Battery draining in macOS Monterey - M1 MacBook Air

My M1 MacBook Air is a brand new one(1 month old). The battery life was awesome until I downloaded and upgraded the OS to the macOS Monterey. The current battery drain is like down to 62% from 100% in just 3 hours. Is anyone else facing the same issue? What can be the steps to downgrade my macOS back to Big Sur?

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Nov 2, 2021 11:46 PM

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144 replies

Mar 20, 2022 12:41 PM in response to jrk_karthik

Does anybody see any improvements in the new update@12.3?

Apr 23, 2022 7:59 PM in response to jrk_karthik

Same with a macbook pro 16 ... just before the update at 100% it was 10 hours of autonomy and after the update 3 hours ...

danii522

Level 1

8 points

Apr 26, 2022 5:00 AM in response to jrk_karthik

After installing Monterrey 12.3.1 my battery have been draining exponentially like by doing light for such as browse on safari and some pdf docs it drains more than 30% in an hour of use.

Dec 22, 2021 1:43 PM in response to jrk_karthik

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

thalestr

Level 1

8 points

Dec 27, 2021 5:45 PM in response to randolph136

I did a fresh install of 12.1 to give it another shot, but the situation was the same even with a 100% clean install with no non-stock programs. Downgraded to Big Sur and my battery has been superb since. Can go 15-20 minutes before it drops a percent when doing light activities.

Something is seriously wrong with Monterey's performance and power management.

gpranav

Level 1

12 points

Dec 19, 2021 6:49 PM in response to anastasia195

M1 or intel?

Aylisrg

Level 1

8 points

Dec 22, 2021 12:45 PM in response to kwanjohi

I deleted Dropbox and Google Drive apps and the battery went back to a whole day live long cycle

Dec 22, 2021 1:33 PM in response to gpranav

Intel

Uiso

Level 1

8 points

Jan 13, 2022 8:05 AM in response to jrk_karthik

I also upgraded to Mac os Monterey and it is making my computer hotter and it drains the battery too fast . It is really not the Apple silicon that I know of . I am using a Macbook Pro 13 inch.

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Battery draining in macOS Monterey - M1 MacBook Air