MacBook Air M1 battery drain when sleeping

No its not a powered USB C hub. The power to my Macbook is from a USB C monitor connection.

I have since tested with just the web cam connected by a USB C to USB A adapter and it still drains battery. Then I tested with the USB C hub connected but nothing connected to it and still battery drains. It seems the only way to prevent battery drain is to physically remove connectors when putting the device to sleep which really shouldnt be required, I dont have to do that on any other device ( and I use Windows/Linux as well ). This is definitely a flaw though whether it is hardware with M1 MacBooks or MacOS I cant say.

Scott Paterson2:

So long as an attached USB device (webcam, drive, hub, whatever) continues to draw power from the MacBook, whether the MacBook is awake or asleep, the MacBooks battery is going to be drained (unless the MacBook is, itself, being powered by an external source).

Now, perhaps on previous devices, the external USB device was “put to sleep”, or put in some other low power mode, when the host device was “put to sleep”, or put in some other low power mode.

However, unless the external device understands such protocols, as dictated by the new USB 4 standard (which is not completely backward compatible with the older USB standards), it is quite reasonable to expect that the external device may continue to draw its full power.

Unfortunately, I have not researched the power management protocols used in the new USB 4 standard in contrast to the old standards, in order to know where the differences may be leading to such behaviors.

However, I do know that the new USB 4 standard did “throw out” some of the “cruft” of the older standards: it is, definitely, not completely backward compatible with those older standards; it is trying to make a cleaner standard, in preparation for the future.

This power issue is not the only issue that appears to stem from that less than complete backward compatibility.

I was experiencing the same thing with my MacBook Air M1. I would put it asleep with the battery at 100% and 2-3 days later the battery was drained to 0%. Would not even turn on without plugging it into power, then getting the red battery symbol on screen.

I checked Activity Monitor and found that Spotify and WhatsApp were using the most battery power.

I charged the battery back up to 100%, quit Spotify and WhatsApp and put it to sleep. 24 hours later my battery was at 99%. So, it would seem these applications are still active when I think my Air is "asleep". From now on, I will not leave these running. I also turned ON all the options under Settings/Battery/Battery to help further manage my power usage when on batter.

(By the way, it seems that the latest version of macOS no longer specifically has "Power Nap" even though it shows up when you search in Settings.)

Hope that helps someone.

My MacBook Air(M1) uses every hour around one percentage of battery during sleep mode. Look at the following link for more details:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252297360

One of these resolved battery drain overnight on my Intel Mac

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/378557

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7594361?answerId=30346238022#30346238022

This is how my battery drains when I'm not using it. This is a big issue. Any clues?

hi, i lost almost 100% battery in one night while my macbook m1 was sleeping

Same here, really disappointed in the battery life.

Lost half of my battery over night.

I have the same issue, 15% drop overnight. Any clues? The article is not very helpful. How can I see which processes keep the M1 busy while sleeping? Too much coffee?

I'm also experiencing the same issue when connected to a ext monitor using usb-c and the monitor is off. Completely drains it overnight

Hi Neda59,

I would really appreciate if you would post your progress here, my issues are the same and I would also have to rely on Macforum Gothenburg to resolve any issues.

// Björn

I updated to 11.02 but it does not help me.

Same issue here

Same issue on 11.2. Nothing battery related is solved. No to mention that people brag on youtube how their battery doesn't drain at all. Looks like we are "only" ones with this issue.

I did update Macbook Pro 15 (late 2013) to MacOS ver. 11.02 and i see huge performance boost in battery on that laptop. Under normal daily use (browsing etc..) it's giving upto 2 more hours.