macOS Big Sur battery drain issue

@NJJackinVA: I agree that the minor updates did improve the situation.

With version 11.1, my battery lasted about 90 minutes (down from 6-8 hours in Catalina). Now, after a few updates, I'm at least back at about 3-4 hours, which is not great, but a big improvement compared to 90 minutes. Especially the last update 11.3.1seems to have helped.

Anyway, I will keep an eye on it and let you know if I find out more.

fred_logan wrote:

I did a true (yes, TRUE!) clean (yes, CLEAN) install for the second time: same issue! 1-2% battery drain per minute.

APPLE, FIX THIS NOW!!!!

OK. I cannot directly dispute your claim. (Please reference the definition I gave for what I have been meaning by «a true (yes, TRUE!) clean (yes, CLEAN) install» of Big Sur (or, frankly, any macOS).

Given that, will you be going to Apple so they can get first-hand case evidence of your system?

If not, then this will do no one any good, let alone getting «APPLE, [to] FIX THIS NOW!!!!»

pierfconsa wrote:

It is so obvious there is a problem with big Sur unless the battery drain was a wanted side effect

This is an irresponsible (even libelous) claim.

It is not only not «obvious», but it is demonstrably untrue!

fred_l. wrote:

I have a date with the Apple support on Saturday. They will help me downgrading to Catalina. I will keep you updated.

Will you be trying to show them how your (claimed) «true (yes, TRUE!) clean (yes, CLEAN) install» of Big Sur still exhibits this «battery drain issue», before having them «help [you] downgrad[e] to Catalina»?

It’s not about what version of macOS you decide to go home with, it’s about whether you’ll help Apple to see how your system seems to be misbehaving with your (claimed) «true (yes, TRUE!) clean (yes, CLEAN) install» of Big Sur.

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@Pablo25: With the last update (11.3.1) and following instructions I found on another site (https://macreports.com/how-to-fix-big-sur-battery-drain-issues/) - pasted below. I've been working on my Intel Macbook Pro 15" (2017) on and off, all the time on battery, for 3 hours and still have 77% battery.

If we could just get past the its all 3rd party software rant we may be able to collaborate on a way to help one another and advance the ball on this issue. I respectfully request no comments from @Halliday on this post.

"The last step that solves the Problem of the secd task draining the battery is to uncheck keychain in iCloud Preferences, sign out of the cloud, reset the smc and sign in to iCloud again."

NJJackinVA:

If secd (security daemon) is one of the background tasks that is using an extraordinarily large amount of CPU—«the Problem of the secd task draining the battery», as you quoted—(which I have seen it do in a very few cases)—then, yes, this can help.

This is one of the possible things a user may find when they use the Activity Monitor, the way I have directed, to hunt down processes (usually background processes, as secd is).

Welcome, 子龙208, to Apple Support Communities!

syspolicyd is part of the macOS Gatekeeper facility. As such, it is part of what is responsible for keeping your Mac secure.

It can not only use a fairly large amount of CPU resources (by the way, 100% is only 100% of a single CPU core, so your total CPU resources being used is found by dividing the single-core CPU usage by the number of CPU cores your computer has), it can be reading your drive(s) as well.

This has been an issue under Catalina, even before Big Sur.

Having a large number of old software installer files on your Mac can cause this process to be highly active, as it tries to determine whether such installer files are valid.

It not only scans installer files for Apps, but also for Kernel and System Extensions.

The recommendation is to keep your Mac clean of “junk” files.

Having “anti-virus”, “cleaner”, “optimizer”, “speed-up”, etc. Apps on your system will exacerbate such issues, and have often been found to cause many other issues on Macs! (These interfere, or worse, with the normal security and “cleanup” functions of macOS.)

fred_l. wrote:

Apple support gave me the advice to wait and NOT to downgrade. 11.4: still the same problem (guest user account, too).

I’m not at all surprised that you are continuing to have the same issue.

Such will only change by correcting the underlying issue of incompatible software (or hardware issues—though, hopefully not the case), or, possibly, incompatibilities in systems attached to iCloud (or, maybe, other network attached systems).

By the way, while you were with Apple support, were you able to verify, to them, your truly clean install of Big Sur?

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Update Big Sur 11.4: first time in weeks I could work for 3 hours without charging! Before upgrading to Big Sur it was 7-8h but anyway, small progress but I´m happy!

BTW: I did the clean install with the help of Apple support

fred_l. wrote:

…

BTW: I did the clean install with the help of Apple support

With or without wiping the boot drive?

With or without restoring anything?

If some things were restored, what?

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I posted on here about 5 months ago. Was hoping Apple would fix the problem, but after 4 updates, no resolution. I had been getting 7 hours on my 16" MBP, had been 11 hours on Catalina. Figuring the battery was getting older, I just bought a brand new 16" MBP and transferred all files. After 2 weeks, I am getting 4hours on the newer system. This seems to truly indicate some bug that affects differing hardware...

medsfacts wrote:

… I just bought a brand new 16" MBP and transferred all files. After 2 weeks, I am getting 4hours on the newer system. This seems to truly indicate some bug that affects differing hardware...

What it «truly indicates» is that among «all files» that you «transferred», you have the software that is causing your problem.

fred_l. wrote:

With wiping the boot drive and restoring anything, only first party software. No iCloud, too. Battery drain 1% per minute.

So, you seem to be claiming that you did «wip[e] the boot drive» before installing a version of Big Sur?

A pristine copy of Big Sur?

You then say «restoring anything, only first party software.»

Did you mean to write without «restoring anything», except «only first party [Apple?] software»?

Incidentally, just because the software is from Apple («first party») does not guarantee that the software is compatible with the new Operating System (OS): such can still be old, not truly compatible software!

…

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fred_l.:

If you use Safari a lot, especially on sites that do a lot (maybe running videos, or more), such would cause Safari to use significant Energy.

Furthermore. If you have “plugins”, in Safari, they can cause significant issues!

Also. Make sure you show “All processes”, not just “My processes”.

Furthermore. The background processes that seem to be the major issue, don’t seem to be commonly “instrumented” for Energy Use, so they will, likely, not show up under the Energy tab of Activity Monitor: such will usually show up with “All processes” on the CPU tab, ordered by CPU%.

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I got some solution from stackoverflow which said that you can check which file the process 'syspolicyd ' open to indicate what exactly it was examine.

And mine problem lies on python framework.

After removing the python framework entirely, the fans stay normal and quiet for hours, and hopefully this will also solve the battery problem.

(Btw, why on earth need my Mac install six different versions of python .....

oh, nearly forget to mention, the way to examine the usage is by type in :

sudo lsof -c syspolicyd

lsof for list of file for a certain thread.