macOS Big Sur battery drain issue

Same issue after upgrading to Sur on my 2017 MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM. Apple MacOS Sur ruined my laptop. All was fine with Catalina. Downgraded and the issues now exist on Sierra(base) and Catalina and Sur again.

Oracularguy wrote:

Same issue after upgrading to Sur on my 2017 MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM. …

Same issue, same solution.

Unfortunately, since the cause is third-party software interaction—particularly from software that simply wasn’t ready for such a major Operating System (OS) upgrade—the solution is about as varied as the variety of third-party software, and other devices upon our Macs.

All was fine with Catalina. …

That was simply because the third-party software was designed for Catalina. Similarly for any third-party hardware on your Mac.

… Downgraded and the issues now exist on Sierra(base) and Catalina and Sur again.

So, even Downgrading to Sierra or Catalina continued to have High Energy use?

(Hopefully, this is not indicative of a hardware issue! We all hope not!)

However, even without a hardware issue, as I’ve indicated elsewhere, in this Discussion, that is not completely unexpected, since, now, all your files are just as new to these former OSs as they were to Big Sur: it will take a bit of time (a day or two, or more, depending upon how many files you have) to reanalyze, reindex, recache, etc., the “new” (to the OS) files.

Without a hardware issue, however, this should “settle down” within a few days. (I am assuming you didn’t carry over any software upgrades for Big Sur that are incompatible with the older OSs.)

I also did a clean install of Sur from an external flash drive. The Sur upgrade has messed up my hardware that was working all well with Catalina. The hardware (believe firmware) mess has been transferred to the core system level now, I presume. No slots available even nearby(Augusta, Charlotte, Charleston) to take the MacBook Pro in for service or to be looked at. This is probably my first and last MacBook. Audio issues with Bluetooth headphones including AirPod pro, Q35 II, Logitech mouse and keyboard (using the Unifyer now, yet mouse is jumping). On its own without external connected devices, Sur works well. Also, battery is toast today as I got the message, no longer charging.

Oracularguy wrote:

I also did a clean install of Sur from an external flash drive. The Sur upgrade has messed up my hardware that was working all well with Catalina. The hardware (believe firmware) mess has been transferred to the core system level now, I presume. No slots available even nearby(Augusta, Charlotte, Charleston) to take the MacBook Pro in for service or to be looked at. This is probably my first and last MacBook. Audio issues with Bluetooth headphones including AirPod pro, Q35 II, Logitech mouse and keyboard (using the Unifyer now, yet mouse is jumping). On its own without external connected devices, Sur works well. Also, battery is toast today as I got the message, no longer charging.

Odd bit of seemingly contradictory information, there.

You say you «did a clean install of [Big] Sur from an external flash drive.»

Was that an install to a completely wiped drive? Or are you using the term «clean install» to mean something else?

You then say «The [Big] Sur upgrade has messed up my[your] hardware».

What hardware?

Your «2017 MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM», or some other hardware attached to that MacBook?

How was it «messed up»?

Did you ever run Big Sur on your «2017 MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM», to evaluate it, before your various, previous software and hardware was reinstalled?

You wrote «On its own without external connected devices, [Big] Sur works well.»

That seems to suggest you ran something like such a test, at least without the third-party hardware.

Is that correct?

(Note: Installation of third-party hardware, quite often, involves third-party driver software, at least. Note, also, that if you attached the third-part hardware beforehand, on Big Sur, the drivers could already have been installed, even when you were running without the attached hardware).

I’m sorry to hear that your system has given you some sort of message about your MacBook «no longer charging.»

Depending on some other details, this may not be that your «battery is toast».

I’m also sorry you are having trouble getting your MacBook looked at.

We, your fellow users, are still here, and willing to help, if you wish.

A month later, I'm still 5 hours lower battery life on my 16" MBP (12 hrs Catalina vs 7 hrs Big Sur).

If I don't run Chrome, I get about 8.5-9.5 hrs.

No word from Apple, possibly because Halliday attacks everyone on this forum if they speak up about a potential problem.

If you're still having battery issues with Big Sur, please post, and put "Silenced by Halliday" if you have been told your problem is just "normal 1-2 days of indexing"... This forum needs order and control, not censorship.

Update: After a few trips to apple Genius Bar, a full firmware reset, and lot of documentation of the battery drain (photos of activity monitor throughout usage) the techs have no idea and have agreed to replace the battery even though the battery passes all tests conducted at the genius bar. I'll update if the battery replacement fixes the issue but I'm unsure that it will, I have a fairly new 2019 MacBook (less than one year), and the issue seems almost certainly from the Big Sur. @Halliday I'm not quite sure why your on the deference about how apple would not put about such a software, the issue is evident from the amount of comments here and although it may apply to some cases cannot be from indexing or a third party software alone. In my case this is almost certainly from the update since all other causes were ruled out (battery is function even though they will replace it, computer was wiped and firmware was reset), issue still persists. Currently running less than an hour of battery life per charge.

AnApple_A_Day wrote:

Update: After a few trips to apple Genius Bar, a full firmware reset, and lot of documentation of the battery drain (photos of activity monitor throughout usage) the techs have no idea and have agreed to replace the battery even though the battery passes all tests conducted at the genius bar. I'll update if the battery replacement fixes the issue but I'm unsure that it will, I have a fairly new 2019 MacBook (less than one year), and the issue seems almost certainly from the Big Sur.

I hope for your best!

While there can be hardware issues with batteries (internal shorts, though I would expect such to show up on hardware tests), I would net expect a battery replacement to make much of a change in other cases.

@Halliday I'm not quite sure why your on the deference about how apple would not put about such a software, the issue is evident from the amount of comments here and although it may apply to some cases cannot be from indexing or a third party software alone. In my case this is almost certainly from the update since all other causes were ruled out (battery is function even though they will replace it, computer was wiped and firmware was reset), issue still persists. Currently running less than an hour of battery life per charge.

(Emphasis added)

(Since «amount of comments here» is but a tiny fraction of those that have had not trouble with Big Sur, your desired conclusion is unsupported. This is to say nothing of the extensive Alpha and Beta testing that preceded the release of Big Sur.)

You say «all other causes were ruled out», and that your «computer was wiped».

Was this «computer … wipe» followed by an install of Big Sur on the fully wiped Mac, with no migration of third-party hardware and/or software? Then testing this purely Big Sur system?

That would be a wise check.

Once third-party hardware and/or software is added to the mix, one no longer has a clean install test!

This is the closest thing to the principle tests of Big Sur (and previous macOSs).

Was Big Sur version 11.1 used in this clean Big Sur install? (This version has shown some benefit to otherwise “crippled” 2013–2014 MacBook Pros: well, for those without hardware issues.)

Same Issue.

Called technical support first. The technician spent 2 or 3 hours trying to help me out, but failed. The laptop passed all tests and no issue was found. The technician suggested to visit Apple store.

I made an appointment and sent MBP2018 to Apple store and they asked me to replace the battery since refused to acknowledge this is a software issue. I explained the issue happened after the upgrade to Big Sur, and requested for a downgrade to previous OS. They declined and saying they can't do it, which I don't believe.

It was very horrible experience. Very disappointed at Apple for not taking the responsibility.

Here, in Mumbai, India, two Apple service centres offered to downgrade the MacOS to lower versions; even all the way to High Sierra; my earlier version. The problem, they warned, is that when we transfer all our backed-up data from the external drive back to our MBP, the Big Sur upgrade again comes back, as that's the version I had taken my latest back-up through Time Machine. It's very complicated.

I was so jarred by the Big Sur upgrade and the resultant trauma, that I didn't want to experiment further. As it is during the pandemic, many of us are working from home and we have to rely on our own personal laptops. So they've got to be running in tip-top shape. Apple, unfortunately, didn't help as it chose to release it's horrible MacOs this pandemic in 2020.

The Geniuses at the Apple stores are just Lego block builders adding/removing/replacing hardware and some instructions from Apple Cupertino based troubleshooting. This problem with Sur needs to be addressed in Cupertino. They shamelessly released a bug ridden product just to get away from the intel chips and introduce the AirPod Max. If your mackbook is working without external peripherals continue to do so until Apple fixes all issues in subsequent major updates which may not be until June 2020.

I have this problem too but its even worse. it says battery capacity significantly reduced and when I click it says I need an immediate service and new battery. When I last looked at my battery health it was over 98%

Hi

I had the same issue after upgrade from Catalina to Big Sur, after read a lot of information and tried some advices, my macbook pro mid 2014 is running ver well with big sur, first a saw in the activity monitor the process "secd" was consuming the 170% of the cpu and other processes too, the fans were running really fast a doing a lot of noise and ny computer gets too hot. I read in other community sorry I don't remember what community, that in some cases you just have to log out your apple ID, restart your computer and log in your apple ID again. That was the solution for me, at least by now.

This was really easy, if you get another way to solve this issue, please post it.

Welcome, ByronBorja, to Apple Support Communities!

That’s interesting that «log[ging] out [of] your apple ID, restart[ing] your computer and log[ging back] in [to] your apple ID again» worked for you.

I hadn’t heard of that one, before.

However, I have seen cases where the principle “errant” background processes seemed to be Apple processes involved in various communications and syncing services.

Your solution sounds like it would likely fit such cases!

I can confirm having the same problem on a Macbook Pro 2018 13inch!

The change seemed to happen from one day onto the next and I wasn't sure what caused it, but turns out, it was shortly after updating to BigSur.

I hardly get 3 hours of use on battery now! That's absurd for a 2,500 EURO machine that is only 2 years old and is rated for 1000 charge cycles of which not even at half are used.

Apple needs to acknowledge this issue and solve the problem!

I'm seeing a similar issue with my Macbook Pro 15" (2015 model). I recently changed my battery because the original one got swollen and was seeing decent battery life while on Catalina.

After updating to Big Sur the charge of the battery dropped from 99% to 89% and battery life dropped significantly. I decided to revert back to Catalina and the issue still persists - I suspect that the upgrade to Big Sur installed a faulty firmware that messes up the battery.