macOS Big Sur battery drain issue

By the way, pvmikev1…

Have you tried a clean install of Big Sur?

If it truly is an Apple software issue (that, somehow, got past Alpha, Beta, and public Beta), then it must be reproducible on a clean install.

Barring a clean install (I understand how inconvenient that can be), have you tried booting into Safe Mode? (Note: because of the full disk repair that is run, when booting into Safe Mode, the boot process can take significantly longer, so try to be patient.)

Safe Mode will not only repair the disk, it will load Safe drivers, and will prevent third-party startup and system modification processes from running.

While a reproduction of the issue you are seeing under Safe Mode is not as conclusive as a clean install, it is still considered a good indication of whether an issue results from other influences.

(I can just about guarantee that if you have any interaction with Apple Support, on your issue, they will have you try a Safe Mode boot.)

Please, if you are willing, let us know how such tests, or any interactions with Apple Support go, for you.

Welcome, Kayezad, to Apple Support Communities!

By the way: I am a fellow user. I have no special relationship with Apple.

Now. Why is it that so many people use the claim that third-party Apps were working perfectly fine with earlier versions of the macOS, as if to claim such is evidence that something is “wrong” with a major Operating System (OS) upgrade (not a mere update)?

Updates are designed to only include compatible changes to the OS.

Upgrades typically include incompatible changes to the OS. In fact, this is the only place where such incompatible changes will be made!

Incidentally, last I saw, Adobe still had Big Sur compatible versions of some of their major applications that were not yet ready for release.

(I don’t happen to know if Microsoft has completely caught up to Big Sur, or not.)

No one should ever upgrade an OS without checking compatibility of their Apps, first.

Have you even tried to use the Activity Monitor, as I have recommended, to see what is actually happening on your machine?

The rest of us are having no issues with high Energy use under Big Sur.

The sure-fire solution, that has worked for everyone that has tried it (with the exception of those with hardware issues: which, incidentally, persist even if one goes back to an earlier macOS), is a clean install of Big Sur. Essentially, as if you got your Mac from Apple with Big Sur preinstalled.

The very fact that a clean install has no high Energy issue, is a simple proof that the issue is not Big Sur on your Mac.

Working with users who have chosen to not go the clean install route, has brought to light diverse cases of errant third-party incompatibilities: if the App, itself, is incompatible, one usually sees that right away; the high Energy use is usually not the Apps themselves, but background and utility programs—especially system extensions—that the user doesn’t typically see. (That’s why the direction is to change the Activity Monitor’s Views to All Processes, rather than the default of “My Processes”.)

That very diversity means that I cannot give you any simple fixes, or even guarantees that you’ll find an obvious culprit even using Activity Monitor as I have recommended (mostly in other comments).

However, it will, almost certainly, help if you make sure all your important Apps have the most recent updates/upgrades!

I had the same problem and when I checked the battery preferences, it's the google chrome helper that was the culprit even tho I already uninstalled the google chrome app itself. So what I did is I recovered the chrome app from the trash bin and followed the instructions on the internet on how to disable the google chrome helper.

There are testimonies that say that even a clean install doesn’t help as big SUR slows the machine either ways.

Having said that after I upgraded to 11.1, my system Home Screen did show up all those third party apps that needed an upgrade to qualify for Big SUR ecosystem. These apps appeared blurred with a sort of across mark over them to identify them. Nearly a dozen apps on my MacBook Pro I forgot I had installed them ages ago, got caught. So I removed each and every one of them.

Even then my machine is slow. And battery runs out within 3 hours.

There was a huge Update to all of the MSOffice Apps that I found came out right after Big Sur released. I installed it and it made a significant improvement in my MacBook Pro battery life. Did you update MSOFFICE and Acrobat??? This might help you if you haven't yet done so. Also I had to get rid of Chrome and Chrome helper to get even more improvement on battery life.

pvmikev1 wrote:

Halliday,

You've seemed to imply in the past replies that a "Clean Install" would be a panacea and solve the battery drainage issues.

Never as a procedure that simply “jumps” back to the same configuration that had the issues.

I’m sorry if people didn’t recognize this distinction.

If one actually reads where I outlined the individual steps, one should recognize this.

Unfortunately, many are—understandably—impatient for a “quick fix”.

It probably doesn’t help that some “lucked-out”, and performed some sort of “quick fix” type “clean install”, without a recurrence of this issue. However, such is not the generally expected result.

It is clear now, that a "clean install" is not a requirement to solving the battery drainage issue.

Neither I, nor anyone competent, ever claimed that «a “clean install”» was anything like «a requirement to solving the battery drainage issue.»

Where did you get that idea?

It is clear that 3rd party software is the culprit whether you clean install or not.

Yes! A completely correct conclusion!

You are to be congratulated for seeing this clearly!

I didn't clean install and my battery drainage issue was resolved by upgrading all my 3rd party software and drivers and getting

rid of 3rd party software that stayed problematic like Chrome.

Absolutely astute!

I'm currently getting 4.5 to 5 hours of battery life that is the same as I got with Catalina only after I attacked the 3rd party software issues.

Congratulations on a job well done!

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!

Before getting a new battery, try the calibration technique of 1) Drain the battery down to 0% 2) Leave it drained overnight

3) Plugin the power cord and charge it all the way to 100% and stay plugged in for about 3 to 4 hours at 100%

Then disconnect the power cord and see if your battery returns to at least stop jumping around.

For best results you might want to do this in "Safe" Mode by holding down the shift key while rebooting your computer for steps 1 and 3.

Then if none of that works, there is a much higher probability that you need a new battery.

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.)

Welcome, Lyderbug123, to Apple Support Communities!

Please read the comment marked “Solved” at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252045241?answerId=254006415022#254006415022. (That’s on another Discussion of this same issue.)

Furthermore, since clean (“virgin”) installs of Big Sur—before installing or restoring third-party software (Apps, system or kernel extensions, boot-scripts, user extensions, etc.)—have never exhibited this issue (except, perhaps, in rare cases of hardware failures); it is already proven that Big Sur, itself, is not the cause.

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”.

Oracularguy wrote:

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 …

This is the, more or less, usual “indexing” time (analysis, indexing, caching, etc.).

…

2. in 2-3 weeks my Bluetooth headphones are playing well without loosing audio. Used a wired headphone Bose Q35II in the meanwhile.

If you have automatic updating of your software (besides, and not, necessarily, including your macOS), this may be due to an update/upgrade of some of your software, including drivers (such as Bluetooth drivers for your third-party hardware).

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

This is what I and others, here, have been trying to tell y’all, and show y’all how to “track down”, yourselves, since, other than the «usual “indexing” time (analysis, indexing, caching, etc.)», this is an issue beyond Apple’s control: this is an issue with third-party software (and hardware add-ons) that were simply not ready for this major Operating System (OS) upgrade.

Big Sur was no mere “update”, even though it was provided through the usual Update Panel.

Remember, upgrades can, and usually do, introduce incompatible OS changes!

ponmudivn wrote:

…

I did clean install default OS (High sierra) and install Big Sur.

What do you think is a «clean install» of any Operating System (OS)?

The definition I, and others, here, am using is an install of only the OS, on a completely wiped system, without any third-party software, including any (software) drivers installed (automatically, in the background) for any third-party add-on hardware.

Whenever anyone does that with Big Sur, they find that there is no significant «battery drain». (In fact, it is no more than it was under Catalina.)

On the other hand, when there are old third-party software programs involved—that have not been updated for the brand new OS—the «battery drain issue» is quite common.

(Yes. There is a temporary period of scanning, analyzing, cataloguing, caching, etc., of files that are not a part of the OS, for a little while, soon after an install on-top of an old OS, or when a bunch of files are “dumped” on your drive. That is normal, but not the cause of people’s continuing «battery drain issue».)

pierfconsa wrote:

thanks, i did also check the link of application compatibility and it doesn't make much sense to me, i listed all apps that 'doesn't work' on big sur, and it lists things like itune and other original software...

Things like iTunes (and some other Apple software) are listed as «’doesn’t work’» because they were discontinued before Big Sur.

Did you check your applications for compatibility, using the provided link?

… thanks for trying, there was no particular overhearting, it can't be a coincidence that the first big drop in performance came with big sur, and the second big drop came after i installed the last update to big sur.

What is happening, in all cases, is old, incompatible software (including driver software for add-on hardware, which are usually installed in the background, without direct user participation), that are misbehaving under the new Operating System (OS).

The most thoroughly tested configuration of Big Sur (as well as other versions of macOS) is a clean install, on a wiped drive, without any third-party software.

No such test cases exhibit any high CPU, high power drain, high temperatures, slow performance, etc.

However, all one need do is install old, incompatible software, and such issues can exhibit themselves (depending upon the software).

Unfortunately, since high temperatures can accompany high power drain, such can, indeed, damage batteries.

However, I cannot be certain there is any actual battery damage, at this time.

All we know is that your system is exhibiting some of the symptoms that could be due to that.

Welcome, kabukcu, to Apple Support Communities!

Big Sur was never an “update”. Big Sur has always been a major Operating System (OS) upgrade. (It was unfortunate, in my opinion, that Apple presented this major OS upgrade by way of the Update Panel.)

Have you tried the recommended procedures to find the old, incompatible third-party software that is abusing the power of your Mac?

It has been well established that Big Sur works well with all the (Apple claimed) compatible Macs: all one need do is fully wipe your Mac and perform a clean install of Big Sur on your Mac—without any third-party software, including no automatically installed driver software for third-party add-on hardware—to verify this, yourself.

This is the most tested configuration for all (Apple claimed) compatible Macs. (That’s not to say that you must do this in order to fix your issue.)

Additionally, y’all can check your applications for compatibility, using the provided link, to see what versions of your software (Apps, at least) are compatible with Big Sur. (It’s usable for previous versions of OSs as well.)

Beyond all that, y’all can use Activity Monitor to find any other software that is overusing the resources (such as CPU) of your Mac.

Those of us, here, with long Mac experience, have been helping many to fix this «battery drain issue». We can help you, too.

fred_logan wrote:

Yes, exactly. Macbook Pro (15 inch, 16GB RAM, 2017).

What version of Big Sur are you running? There was an issue with battery charging on a few models, as I recall, that was corrected in one of the Big Sur updates, a few updates ago.

So. Are you actually claiming that you fully wiped your drive before installing a pristine (more recent) version of Big Sur, without any installation or restoration of any software that doesn’t come with the Big Sur installation—including no third-party software drivers for third-party add-on hardware (such are often downloaded, installed, and run without user involvement)?

That would be quite extraordinary!

Such has never failed! Such is the most tested configuration of macOS (for all versions)!

If you are actually making this claim, then this would suggest you have a problem with your hardware!

However. Maybe an SMC and/or NVRAM reset—on your truly clean Big Sur install—may help correct some firmware issue that is “masquerading” as a “hardware” problem.

I wonder how long it will take Apple to solve this issue as this thread is open since November 2020.

So long as there are no cases where a truly clean Big Sur install fails on well running and well configured hardware (remember, this is the most tested configuration of all), there is nothing Apple can do «to solve this issue», since there is no issue with Big Sur on the hardware Apple has deemed compatible.

So, a downgrade to Catalina is the only option that REALLY works so far?

If you actually have a problem with a truly clean Big Sur install, that cannot be corrected with any of the firmware resets, then «a downgrade to Catalina» is highly unlikely to perform any better.

(Incidentally, there have been a few cases of hardware failures that caused both Big Sur and Catalina to have power drain and other issues. Hopefully, you aren’t another case.)