macOS Big Sur battery drain issue

Hi all,

I've been having the same issue with my MacBook Pro 2015, but at least found a way to stop the battery drain over night.

Generally, it seems like the Big Sur installer wiped all Power Saving settings which I defined a few years ago (other OSX upgrades did NOT do this).

After setting hibernate mode back to 25, my MacBook hardly loses battery power in Standby mode anymore (only 1-2% per night). Only drawback is a slightly enhance wakeup time (additional 1-2 seconds) compared to hibenate mode 3, but that's fine for me.

This is the command I used to change the mode:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25

And this is how you can check your current settings:

pmset -g

But what's still left is that the battery lasts a lot less with Big Sur when the MacBook is actually being used. It's now 2-3 hours with Big Sur instead of 6-8 before in Catalina. This is still very annoying.

Hopefully, Apple can find a fix for this.

paomug67 wrote:

The same for me. ...

By the way on my iPad I have a LOT of third parts app and the "iPad version" of Big Sur: the battery last more than 12 hours!!

That is the proof that the problem is Big Sur, not third part software ...

There is no «"iPad version" of Big Sur».

Additionally, there are significant distinctions between how iPad (and iPhone) Apps are written, such that they have far fewer issues with iPadOS (and iOS) upgrades.

Hence, your iPad experience has no bearing upon macOS experiences.

The only relevant test of purely Big Sur on Macs is to wipe the Mac’s drive, install a pristine copy of Big Sur—without any software that doesn’t come with Big Sur, including no third-party software drivers such as are installed for third-party add-on hardware.

This is the most highly tested configuration of all!

fred_logan wrote:

Yes, I did a CLEAN install!

That is extraordinary, provided you actually performed what I have defined as «a CLEAN install!»

Just in order to rule out the one battery charging issue, an earlier version of Big Sur had, what version of Big Sur are you running on your «CLEAN install»?

MC/NVRAM reset didn't work.

I'm sure it's not a hardware problem. I will downgrade to Catalina this weekend and will let you know.

If you actually performed what I defined as «a CLEAN install», with the latest version of Big Sur, then you would help everyone if you will contact Apple Support, and demonstrate, to them, your issue with your «CLEAN install».

Otherwise, no one will ever know, and nothing can be done about it.

Pablo25 wrote:

Hi all,

…

Hopefully, Apple can find a fix for this.

So far (other than a tiny few unsubstantiated claims), the preponderance of evidence is that this issue is due to incompletely compatible software (almost always background processes that most people never notice, except by their affects upon performance, heating, battery drain, etc.).

So long as that remains the case, there is nothing that Apple can «fix for this.»

From your comment, it suggests you, likewise, are experiencing similar behavior, from incompletely compatible software (which includes third-party software drivers for third-party add-on hardware [which are usually downloaded, installed, and run without user input).

Halliday:

Would you please provide the actual "evidence" that this issue is due to 3rd party software? I have read a lot of theory and supposition but, unless I am missing it, I don't recall seeing the data from the tests that show the 3rd party applications are causing this issue.

Welcome, NJJackinVA, to Apple Support Communities!

«the actual "evidence" that this issue is due to 3rd party software» is the following:

Except for a tiny few unsubstantiated claims, all truly clean installs of Big Sur—an install of Big Sur on a completely wiped Mac drive, with no installed or restored software beyond what is installed by a pristine Big Sur install, including no third-party driver software for any third-party add-on hardware (usually downloaded, installed, and run without user involvement)—have run completely without issue!

This is the very most highly tested Mac configuration of all! (The same is true of all macOS versions.)

(Additional evidence involves all the cases where users have either performed the wipe and clean install of Big Sur, or searched out and removed the offending software to find their systems to work at least as well as ol’ Catalina.)

Only upon adding incompletely compatible software (usually in background processes) have people had issues with poor performance, high temperatures, fast draining batteries, etc.

(Fully compatible software works just fine, of course.)

Welcome, pierfconsa, to Apple Support Communities!

Have you not noticed the successes of others who have either performed a truly clean install of Big Sur, or found and replaced/eliminated the misbehaving software?

This is, most certainly, not an issue that Apple is responsible for, let alone anything like «apple trying to drain money from people just trying to have their old computers trashed.»

We can help you in getting your system working well, if you wish to work with us.

this thing about the clean install is ridiculous and I have tried everything else. if apple is not trying to drain money why so many are posting on this thread. i have had apple since the nineties. It's funny how - when i realized after big sur installation that battery was draining much faster - i searched the internet and found this thread. i tried following every advice nothing worked, the computer got worse. I see i am not the only one to have had this issue.

Halliday:

I understand your position, you've made it repeatedly on this forum. My question was about what you or others have done to prove this as a fact. Did you create a clean install of Big Sur and run for a period of time with only native applications, if so what were the quantitive results. What 'fully compatible' saw used and how did that impact battery life, if at all?

So, pierfconsa, you «have tried everything else[other than a truly «clean install»]»?

If so, then you should try a truly «clean install».

Admittedly, such is not simple, but it is guaranteed to work, unless you have hardware issues.

The prevalence of this issue says absolutely nothing about «apple … trying to drain money».

In fact, the success of fixes not involving Apple completely disproves any such assertion.

@Haliday : What is your motivation / motive to run now your private statistics about the severe issue. Look up wikipedia or read a book about Operating Systems and you might understand hopefully that the main task of an OS is to manage hardware and other underpinning software resources to grant applications to work properly and also to behave. So no more third party excuse. Big Sur has a major bug intended or not but affecting battery management and sometimes even destroying the battery. I have experienced it on my own and other friends' computers if they were older then 3 years.

If you are trying to reach out to Apple Inc they won't even give you a support ticket just refer to customer relations - very unprofessional. I suggest to not repeat yourself her over and over again with your perception of the reality .. thanks!

@Haliday: So let me summarize. You DO NOT us a "Battery Operated Device" but your thesis is that since your CPU and GPU stats are within range it is 3rd party software that is causing the issue. Again, supposition but not evidenced based.

With respect to all the others, I have been in this thread for months and have not seen one person get back to Catalina battery levels and the one that actually took the time to do a completely clean installation still had the battery issues; and you claimed it was hardware, which he debunked.

Standing on theory and hypothesis without actually doing the work to prove them true is not helpful. If you are claiming to be the expert on this forum do the work to prove your point vs repeating the theory and claiming the rest of the people with dissenting views are simply uninformed or less technically capable than you.

Me too I can't believe it ! Halliday you have an Intel Mac mini without battery and you try to teach all over the world without any experience of "Big Sur battery drain issue" . It's an awkward situation. I hope Apple fix it, with or without third parts software, upgrading, downgrading, major upgrading, ecc. ecc. . People who don't use Battery device shouldn't write in a forum titled " Big Sur battery drain issue".

@Halliday: Well, generally, it is of course possible that some old incompatible software is the reason. I did not do a clean install of Big Sur because I never had to do it during the last Major upgrades. If old Software really is the reason, then I can't see it in Activity Monitor.

Looking at the CPU time since the last start, only 3-5 processes have been using significant CPU time:

No. 1: WindowServer (3:05:08)

No. 2: Firefox (2:44:12). Remark: I installed it as a replacement for Safari because I thought Safari was the culprit

No. 3: kernel_task (2:04:58)

No. 4: install_d (0:20:41)

No. 5: syspolicyd (0:11:03)

Of course, there are many other processes, but non of them have been using a significant amount of CPU time (all < 0:07:00, which is less than 3% of the time consumed by WindowServer).

In summary, this does not look unusual to me. Unfortunately, I don't have any old Catalina figures of WindowServer and kernel_task for comparisson.

fred_logan wrote:

Version 11.3.1 …

Well, that version of Big Sur is certainly past the version that fixed the Battery Charging issue that Big Sur had for a few MacBook Pro models.

… I am in contact with Apple support since last month, they were even logged in to my computer and could see the battery drain.

I never claimed that you were not experiencing the «battery drain» you have seen.

The issue in question is the cause.

Were they able to determine a cause, in your case? (I expect not, or you wouldn’t still be here.)

Did they step you through a truly clean install of Big Sur, as I have defined it?

If you truly are continuing to experience your «battery drain» after performing a truly clean install of Big Sur, as I have defined it; then, as I’ve already written, «you would help everyone if you will contact Apple Support, and demonstrate, to them, your issue with your «CLEAN install».»

This will, almost certainly, require an in-person visit to an Apple Store, or an Apple Authorized Repair facility. After all, they’ll need to verify that you have a truly clean install of Big Sur. (In fact, they will, likely, perform such a clean install, themselves, as the most valid means of verification.)