Service Recommended - Battery (Macbook Pro Retina 2016 with 2 Thunderbolt ports)

Resetting SMC is the only step a user can take.

Number of cycles often don't tell the whole story.

For more info:

Battery health management:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211094?cid=mc-ols-energy_saver-article_ht211094-macos_ui-04022020

Battery Service:https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

                        https://support.apple.com/mac    Get support

Please read about Battery Service programs.

Apple Service Programs

• 15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Recall Program
• 13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) Battery Replacement Program

madaboutdarcy wrote:

Thanks for this! I suppose I really have to bring it to the service center.

In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment for a "hardware issue"—

https://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Outside the USA

https://locate.apple.com/country

From iOS device using the app to make a online Genius Bar appointment is easy:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-support/id1130498044?mt=8

“Mac notebook, contact us and we'll send you a box you can use to ship it to an Apple Repair Center. We'll return your repaired product to you as quickly as possible. Depending on where you get service, you might be able to check the status of your repair online.” Start a service request https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/

or call AppleCare Support at 1-800-APLCARE (800-275-2273)

Outside the USA—Contact Apple for support and service by phone

See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232

Learn how to get your Mac fixed and how much it will cost.

https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

Get your Mac ready for service - Apple Support https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209095

Unfortunately beginning with macOS 10.15 Catalina Apple changed how batteries are managed making them more like the iPhone & iPads. Previously Apple had four different battery conditions which really allowed a user to know the true status of the battery (Normal, Replace Soon, Replace Now, Service Battery), but now with macOS 10.15+ there is just two conditions (Normal and Service Recommended). Before the "Replace Soon" and "Replace Now" indicated a healthy battery with diminished capacity with the former meaning capacity was below 80% of original and the latter was at a point where the battery would probably only hold a charge for an hour or so while "Service Battery" meant macOS had detected a hardware issue with the battery. Now "Service Recommended" combines the latter three conditions into one which in my personal opinion is overly simplified and just causes even more confusion and wastes many people's money.

Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if it reports a battery failure. If the diagnostic does not report an issue, then the battery status may mean that capacity has fallen below 80% capacity from what it had from the factory when new.

You can use the Coconut Battery app to retrieve the original design capacity of the battery from the factory to determine how much the Full Charge Capacity has fallen from the original design capacity. I'm not sure if there is any way to get this information from with macOS even using the command line. I don't know why Apple doesn't provide this information in the System Profiler as it is quite useful information.

madaboutdarcy wrote:

I have downloaded Coconut Battery and it says battery is at 69%.

If that is the percentage of Design Capacity, then the much lowered battery capacity is what triggered the "Service Recommended" status.

FYI, here is the current list of the publicly acknowledged free repair programs for various Apple products (some products such as your laptop have multiple programs):

https://support.apple.com/service-programs