macOS Big Sur battery drain issue

Hi Halliday.

I am doing exactly as you are suggesting (i.e. looking at my Activity Monitor, changed my view to All Processes, Hierarchically) and the most battery draining apps are:

• Touchbar server (Energy impact 20 - 30)
• Window server (Energy impact 40 - 60)
• Activity monitor (Energy impact 30 - 50)

No third party apps whatsoever. My battery drains at a pace of 1% - 2% per minute.

Specs:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)

3.1 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

What's your take on this?

Let’s put it this way, pvmikev1: the clean install has never been an issue for anyone, ever, so far.

That’s why it is the sure-fire solution to the «battery drain issue» (and many others).

It is what a factory install of Big Sur is like:

1. A clean install of Big Sur at “the factory”.
2. You get the pre-installed Mac, and run the initial setup.
3. You migrate your data and apps: any trouble, now, is user side, not Apple’s, though they will help, during the initial ownership period. (Better to migrate data and Apps separately, as I’ve already outlined, but that is not required of a new user.)

The clean install has been the solution for everyone I have seen try it (for all that didn’t have hardware issues, but those are a distinct class: a class which continue to have the problems [usually not just the “battery drain” kind] even once they go back to an earlier macOS).

Safari with Voice Control does not execute “in a vacuum”, on your machine. Such run within the overall environment, especially including all Safari extensions, kernel extensions, running utilities, etc.

The closest thing to running Safari with Voice Control “in a vacuum”, is to run within Safe Mode. That’s why Apple Support will, quite commonly, have people do that, to test possible dependency issues.

Welcome, Djalex21, to Apple Support Communities!

You ask me «what’s [my] take on [your Energy use]».

It looks like, for some reason, you’ve got more going on than you show.

I am running a number of third-party Apps on my 2018 Mac mini, 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3, 8 GB 2667 MHz DDR4, driving a 4K HDMI monitor, running Big Sur 11.0.1.

(No Touchbar server, of course.)

Energy Impact:

• Window Server: 10–11
• Activity Monitor: 3–9.6
• Highest User: Safari: https://www.LinkedIn.com: 21.3–21.9

Window Server and that Safari page are the two highest Energy Impacts (turning off the Hierarchical display, so they are not buried in the Hierarchy). Activity Monitor, then, is usually fourth, with sysmond in third, at 4.4–9.9.

Intel Power Gadget reports CPU Package Energy use at under 10 Watts, with a few spikes up to 20 Watts. (The power spikes correspond with spikes in average CPU Core frequency.)

Of course, a Mac mini is plugged in, so I cannot say what my battery drain would be.

My system has been running nice and calm (except when I run heavy compute tasks) ever since about 48 hours after installing Big Sur, as an upgrade, over my Catalina system. (My “Other” storage has even decreased, over time. My Memory Pressure usually stays good, with occasional spikes when running large tasks.)

So, now, what’s your take on this?

I’m sorry, Kayezad, but the actual Apps you launch, on your system, is, typically, a tiny fraction of what is actually running on your system.

Have you followed the recommended steps to find out what is actually going on, on your system?

Or, the most straightforward fix is to:

1. Backup your entire system.
2. Completely wipe your system and perform a clean install of Big Sur. Your system should “settle down” almost immediately. (This is what proves that the issue is not with Big Sur on your Mac.)
3. Then, only migrate/restore your data, on your Mac.
4. Let your system “settle down”. This will take a day or two, or more, depending upon how much data you “dumped” upon Big Sur’s “plate”, so to speak.
5. Once your system has “settled down”, with your data, try to migrate/restore your Apps, utilities, kernel and system extensions, etc.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get all done without your system having any issues.

If not, you’ll have narrowed down what you need to concentrate on.

msonnino wrote:

I honestly don't know what you're on about..

I have a 2017 Macbook pro 13". After updating to Big Sur I've had a "service recommended" indication regarding my battery.

There’s, almost certainly, a change in the way such are evaluated and reported.

(It’s like the way iOS and iPadOS rate certain Wi-Fi security settings as less secure, because, now, the OS checks such.)

And of course, the worst part is that my battery performance actually just went to ****.

This is the issue we are addressing within this Discussion area.

I have had ZERO problems with my power consumption before. Never had to worry about using my mac without connecting it to a power source.

Why do so many people try to use this argument as if it were some “indictment” of the major OS upgrade—not a mere update—that is the transition from Catalina to Big Sur?

As far as Apple was concerned, at least, this was such a major OS upgrade that Apple increased the major version number, from 10 to 11, for the first time since 2001!

The distinction between a mere update vs. an upgrade is important:

• Updates can only include compatible OS changes.
• Upgrades can include incompatible OS changes. In fact, this is the only place where there should be incompatible OS changes.

The simple fact is that some third-party software was not ready for such a major change in their operating environment!

I have *completely* clean-installed (bootable USB drive, disk wipe, and everything) Big Sur, and still, the problem persists.

When you performed this «clean-install (bootable USB drive, disk wipe, and everything) [of] Big Sur», did you evaluate its battery performance before migrating/restoring your data?

How about before migrating/restoring/reinstalling your software?

These are the two steps that demonstrate the actual characteristics of Big Sur on your Mac.

Simply jumping back to your former configuration is unlikely to change anything: same configuration, expect same behavior.

(Admittedly, some seem to have “lucked out” in jumping back to the same configuration, but this is not, generally, expected behavior.)

I've even wiped everything again and clean-installed Catalina this time. Under "system report" my battery's condition says "Normal".

Again. This is likely only a difference in how such is evaluated and reported.

And still, on normal use my battery drains in 2 hours, and worse, the computer shuts down when reaching low power (approx. 20%) without even a warning.

This is interesting …

However, not completely unexpected, especially during the “settling in” phase of the change in OS: it needs to reanalyze, reindex, recache, etc., your files that are, now, all new to this installation of Catalina.

The fact of the matter is that everything was working perfectly well before the update, and now I basically have a desktop instead of a laptop.

That is quite unfortunate, but this is the sort of issue the troubleshooting steps, that have been presented, are designed to address.

I know this has nothing to do with you, it's just frustrating, because I believe many of the Apple owners here bought their Apple products, at least in part, because of their supposed reliability.

The reliability still stands.

The problems are with software that wasn’t ready for such a major change, then the “settling in” phase of going back to Catalina. (Barring any actual hardware issues, which none of us wish upon anyone!)

(The same troubleshooting techniques for the transition to Big Sur apply to the transition back to Catalina.)

Kayezad wrote:

It's getting worse I think. In my last cycle of charging, my macbook pro lasted for just over two hours. Imagine, till last month and before I upgrade to Big Sur, it used to last for around 8 hours.

That’s unfortunate, but that is the topic of this Discussion.

This 'clean install' excuse is a very poor one. Even if we assume it's genuine, then Apple should have said so explicitly. It did not. On the contrary, it offered it as the software to download in the APP STORE, and displayed prominently, thereby nudging customers to upgrade. I only downloaded it as I was instructed that way. If my machine gets terribly slow after this, then nobody can blame us by saying we ought to have done a clean install. Let Apple say it on its own.

Apple expects its users to be wise consumers.

I know. That can seem to be an overly high expectation.

Apple did tell people that they consider Big Sur to be a major Operating System (OS) upgrade—not a mere update!

In fact, they consider it such a major OS upgrade that they actually increased the major version number, from 10 to 11, for the first time since 2001!

The distinction between an update vs. an upgrade is important:

• An update can only have compatible OS changes.
• An upgrade can, and usually does, have incompatible OS changes. In fact, this is the only place where one should expect incompatible OS changes.

I am convinced that this is Apple's way of getting us to migrate to newer machines. For me, this is a huge learning. Never ever upgrade MacOS on MacBook pro. The only silver lining is this otherwise dark cloud is that atleats this has happened to me after four years of using. But this thread has people who purchased MacBooks as recent as couple of years back. and one i think said MacBook 2020!!!

Of course, only users of MacBooks (Pro or otherwise) tend to be sensitive to Energy usage, since they are the ones that can operate on battery.

So, the lack of other people “complaining” here does not mean that the same causes are not affecting other systems.

I know that no talk of the Alpha and Beta testing procedures are going to convince you that Apple did their due diligence!

I know that, unfortunately, y’all will believe what y’all want to believe. 😔

For those that wish to actually solve their High Energy usage, and/or poor performance—two symptoms of the same causes—the troubleshooting procedures are available, within this Discussion, as well as other, similar Discussions.

The clean install solution is only a solution so long as one doesn’t “jump” back to the same configuration that had the problems!

(Admittedly, some have been so “lucky” as to not return to the issues, but that is not a generally expected result.)

moreaboutbatteries wrote:

… They[Apple] should never put out something that does this. It is terrible. It is the first MacBook Pro I have owned. UGGGG.

Apple didn’t «put out something that does this.»

In the Alpha testing phase, where the Operating System (OS) is installed as a clean install on pristine hardware, there was never such an issue, by the time it was ready to “graduate” to Beta testing: otherwise, it cannot go on to Beta.

In Beta testing, less pristine hardware is used, and not all installs are clean installs. Beta testing starts with not only Apple, but large software developers (so they can get started in getting their software ready for the new OS), then on to smaller developers in a more general Beta program.

Later still, the OS goes on to Public Beta, where a far broader class of users, on their, typically, more worn hardware and more varied mix of third-party software, can test the OS.

The OS doesn’t go outside the Beta program unless it works well for All Beta testers (at least, all those that properly report any issues to Apple).

Some of these, likely, had similar issues to what you and others have been experiencing, but all were tracked to third-party software incompatibilities.

One such method is the following:

1. Backup your entire system.
2. Completely wipe your system and perform a clean install of Big Sur. Your system should “settle down” almost immediately. (This is what proves that the issue is not with Big Sur on your Mac.)
3. Then, only migrate/restore your data, on your Mac.
4. Let your system “settle down”. This will take a day or two, or more, depending upon how much data you “dumped” upon Big Sur’s “plate”, so to speak.
5. Once your system has “settled down”, with your data, try to migrate/restore your Apps, utilities, kernel and system extensions, etc. This is best done one by one, in order to track-down the incompatible software.

Of course, even getting to step 4 shows that the issue is third-party software. Step 5 simply helps to find which ones (so such can be reported to the respective software developers).

Elsewhere, I and others have expressed other methods to track down, using Activity Monitor (with the Views set to All Processes, rather than the default “My Processes”), to see what processes are using the most CPU (or GPU, or memory, or networking [Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, etc.]).

(Unfortunately, apparently not all background processes seem to be instrumented for Energy use. Otherwise, finding the culprit would be far simpler. However, the primary Energy users will be processes that use the most CPU and/or GPU processing. [Most background processes don’t tend to use much GPU processing.] High network use can also use quite a bit of Energy, through Wi-Fi, especially if not close to a base-station.)

We’re here to help you in this hunt for the errant software on your system!

Please let us know how this goes, and how we can help you!

First and foremost, @Halliday, thanks for your response. Appreciated.

My 1st Mac laptop - 2017 MacBook Pro 16 GB RAM with only additions, when bought, being Chrome, MS Office, and VMware Fusion for Windows 10. The reason for buying a Mac to be able to use dual OS.

Here is my experience since the upgrade to Sur upon its release. Hope it provides some clarity to you and all (hope Apple is reading too)

1. Upgraded to Sur - started facing Bluetooth issues with AirPod pro, Q35 II and Logitech MX2 and K780. Switched to unifyer for Logitech. Mouse is jumping around.
2. Started looking at the forums. Did a NVRAM reset, SMC reset.
3. Started a chat with Apple tech support. I was told phone support will need to look at it as they have the tools to do an audio test. Got a call. Started the troubleshooting. Right away was escalated. The next person decided to take the easy route by saying if I wanted to downgrade to base version where everything worked and then to Catalina I could and got me started on installing the base Sierra. I was okay. Had to work. He sent me an email with links to install specific version as well. Downgraded and now the problem was on Sierra. Installed Catalina. Issue persisted. Concluded hardware firmware change.
4. Read forums further. Bought an external USB-C flash drive. Wiped the drive clean and installed Sur from the flash drive. Issues persisted.
5. There is no HAL in 2017 MBP except under system/library/audio/plug-ins which can’t be deleted even via the terminal.
6. played with the midi app. adjusting my AirPods volume on channel 2. Did not work.
7. Ran “D” diagnostics. No issues found
8. AirPods Pro and Q35II: Sound->Output. Toggled mute/unmute. Works for less than 2 minutes and the audio issue is back.
9. AirPods Pro and Q35II. Rebooted after every try above. Nothing worked.
10. now, get the battery message, no longer charging. Prior to this, it was battery needs service after Sur install.
11. Now, given that I dislike wires, ordered a new audio cable to connect the MBP to my Q35 II.
12. Currently, the laptop, additionally only has Chrome and Edge. Thought it maybe a safari issue. Nope.
13. Why all of the above? Because I use the Laptop to work from home or remotely during Covid.

Do people at Apple love listening to people’s laptop blaring conference call or meeting details in an all open mode around their homes with the family members also working and studying from home?

Here is what I got working. AirPods Pro. System preferences->Sound->

1. Keep it open
2. Set “Input” to Airpods
3. Keep “Sound effects” set to “Internal Speakers”
4. Set “Output” to “AirPod Pro”
5. Keep “Input” tab open set to AirPod Pro. Important that “Input” tab is open and selected.

no loss of sound if on 5. with “Sound” open. Not a permanent fix yet sound stays without intermittently pausing on and off.

Welcome, Kourkoubas, to Apple Support Communities!

You say you «have already tried everything that was recommended here».

Let’s start with what was recommended in the article drji41 linked to:

1. Reboot? (I’m sure you tried that, and I’m not at all surprised if this didn’t solve your issue.)
2. Check Activity Monitor: I notice that they didn’t emphasize that one should change the Views to “All Processes”, rather than the default of “My Processes”, when looking at the CPU tab they do recommend. Did you set the View to “All Processes”, and order the processes so the processes taking the most CPU % are at the top?
3. Spotlight Search Indexing? Doing the above, I take it that you didn’t see spotlight.app taking up much CPU %. Correct? (I would only expect to see it taking a large amount of CPU %, except in the early stages.)
4. Other Processes? This is where using the “All Processes” View is important! This is where the majority of people find the “culprits”: unless one has a hardware problem (we hope you do not), the only way for a computer to use a lot of Energy, having its «fan … going super crazy», or get hot (three symptoms of the same issue), is to have software using the power of your computer (possibly, for no good purpose, for you).
5. Reset NVRAM and PRAM? (I categorize this with Rebooting.)
6. Reset the SMC? (Similarly.)
7. Boot into Safe Mode? This will repair issues on your drive, and will prevent many third-party system and kernel extensions from running: If this helps decrease your Energy use, and helps quiet your fans, and helps your computer to not get so hot—when not running other programs—then you know that something was running, which was causing your issues, that no longer runs under Safe Mode. This can get you going on tracking down what is causing your issues.
8. MacBook Battery Help? I would have listed this near the top, since this is one of the simplest and most direct methods for tracking down the cause of your issues.

There is more, if none of the above give any clues.

(There’s even a sure-fire solution, but it is a bit “drastic”, and most don’t actually go through the entire process, since they really just want a “quick fix” [they try to “jump” to the “end”].)

Kourkoubas wrote:

I have tried all the 8 steps and to be honest I m offended that after so many people who are saying the have the same problem you still don't reconsider that this is a problem caused by Big Sur . I have also made a clean install of Big Sur and the battery is still problematic .

So my answer is that I have made all the 8 steps and the problem still occurs

The «8 steps» have helped many.

The steps involving Activity Monitor are the most extensive, and, generally, the most helpful.

I suppose I have no alternative but to take your word that you truly tried to track down the culprits, thereby.

The reason why we know that «this is [not] a problem caused by Big Sur», is because (truly) clean installs do not have this issue, except in those few cases where there is a hardware failure.

(I know. You simply don’t want to believe that.)

The sure-fire solution is a truly clean install of Big Sur:

1. Completely back up your system! This cannot be overstated! Many recommend multiple backups! (After all, backups do fail!)
2. Completely disconnect any peripherals, beyond the “bare essentials”: monitor (built-in, for MacBooks), keyboard (built-in, for MacBooks), and pointing device (mouse or trackpad: built-in trackpad, for MacBooks). This actually contributes to this being a clean install.
3. Completely wipe your drive! Leave nothing left over! This is the first part of what makes this a clean install!
4. Install Big Sur on your clean, wiped system! Nothing else! Don’t even migrate anything when the newly installed Operating System (OS) asks you if you want to do so! (This is the second part of what makes this a truly clean install!)
5. Wait for your clean Big Sur system to “settle in”. This shouldn’t take long at all.
6. Test your system: see how your Energy/Battery use goes, when using only the built-in Apps. If there are any issues, at this point, report them to Apple! You should probably even take your system in for a “checkup”, at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Facility, if there are any issues at this stage! Any issues at this, clean install stage are completely abnormal!
7. Now for the part where you begin to restore your system! Beyond this point, your system is no longer a clean install of the OS.
8. Begin by only migrating your data files! Absolutely nothing else! No utilities, system or kernel extensions, or user login scripts/utilities/etc.! Just the data! Preferably, not even any settings, of various kinds, other than for Native Apps and the OS.
9. At this point, various background processes of the OS will “kick in”—this is the so-called “Spotlight” phase. Your system should “settle down” after a day or two (or, possibly more), depending upon how many files you “dumped” on the OS’ “plate”, so to speak: the background processes are analyzing, cataloguing, caching, indexing, etc., all your files, so it is ready to be responsive to your wants, needs, and desires.
10. If this stage doesn’t settle down within a few days, this is abnormal! Something odd is going on! More checking may be necessary! Please do report any issues, at this point, to us and Apple!
11. Now for the final stage of restoring your system! It is, typically, this stage where it is expected that you will run into problems!
12. It is recommended that you restore your software (including system/kernel extensions, and other utilities and login-scripts, etc.) one-at-a-time, so you can see what works, and what causes issues!

(Note: some lucky few have gone through this without any of their old software causing any problems! That is always a happy coincidence, but is not generally expected behavior!)

Note: the fact that exceeding few have any problems before restoring their third-party software, is what proves that the issues are not between Big Sur and you Mac! (Those few exceptions have verifiable hardware issues. Fortunately, even many such have proven to be non-permanent issues.)

One thing more, you can do, before following the above outlined procedure: make sure to upgrade all your third-party software, even before making your backup. This will decrease your likelihood of running into issues even at the final stages of the procedure.

If you are not completely familiar with and confident in wiping your system and properly installing the OS on a wiped-clean system, it is highly recommended that you make sure your are fully ready to undertake this process before you begin!

Warning: some have had difficulties in not properly wiping their systems clean, or properly installing on such a wiped system! (This is true regardless what version of the OS they were trying to install!) While this is far from any kind of a “fatal” mistake, it can be quite troubling for a beginner!

Oracularguy wrote:

You may find this interesting. 2 days ago I did a clean install - Erasing SSD and installing Sur from external USB Flash drive with the “Option” button pressed on chime and selecting external drive. After installation, checked battery under System Preferences. Needs service and the message in one of the screenshots here. Today, it’s gone. This on a 2017 MacBook Pro 16 GB RAM. Something definitely wrong with Sur and Sur 11.1 update.

Please, let me get this straight:

• You booted off the «external USB Flash drive with the “Option” button pressed on chime and select[ing the] external [USB Flash] drive.»
• From there, you installed Big Sur onto your «Eras[ed] SSD».
• «After installation», but before restoring any of your data—let alone any software!—you «checked [your] battery under System Preferences.»
• At that time, your system reported that your Battery «Needs service».
• (I’m not sure what «one of the screenshots here» you are referring to. I looked at them all, but, other than one with the battery warning, I’m not sure what you might be referring to.)
• Yet, «Today, [that message is] gone.»

What in this leads to your conclusion that «Something [is] definitely wrong with [Big] Sur and [the Big Sur] 11.1 update»?

Welcome, Problemsolved2, to Apple Support Communities!

Yes. If your software is not ready for such a major Operating System (OS) upgrade (not a mere update), then it would have been best not to have upgraded, in the first place.

However, reverting back to an OS version better suited to your software is, possibly, the next best thing to do.

The distinction between an upgrade vs. an update is important, and should be kept in mind by all computer users:

• Updates: can only have compatible OS changes.
• Upgrades: can, and usually do, have incompatible OS changes. This is where all incompatible OS changes occur.

The only «Shame on Apple» is that they trusted their users to be wise about when to choose to upgrade. (It was, also, likely, a “tactical error”, on their part, to present an OS upgrade within the usual update panel. In the past, users had to go through the Mac App Store to find upgrades. [In fact, due to this history, I didn’t even look for Big Sur in the update panel, but went straight to the Mac App Store.])

NJJackinVA wrote:

Halliday, while from a purist perspective your statements might be true. I would argue that Apple has an obligation to verify that upgrades to not break widely used applications and in turn create havoc for a large swath of their users. …

Actually, NJJackinVA, by its very definition, an upgrade is always very likely to «break widely used applications»!

That’s why all major software developers are given a long lead time, before any major upgrade, so they can be prepared, and, hopefully, have their upgraded versions of their software available for the new upgraded Operating System (OS)!

In fact, all major software developers are the first Beta testers of the new OS!

Other software developers are in the main Beta test program (well before the so-called Public Beta).

… Based on the volume of comments in this thread and across other discussion boards that is clearly not the case. …

Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say, the problem is not in the new upgraded OS, nor in the lead time the software developers have had, but in the cavalier way end-users have come to treat upgrades as if they are mere updates.

As I wrote:

«Note: The distinction between upgrades vs. updates is important:

• Updates cannot introduce incompatible Operating System (OS) changes.
• Upgrades can, and usually do, introduce incompatible OS changes. In fact, this is the principle reason for creating upgrades!

Big Sur is a major OS upgrade.

As such, it is to be expected that, at least some, old software will not be compatible, and may “act up”.»

Now, unfortunately, in my opinion, Apple made a “tactical error” in breaking with their typical upgrade approach: historically, upgrades were not provided using the update mechanism (like the Update Panel); instead, users had to go through the Mac App Store (or its equivalent), in order to obtain the OS upgrade; yet, in the case of Big Sur, this major upgrade was provided via the usual Update Panel—albeit, it was labeled as an upgrade.

The other perspective is that a set of developers leveraged features available in prior releases of the OS and saw no negative performance impacts, but with this upgrade those same calls have different impacts to performance. It could be depreacted code or some series downstream impacts that cases these issues.

This is the sort of change all developers know, understand, and expect of OS upgrades!

The software developers were not caught unaware! They were informed well in advance! (Admittedly, some are still working on upgrading some of their major applications. Such things take time. It’s why users must be wise in upgrading their OS: one should always double-check one’s important Apps and hardware additions for compatibility with an upgraded OS before performing the upgrade!)

This is simply as such things have always been (with the possible exception of the possible “tactical error”, on Apple’s part).

I have had quite an experience with the battery and Bluetooth after a clean MacOS Sur install on 2017 MacBook Pro with an external flash drive. All issues went away in 2 weeks.

1. in 3 days the battery needs service message went away
2. in 2-3 weeks my Bluetooth headphones are playing well without loosing audio. Used a wired headphone Bose Q35II in the meanwhile.

there is definitely something going on behind then scene after installing the MacOS that consumes resources and affects the battery and external Bluetooth devices.