MacBook Air M1 battery drain when sleeping

Hi, just bought a MacBook 4 days ago and i notice a almost 10% drop on the first night, with mail and safari open, which should be about right because probably it was indexing.

One thing that I always turn off in every MacBook I owned is the photolibraryd service. It uses a lot of battery and cpu and just by that the battery drain in the next night was just 1% with lid closed.

Hope that resolves your issue

Same here. Looks like I wasted 1600$

Zero screen time and the battery goes down. And I was one of those who thought it's time to switch to the "future" with this "extraordinary" device with "longest" battery time.

https://i.ibb.co/hmFM4Vs/Screenshot-2021-01-29-at-03-07-03.png

Hi Björn,

Do not waste your time with Macforum Gothenburg. They told me after five days: "The Battery drains somewhat when in sleep mode, but nothing out of the specifications Apple has published. Apple diagnostics report no issue with the battery."

Contact apple support and ask them to send your laptop to Apple service center. It seems there is an Apple service center in Netherland.

Also do not waste your time with reinstalling macOS. I spend two weeks and tried different ways that Apple support told me but I just waste my time.

If you have a return time then just refund it and take the new one.

I have found that my new MacBook Pro 13" M1 only drains the battery when I have my Satechi dock (ST-TCMM8PAM) connected during sleep.

If I let the M1 sleep for 10 hours with the Satechi dock connected it will drop in battery like seen in the other screenshots above. Nothing is connected to the dock.

If I disconnect the dock and leave the M1 sleep for 10 hours with nothing else connected it will stay at 100%.

So my M1 holds battery very well without anything connected but not with the dock connected.

I have a 2019 MacBook Pro 15" (Intel) with the same dock connected and there is no abnormal battery drain overnight when it's connected so the problem seems only to be related to the M1.

I have a 2017 MacBook Pro and I have had the same issue. It is Big Sur, I never had this problem on Catalina or previous software versions. With the update to 11.02 on 2/2/2021 it completely resolved the issue, in 12 hours of standby it drained 3% and after 3 hours of use browsing the web, email, Spotify, and YouTube it drained 34%, not bad and that’s better battery life than it got on Catalina, would be approximately 11 hours of use and 16 days of standby. By comparison on 11.01 it was lasting at most 4 hours under similar use and losing around 20% a day in standby. I ordered the new M1 MBA because I thought there was something wrong with my MBP but now I’m thinking of canceling that order. Can anyone confirm if 11.02 fixed your issues?

Update: I have found that leaving my MacBook Pro 13" M1 overnight with just a regular ethernet to USB-C adapter attached (no ethernet cable plugged in just the empty adapter) will drain the battery about 1% per hour.

If I disconnect the adapter and leave the M1 sleep overnight with nothing connected to the USB-C ports then battery will stay at 100%.

So if you experience battery drainage check if anything is connected to your M1 and try letting it sleep without anything connected to see if that helps.

I don't see this on a MacBook Pro 15" Intel so clearly this is a problem with the M1 which Apple need to fix.

I have the same issue but find that the battery will be almost entirely drained overnight if not plugged in whilst closed in sleep mode.

I also see very fast battery drain during normal usage of the device.

Brand new M1 MacBook Air delivered at the beginning of February 2021

I posted previously regarding a 2017 MacBook Pro that had battery issues on Big Sur, but then was resolved with the 11.2 update, which actually dramatically improved performance and battery of that machine. I already ordered an M1 MacBook Air to replace it and considered cancelling the MacBook Air. I ultimately received the M1 MacBook Air on February 13th and I only installed one application so far not optimized for the M1: Spotify. I charged it all the way up upon receipt and it hasn't been plugged in since. On battery I have used it for internet browsing and applications in Safari, watching videos in AppleTV, email using Mail, Messages, and Photos. I'm at 45 hours on battery, 40% of battery remaining, it hasn't used any battery while asleep, and I'd guess around 6.5-7 hours of use; so I'm not having the problem many of you here are having, at least yet. I hope everyones battery issues get resolved through a software update and that it isn't a hardware issue; I'm wondering if it has something to do with applications not optimized for the M1 being installed or connection to peripherals?

I agree there is a problem with connection to peripherals. The reports clearly show that problem.. However, the reports also indicate an internal issue within the computer. Excessive battery drain in sleep mode is reported in numerous places. This happens even when no software is running. (This is the exact reason I reported the problem to Apple. ) The peripherals compound the issue. Further, I suggest that you are doing light use of the computer and the battery life is less than expected.

I disagree, I'm getting around 12-13 hours of light use with multiple applications running, mail checking in the background, web applications, web video, AppleTV video, brightness and volume varying. While Apple states up to 15 hours of just web browsing at ½ brightness and no video or audio, and 18 hours of just 1080p video on AppleTV at ½ brightness and no statement on volume. If just watching AppleTV I believe it could do close to that 18 hour mark, it seems to use almost no power. One thing I noticed, Pages seems to really be an energy hog which makes no sense to me.

I can't speak to anything else to help ya, but if you go to system preferences > Sharing > then click the box that says "Remote Login". this will allow you to run ssh, a command line tool that allows access to a shell on your Mac via an app on your phone/tablet/computer, any of these can do it, then connect to the computer from the phone or whatever and in the shell type just

top

and press enter, and it will allow you to see all your processes running then. if you are familiar enough with your terminal to have installed/used homebrew (a package/app installation/management system for Mac to expand control over OS)

That level of battery drain is much greater than mine. I am losing 4 to 8 percent overnight while in sleep mode. Moreover, the battery will drain fast while just surfing.

I have taken the machine to an Apple store, who found no problems. After working with Apple on line, they originally found some anomalies. Supposedly they corrected the software problem...not really telling me what it was. We ran tests again. They concluded everything was OK now. However, there is no change in the battery discharge pattern. Looking for a higher up at Apple to speak with me. If anyone has a suggestion for a third party service to review/analyze, please let me know. I am very dissattisfied with the laptop and with Apple's response so far!

I have this problem too, I might have figured out something;

My macOS is the latest, battery condition is normal, diagnostic showed no issues, I don’t have chrome, and I don’t leave any app running, I also optimized all battery and DND settings, closed most notifications, and even sometimes shut down WiFi and Bluetooth, and still it drains!

I contacted Apple support multiple times but without any results, they told me to restart, reinstall OS, but none of these helped.

I found that “windowserver” and “powered” prevent my Mac from sleeping, those weren’t present in intel version as fas as I know, and Apple support couldn’t help me with either

What I’ve noticed after many trails is that, whenever anything is connected to the USB-C ports (like flash drive, or external monitor), that drains battery (although when I told that to Apple advisor, he denied that, and told me that it shouldn’t)

This is what I got so far, and I thought of sharing it with you, maybe it would help someone.

I just hope, if these maybe the cause of the issue, (either those apps which prevent sleep, or battery drain because of anything is connected to the USB-C ports) that Apple developers can solve ASAP in an update.

A new update has been released today Big Sur 11.2.2.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/02/25/apple-releases-macos-big-sur-11-2-2/

It might also fix drain problems as it is directly related with affects of third-party, non-compliant powered USB-C hubs and docks.

I am currently upgrading and I'll let you know.

Precisely the issue I had and the solution to the annoying battery drain problem. Disconnecting USB-C backup drive dramatically improves the overnight battery drain. OK to leave thunderbolt 3 external monitor plugged in.