waking the MacBook up. At least this works for my iMac.

 

[Jim Lahey]

If your devices can be switched off, you can switch them off after putting your computer to sleep and switch them on again before waking the MacBook up. At least this works for my iMac.

Interesting. Thanks, I’ll have to try that, although it remains to be seen if it prevents the computer waking of its own accord.

 

[Ron_E21]

Apple Support advice was to power my MBP off at end of day. I just said huh.
The best was when support remotely connected and had me run diagnostics my M1 didn’t provide results remotely back to support and support was left scratching their head why it didn’t.

Don’t hold you breath that Apple is working on a solution.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Apple Support advice was to power my MBP off at end of day. I just said huh.
The best was when support remotely connected and had me run diagnostics my M1 didn’t provide results remotely back to support and support was left scratching their head why it didn’t.

Don’t hold you breath that Apple is working on a solution.

Right. So to get your Mac to sleep when you want it to sleep, turn it off. Problem solved ?

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Yeah, I would certainly agree that Apple needs to work on their software stability. What can we do, eh. Apple is suffering from the same ills that afflict nearly all big corporations.

About the iPad thing, like I said, Tim would have a fearsome time in the Mail app on the iPad without using rules. iPad does not and has never supported custom Mail rules, unfortunately, which he would absolutely need to categorize and weed through the thousands of e-mails he must get from departments and customers all over the world. I don't think he'd waste his time using Mail very much on an iPad for that. (Apple might have a server-side solution that automatically marks and delivers e-mails for this purpose, but it seems more likely to me that they actually use Mail rules and perhaps an AppleScript solution.)

We do see him using both an iPad and an iMac in this YouTube video (see the 2:05 mark):

Tim Cook would most definitely have a PA filtering and categorising his emails for him, he doesn't need any custom mail rules.

That vid shows a still of Cook in front of a Mac (but using an iPad), but that doesn't mean it's a real shot of him at his desk. In fact, if you look at the background, do you really think that's Timmy's actual desk? Strangely claustrophobic for the CEO if so. However, I agree that it would be weird for him to only use an iPad, I'm just saying that I read a quote of him saying no one needs anything more than an iPad. Maybe that quote was pure marketing (which would be a weird way to market Macs). Regardless, software quality at Apple absolutely sux.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Regardless, software quality at Apple absolutely sux.

Difficult to disagree with that. It’s not a perfect world, and software is a complex business, but the quality of their releases is going downhill fast. They march on with new features while leaving a trail of bugs behind them. Many of which never, ever get fixed.

 

[steve123]

FWIW 447.80.3.0.0

Thank you, that confirms that there was a firmware update between 12.1 and 12.3 (I have 12.1 installed and the firmware version is 429.60.3.0.0). Now trying to confirm if the firmware updated in 12.3.

 

[akmedia]

Seems to me that it is the intersection between Bluetooth and WiFi that is the problem: Handoff.

My Mac mini M1 falls asleep somewhat reliably running macOS 12.2 (not as reliably as 12.1) but wakes up constantly when using features that take advantage of Handoff on other devices (iMessage, for instance on my iPad, iPhone or MacBook Air) that are signed into the same Apple ID and have Handoff enabled. When not using the other devices — the iPad or iPhone or MacBook Air — the Mac mini seems to stay asleep. Strangely, this hasn’t been an issue on my MacBook Air (Late 2015) with Handoff enabled. No insomnia or battery drain there.

I will try testing this theory by disabling Handoff completely on my Mac mini, though sleep was greatly improved by toggling Handoff off and on.

On a slightly different issue, battery life on my iPhone improved only after a hard restart, which stopped some processes from draining my battery, namely Apple Music and HomeKit accessories.

 

[MrGIS]

It appears this is the culprit since I installed 12.2. My battery dies when I close my MacBook lid expecting it to go to sleep. When I come back several hours later the battery is dead.

 

[jchap]

That vid shows a still of Cook in front of a Mac (but using an iPad), but that doesn't mean it's a real shot of him at his desk. In fact, if you look at the background, do you really think that's Timmy's actual desk? Strangely claustrophobic for the CEO if so. However, I agree that it would be weird for him to only use an iPad, I'm just saying that I read a quote of him saying no one needs anything more than an iPad. Maybe that quote was pure marketing (which would be a weird way to market Macs). Regardless, software quality at Apple absolutely sux.

Yes... Tim Cook aside, this conversation actually makes me want to read one of the Steve Jobs biographies that are out there. I'd like to learn more about his product- and innovation-oriented focus. Apple wouldn't be where it is now without his influence. It seems like Apple has really lost something over the years since Jobs passed.

Have you or anyone else here read any of Jobs' biographies? Which would you recommend, as a good source of learning about his mindset and focus while at Apple? I knew that he was often a hardass and had a lot of people problems and conflicts as well, but I think there's something to be learned even now from the way he did things. Perhaps Apple should take a step back and review their current software and hardware development processes as well from the customer-focused standpoint that Jobs seemed to have.

 

[johnnytravels]

Do you use any HomeKit devices?

Nope that’s also off. The device is completely reset to factory settings and without any connections to cellular, wifi, bluetooth and GPS.

 

[Sing Kwok]

My MBP 15 (2018) has the same issue