macOS Big Sur battery drain issue

Welcome, denizparlak, to Apple Support Communities!

So. You upgraded your MacBook Air (2017) from Catalina to Big Sur, yesterday.

Did you make sure that all your software and add-on hardware is fully compatible with this major, brand new Operating System (OS)?

Or, did you simply think this was just a simple update?

Upgrade vs. update is an important distinction:

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

You, like so many others, appear to be in the unenviable position of having to sort out incompatibilities in software (including add-on hardware drivers) after having performed the upgrade!

There are ways to revert, but they work best if you have a recent backup, from before your OS upgrade.

(I believe that there has been some directions on reverting, earlier in this Discussion.)

Sorry, 7493432401, but you are the one that is ill-informed.

Outdated software—as in software that is not fully compatible with Big Sur—has been demonstrated to be the principle culprit «causing the chief complaint of this thread!»

All one need do is perform a clean install of Big Sur—no third-party software, including no third-party drivers for add-on hardware.

Yes. Preventing the old 32-bit software from running is easy!

Preventing 64-bit software, that have not been updated for the major Operating System (OS) upgrade that is Big Sur, is quite another matter, unless Apple had imposed some special “signing” requirements for software that will run on Big Sur.

(Yes. Apple could have required such draconian measures, to prevent all old software from running, but they did not choose to do so.

Instead, they expected users to be wise in their behavior, especially when performing a major OS upgrade.)

Upgrade vs. update is an important distinction, which has been true for as long as we have had electronic computers that run OSs:

• Updates can only involve compatible OS changes.
• Upgrades can, and usually do, involve incompatible OS changes. In fact, this is (practically) the sole reason for upgraded OSs.

You claim your «clean install of Catalina» had «No issues». Fine. Not relevant.

Yet. You did not say you, likewise, performed a «clean install of» Big Sur. (Emphasis added.)

Unless you did, your claim (regarding an unsubstantiated claim of «buggy power management») is unfounded.

I just got how to prevent the battery drain so fast.

1. do not change to Sleep mode manually,
2. do not close the lid (in my experience I just make the lid half-close to avoid any liquid from above ceiling),
3. just leave our mac with unplug power cable, and
4. Lets the mac change the mode automatically,

Last night before I slept my mac battery was 100% when I wake up and open the lid it keep on 100%.

My battery Preferences infos are as follows:

• checked Slightly dim the display while on battery power
• checked Enable Power Nap whole on batter power
• checked Optimized battery charging

Welcome, lukasz292, to Apple Support Communities!

Safari is actually included as a part of the macOS. So, your Safari would have been upgraded with the rest of the system.

An important part of all this, however, is that the typical culprits have not been the software that people interact with, directly, through Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), but the software that runs in the background, without any GUI.

So, just because you have «no other software running», that you see, does not mean there are not myriad other programs, running in the background, that you cannot see, under ordinary circumstances.

This is why one must use Activity Monitor with the Views set to All Processes, rather than the defaults.

(Unfortunately, it appears that many background processes are not instrumented for Energy Use. So, unfortunately, this means that looking for culprits under the Energy tab, of Activity Monitor, isn’t very helpful.)

Additionally, any system, user, or other software extensions—such as Safari extensions/plug-ins/etc.—are the highly likely culprits.

It has never been the responsibility of an Operating System (OS) or Computer manufacturer to make sure third-party software is compatible.

On the other hand, Apple alerted all major third-party program manufacturers of the upcoming major OS upgrade, well before the expected release: all such manufacturers are always part of the earliest Beta program (potentially even at the Alpha test stage, but I cannot guarantee that), even well before Apple’s World-Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), where I learned of the upcoming major OS upgrade, and had the opportunity to join the Developer level Beta test program (well in advance of the Public Beta).

It is up to the individual companies to upgrade/update their software to take advantage of the new OS.

Even at the time of the WWDC, many manufacturers already had new versions well underway. (Some were even demonstrated at WWDC.)

Some admitted they were still working on compatible versions for some of their titles.

Regardless, there is never any expectation that old versions of their software will be compatible with any OS upgrade. (They might be lucky, of course.)

Upgrade vs. update is an important distinction:

• Updated OSs can only ever include compatible OS changes. (So. Your old software should work.)
• Upgraded OSs can, and usually do, include incompatible OS changes. In fact, this is, practically, the only reason for OS upgrades!

Now. I have often characterized Apple’s use of the Update Panel for this major OS upgrade as, what I think of as, a “tactical” error.

Before Big Sur, Apple never provided OS upgrades through the Update Panel, nor the Updates section of the Mac App Store. (That’s why I didn’t even look there, when I was ready to upgrade to Big Sur.)

Instead, one had to search for the new OS, within the Mac App Store (or through retail outlets). (It’s usually not hard to find in the Mac App Store. It’s usually displayed rather prominently.)

While Apple was certainly promoting Big Sur, I think you would find it quite difficult to show that they were indiscriminately «RECOMMEND[ING]» all users to so «upgrade».

After all, the need to check hardware and software compatibility for all OS upgrades (vs. mere updates) has been a standing requirement for as long as we have had electronic computers running Operating Systems (OSs).

As for «an OS downgrade», the offer is to help people in that process, if that’s what they so choose.

I would, absolutely, advise them that such a process is not at all simple, and to always have a good backup, first, just in case.

(Admittedly, one should always have a good backup before an OS upgrade, as well! My first question, for anyone that wants to «downgrade», is “do you have a good backup from before you upgraded?”)

Welcome, TheBobes, to Apple Support Communities!

I’m glad you appear to have solved your issue!

If you use the Free version of MalwareBytes, manually, only as needed, from other people’s experiences, you shouldn’t have troubles (unless their software has been changed in some way that now causes trouble).

I’m sure others will “chime in”, here, but, from my experience, and what I have seen from well respected contributors, here, most “Ant-Virus”, “Cleaner”, “Optimizer”, “SpeedUp”, etc. software for the Mac are:

1. Demonstrably unnecessary, due to the protections macOS already has built-in, and
2. Nearly always detrimental to your Mac, all too often “breaking” your system.

paomug67 wrote:

So ... here we have 500 people who complain that Big Sur drain battery and one person that keep saying that is your fault .

What software is running on a user’s machine is the responsibility of that user.

When upgrading to a new Operating System (OS), it is the user’s responsibility to check their software for compatibility with the new OS.

This has been true for as long as we have been using computers running OSs.

The distinction between updates vs. upgrades is important:

• An Update cannot involve incompatible changes.
• An Upgrade, on the other hand, can, and usually does, involve incompatible changes. In fact, this is the primary reason for upgrades.

By the way I have no third parts software, no Chrome, only Safari, …

So. You are claiming that you have, absolutely, no third-party software, of any kind?

Third-party software even includes software drivers for third-party add-on hardware; which are, usually, downloaded, installed, and run, completely in the background, without user intervention.

Did you upgrade a previous version of your OS? Did that previous version of the OS only run Apple software that comes included in the OS?

… nothing that get too much CPU percentage, …

So. You have checked your CPU usage using Activity Monitor, with the View set to “All Processes”, rather than the default of “My Processes”?

… done all recommended procedures, …

What recommended procedures?

Have you checked your applications for compatibility? All of them?

… no cad programs, and similar ones, always the same office paperwork and procedures, …

Using what software, for your «office paperwork and procedures»?

The same old software you were running on your old OS?

… but in my Mcb 2018 battery has gone from 8-9 hours to 3-4 ... The problem IS Big Sur, whatever he says.

Until and unless you have wiped your machine and installed a clean install of Big Sur—completely devoid of any software that is not a part of Big Sur, including the exclusion of all third-party software drivers for third-party add-on hardware—you haven’t tested your claim against Big Sur.

In fact, such clean installs of Big Sur are the most tested configuration of all!

None such have ever shown the slightest issue with battery drain.

Hence, the preponderance of evidence points to third-party software (or non-updated Apple software), of some kind.

NJJackinVA wrote:

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. …

I’ve already given you the facts of the matter.

1. Clean installs of Big Sur (in fact, of every single major macOS version) are the single most tested configuration of all, for each and every compatible hardware configuration Apple lists.
2. The fact that all who perform such a truly clean install have full success (except in the rare cases where older hardware had failures).
3. The fact that even more people have had success without performing a clean install, but by identifying and updating or eliminating the less than «fully compatible» software (including third-party drivers for third-party add-on hardware).

… 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?

Personally, I never had any problem when I upgraded my Intel Mac mini from Catalina to Big Sur: I made sure my software was entirely compatible, just as all users should always do.

My CPU and GPU and Memory usage is at least as low as under Catalina. I have to really work hard to get that system to use up to 40 Watts of power, even for short times. (That’s with 100% CPU usage for all CPU cores.)

(I do realize that my personal experience does not involve a battery operated device. However, there are myriad users of MacBooks that have had similarly good results upgrading to Big Sur. Admittedly, most of those made sure their software was fully compatible, just as I did, before upgrading.)

With my M1 based Mac mini, I did make the mistake of migrating all my software over: this included a couple of Intel only utilities that caused some troubles when I tried to run them (until I rebooted, since they didn’t install automatically run background tasks). All I had to do was eliminate those two utilities and all ran well.

7493432401 wrote:

@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 [that have been properly built for the OS in question] to work properly and also to behave. …

Note the clarification added.

I have studied OSs. In fact, I was intimately familiar with the OS that became MacOS X, in 2001, back in the early ‘90s.

A further, important clarification, is the distinction between OS updates vs. upgrades:

• An OS Update can only include compatible OS changes.
• An OS Upgrade can, and usually does, include incompatible OS changes. This is nearly the only reason for OS upgrades.

This is why users must check all their important software (and add-on hardware) for compatibility before any OS upgrade.

This has been true for as long as we have had electronic computers running OSs.

… 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. …

Unless and until you have demonstrated this issue with a truly clean install of Big Sur (which is, actually, the most tested configuration of all, on all Apple listed compatible hardware), on demonstrably well running hardware (so, devoid of all hardware issues), this claim is completely without support.

… I have experienced it on my own and other friends' computers if they were older then 3 years.

Hopefully such did not involve hardware issues.

Unfortunately, the older and more worn the hardware, the higher the likelihood of hardware failures with sudden changes in load. (There have been a few confirmed cases of this.)

As I wrote, though, hopefully this hasn’t been the case for you or your «other friends’ computers».

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!

I’m simply a fellow user, like yourself, volunteering my time to help my fellow users.

I speak and write only the truth, to the very best of my knowledge.

I know from my experience—especially my experience helping people, around here, with the issues related to the subject of this Discussion—that any blanket claim that «Big Sur has a major bug … affecting battery management and sometimes even destroying the battery» is specious.

NJJackinVA wrote:

@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.

Not at all! This is quite a mischaracterization of my «thesis», let alone my evidence.

At most, you are only referencing my personal hardware experience, which was only given as supplemental information.

As I wrote:

«

I’ve already given you the facts of the matter.

1. Clean installs of Big Sur (in fact, of every single major macOS version) are the single most tested configuration of all, for each and every compatible hardware configuration Apple lists.
2. The fact that all who perform such a truly clean install have full success (except in the rare cases where older hardware had failures).
3. The fact that even more people have had success without performing a clean install, but by identifying and updating or eliminating the less than «fully compatible» software (including third-party drivers for third-party add-on hardware).

»

… 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. …

I’ve been in this and other similar Discussions since Big Sur came out, November 2020.

You appear to have only paid attention to a select few instances. (Good ol’ confirmation bias.)

There have been but a very few that have claimed to have performed a truly clean install of Big Sur (as I have defined such).

Of those, all but the last simply went silent when challenged upon whether they had actually performed such according to my definition.

This last case has yet to undertake the steps necessary to demonstrate their claim, which, if valid, they need to take directly to Apple, if anything good is to come of their claim.

… 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.

No «theory [or] hypothesis». Only hard work helping actual users having this sort of issue, here and within other, similar Discussions.

Since, due to my having performed the necessary due diligence, before upgrading my systems, I haven’t, yet (“knock on wood”), personally experienced this issue.

So, while I have limited ability to perform these “experiments” upon my own systems, I have seen the experiences of others—including their successes when they either track down and update or eliminate the offending software, or their success when they preform a truly clean install of Big Sur.

Sorry, fred_logan, but your «'macOS Monterey battery drain issue'» is nothing more, nor less, than your old «macOS Big Sur battery drain issue» carried over into macOS Monterey.

In point of fact, it didn’t even have all that much to do with macOS Big Sur, either.

It is either:

1. a Hardware issue, in which case it will even show up in Catalina (if you downgrade there, on an Intel based Mac), or
2. a Third-party Software issue, that needs to be tracked down to the offending third-party software (which could be multiple culprits).

Your claim that a truly «clean install» did not solve the issue suggests the issue is the former: a hardware issue (but the battery, alone, wasn’t it).

Of course, this all depends upon the veracity of the claim of a truly «clean install», which I can neither confirm nor deny.

UPDATE: [nothing new though] MBP 13" 2018 w Touchbar

After another round of SMC and PRAM/NVRAM reset... I have also stopped "Siri Suggestions" for Spotlight Search....the "Service Recommended" alert still doesn't go away and battery drain is still super terrible.

I have notified all my friends to NOT update to Big Sur...I saved a few souls...just a few :(

I too am experiencing this issue after upgrading. I'm running the MacBook Pro (2019). Below is a screenshot showing the battery drain in under two hours. I was running Outlook and 3-4 tabs within Chrome. My fan is also consistently on which was never an issue before either. Thank you.

Really I hope to fix this problem. Its very annoying.

I see that from 17:10 until now 22:03 i have like 30% battery. Its 5 hours. With Catalina if I dont make a mistake it was around 6:30 hours for 30% left. I use the 2019 MacBook Air

Again, I did the following and looks like the problem has been fixed;

1- Reseted the NVRAM

2- Reseted the SMC

3- Disabled the Spot Light search for most categories

I have MacBook Pro 13" 2016 Without touch bar with battery cycle count 22

My MacBook now after tested it from 100% to 90% after one hour I think this is normal now and the brightness was around 75% only using Safari app with one tab (Youtube video)

I was recording battery drain log during the test every 1% but unfortunately I did not save the log.

I think just do this and wait for a while until the spotlight search index the selected categories and test it.

Good luck for all

Although some apps shows high CPU, there isn't problem with single apps, but Big Sur OS coding. It has issues with kernel and has to be fixed by Apple. Just for comparison, you can see consumption of clean installation of Big Sur (no apps installed yet) and old installation of Catalina incl. apps installed with running processes in a background.

Big Sur - best achieved batt. drain -19.9W

Catalina - usual batt. drain -9.0W

Big Sur - high CPU on OS kernel