Battery draining in macOS Monterey - M1 MacBook Air

Before considering a downgrade to Big Sur and battery issue outlined above >>

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Apple Tech Support told me to do this

"Since noticing the issue here, have you tried steps on your Mac?

Like resetting the SMC, or the NVRAM?

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201295

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT204063"

Seriously, I supported Apple because I don't want to deal with any of these techy settings. So now, they want me to go do this SMC/NVRAM stuff but what's going to be next?! would they ask me to install drivers? lol

I have a brand new M1 Pro MBP 14" (10c/16c 1TB) which I updated to Monterey 12.1 immediately on purchase, not exactly the same scenario so I can't say if this is a Monterey 12.1 issue or a hardware issue:

My MBP drains approximately 3% per hour while in sleep e.g., I'll sleep the MBP at 100% battery and wake to 80% (system settings: screen time off, DND on, low power mode on, all apps closed, bluetooth off, notifications off, wake for network access off, no peripherals plugged in). Prior to utilising these system settings the battery would drain approx. 5% per hour so you could try similar system settings.

In terms of everyday usage I get approximately 7-8 hours usage with light browsing and youtube playback through Safari. A fair bit less than expected.

My partner has an identically specced M1 Pro MBP 14" purchased at the same time and when tested and compared for same use case over a number of days: hits 12-14 hours usage with 0% battery drain over night with identical apps installed, and with identical app and system settings used.

Anecdotally, a colleague with the entry spec M1 Pro MBP 14" obtains a similar 12-14 hours usage while word processing/emailing at work while using external display though I have not had the same opportunity to test my colleagues MBP as I have had with my partners MBP.

On the advice of others, I have been running pmset logs and can see that while in sleep last night my MBP:

• Dark Wake's from deep idle at intervals of anywhere between once every 15 seconds to once every 5 minutes,
• Stays awake anywhere from 6 to 54 seconds each Dark Wake.

Stats since last reboot (last night immediately before sleeping):

• Sleep Count 440
• Dark Wake Count 435,
• User Wake Count 7.

The above had initially led me to believe that there may be a hardware issue with my MBP (I will be taking this in to the Genius bar for assessment) however, I have seen a relatively high number of anecdotal reports across various forums, including Apple support communities, where owners of M1 MBP 13" and M1 MBA are also experiencing similar battery drain issues both in sleep and during use after updating to Monterey.

Perhaps I'm facing both a hardware and software issue.

Reporting back: I took the time to test my MBP performance in the weeks prior to and after my Genius Bar appointment recording battery life percentage every hour during my workday, screen brightness, apps in use, duration of use, peripherals connected etc. so took a bit longer to reply this time.

I completely wiped and did a fresh macOS install, zero apps installed prior to appointment to get a baseline.

Good news and bad news after appointment :

• Apple ran a diagnostic and could see something wasn’t right immediately as reported battery life was about 1/4 less than they expected despite battery health and reported hardware condition being optimal
• Had to leave my Mac overnight for fresh firmware reinstall for t2 chip etc and for further testing

The result of all firmware updates was… mixed. I restored my Mac with time machine when I got it back and have observed the following in the past 3 weeks since my appointment:

• I don’t get battery drain overnight anymore but that was fixed during 12.2 for me so the firmware reinstall wasn’t responsible for this
• increase in battery life (approx 3hours greater) during ordinary browsing, YouTube streaming, music app etc however macOS 12.3 installed halfway through testing period so I can’t be certain that this increase in battery life was solely due to firmware update
• no change to poor battery life when using the MBP for work. Still average about 8 hours use before I hit 20% battery time remaining.
• When using my partners identical machine with identical apps, I achieved 50% remaining after 8 hours use. When she used my machine she was left with approx 20% - so battery life isn’t down to individual use patterns

Not sure how to explain this one. I seem to get improved battery life during casual use so that’s a plus. The zero change for productivity is a bit of a bummer.

Considering the amount of people getting similar battery life to me I’m putting this down as normal and expected performance for the MBP 14, and suspect my partners MBP battery performance is the outlier here and a simply a case of her having won the silicon lottery.

I’ll still keep the machine. It’s an impressive little thing and I’m hoping future updates to macOS and to third party apps claws back some of that battery life.

Same issue here with my MacPro Intel i5(16 GB).

Still regretting why i went for intel as it was just a few months before M1 launch.

Normal battery life was around 3-4 hours(just browsing).

After Monterey update, battery doesn't even last for an hour.

Paid 1800 euros for this crap.. :(

Fans run crazy even running a small app.

I had this issue as well. I downgraded to Big Sur on my M1 MBP and the battery life immediately got better, I would suggest the same to anyone experiencing this issue. Gonna wait a very long time until updating to Monterey.

Im having the same issue as well. Im on a 2020 M1 MacBook Pro bought in mid September 2021. Based on my battery usage during Big Sur and Monterey, Monterey drains the battery a little bit more.. Used to be able to last a whole week without charging when I'm doing my school work on Big Sur but now I need charges in between classes.. Hope Apple issues an update on this too

Same exact experience on my M1 MB Air (8GB/256GB) purchased early September 2021. I figured it was the video wallpaper application I was using but no change after disabling it.

[Edited by Moderator]

I have the same issue with my Macbook Air M1 2020. I have searched a lot and no solution was found. I did downgrade to the BigSur and the issue is fixed now.

I am expecting Apple to fix this messy issue. I cannot tolerate such a fast battery draining on my brand new M1 Mac.

Hello all,

I have the same battery fast drain issue on my MBP M1 2020, have spoken with customer support, they have suggested to create new user without signing to icloud, i am able to get the same battery life as big sur, they have told it might be monterey installation issue. Sad thing is apple has not known or officially declared this issue. Hope this is helpful

I have the same problem. My M1 MacBook Air battery capacity is currently at 100%;

when it was running on BigSur the battery lasted for days,

but now after downloading Monterey

battery drains from 100% to 75% after about 2 hours of use...

I really hope Apple fixes this issue soon, great battery life was one of the biggest advantages of the new Air for me.

With low power mode selected and all app auto-updates turned off, I'd say I'm getting about half the battery life too. It's a pain but I think I'll need reset my MacBook to it's orignal out-of-the-box state with Big Sur..

I have exactly the same issue with my MacBook Air M1; Battery life was heavenly, but now it's depressingly short. I always take good care of the batteries, spending as much time within the 20-80% range, and dimming my screen. But this is just too painful to watch :(

Downgrading to Big Sur seems like a hassle. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. Next time, I will wait a couple of weeks before upgrading!

My BRAND NEW 16" Macbook Pro 2021 running MacOS Monterey 12.0.1 has a battery that's draining ridiculously fast. So disappointed. This is not the battery life that this expensive machine is purported to have. : /

Since the upgrade to Monterey on a MacBook Pro 13" 2020 Intel i7 a few days ago , there is a process in the background called WindowServer that overloads the Mac. Even without any apps open, apart from the system relevant ones, this process loads the processors well over 100%. As a result, it gets very hot and the fans run almost continuously. With Big Sur I had the fans only when working with CAD and 3d models - now they run almost non-stop. The battery now lasts just over an hour just browsing and I have to carry the power supply with me everywhere. I find that unacceptable for a 3,000 euro Mac and I hope Apple will quickly eliminate this problem.