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The end of Optimized Battery Charging?


My MBP M1, OS 12.3.1 has  the feature of Optimized Battery Charging since I acquired it in Dec. 2020.

It worked very well charging the battery to max 80%, as required.


Since upgrading to OS 12.3.1 abt two weeks ago, it is charging the battery to full 100%, notwithstanding the fact that the relevant preference is ticked for Optimized Charging, as in attached pic.


Is there a cure for that, please?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.3

Posted on Apr 16, 2022 6:14 AM

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27 replies

Apr 16, 2022 7:59 AM in response to avrahamfromherzliya

It has " Paused " and 80% even when connected to charger.


A few time I have " UnPaused " to force to 90% or 100%


Next time using and to test - Plugged to charger and startup for general usage and notice Paused and percentages lower to 80 % and then waiting minutes - presto the Pause was off the numbers going up ( Battery )


A feature introduced into Big Sur & Monterey was to preserve the number of Full Battery Cycles - there was an Algorithm coded into the macOS. It is perfectly Normal for Big Sur , Monterey to Pause / Suspend charging the battery beyond 80% and hold it at that level. One can nudge / over-ride this by clicking the Battery Icon on Desktop Top Bar and allow charging beyond 80%. From observations, it will Pause / Suspend again once reading 90%. Same procedure to over-ride and will charge to 100%

Apr 17, 2022 1:43 AM in response to PRP_53

Thank you.

To clarify my situation: My computer is permanently connected to the power adapter and until recently it always stopped charging the battery at 80%.

For the past two weeks it is charging to 100 of its own free will. I did not engage that over-ride.

In fact, when I click the Battery Icon on Desktop Top Bar I do not find how to allow charging beyond 80%.

Can you please guide me to that feature, in order to enable me to establish if it was accidentally turned on?

If so, I shall reverse it and happily close this chapter.

Tks again.


Apr 17, 2022 11:52 AM in response to avrahamfromherzliya

avrahamfromherzliya wrote:

For two weeks – since the OS upgrade to 12.3.1 – it is charging to 100%. I do not see it reverting back to 80% on its own.
I savvy nothing of batteries and wonder if it is possible that 100% is optimal.
Should I disconnect from adaptor, use to, say, 25%, then replug and look at the results?

Apple does not publish its "algorithm" for the optimized battery charging. But we know it is based on what is known about the types of batteries used in the laptops. For example, leaving a battery charged to 100% forever does shorten the life of the battery. Additionally, leaving it on 80% (as you observed) helps extend the life of the battery. But it also known that the battery should be "exercised" now and then, e.g. allow some discharge then recharge to 100%, then discharge etc. The Apple algorithm factors this information in to what it observes about your use and whether you leave it connected to the charger all the time. It may charge at 100% for a while to periodically exercise the battery. Staying there for a few weeks is not unusual, and also when it does eventually allow the charge to drop, on my laptops sometimes it does not end up at 80%, for instance right now one is on 76% and "on hold." What causes it to go to 100%? Several things -- sometimes rebooting the Mac resets the timer and may lead to it charging to 100%, where it may stay for a while. Or it may do that based on not wanting it to stay at 80% (or 76%) too long.


I think you are best off just putting the setting on what you want (optimized battery charging) and then leaving it alone. Keep in mind that the Mac collects information about battery use over some ~ weeks before it decides to make a change to the charging level when in "optimized" mode.

Apr 17, 2022 10:58 PM in response to etresoft

Thank you.

This is a reply to both Steve and Phillips.

It seems there's a great misunderstanding on my part. The quotations you present are explaining why, in certain situations, charging stops at 80%. This is clear and does not require Apple's algorithm to explain it. My situation is the OPPOSITE. It used to be 80% for 15 months and then suddenly stepped up to 100%, while there was no change in my usage routine.

Moreover I have a very strong feeling the change took place immediately after upgrading to OS 12.3.1.

It is very difficult to believe that suddenly 100% charge becomes the optimal. I wonder if any other users have noted this change. Perhaps something is wrong with my machine, I do not know.

That said, I doubt we can solve the problem here. I think best action for me is to unplug from power adaptor from time to time, work down to 20% and replug again, while waiting for a new OS update that might resolve the optimal charging issue.

I had similar situations with this computer (M1 - Big Sur - Monterey), such as 25-30 minutes to launch Mail on Mac, complete shutdown after putting computer to sleep, and more. Those were eventually fixed by the guys at Cupertino or Herzliya. (The latter is situated 1 km from my home. I pass there every morning on my daily walk, but they won't let me in to talk to them....).

Thank you so much for your help and time. I'll keep you abreast of developments.

Apr 18, 2022 5:12 AM in response to avrahamfromherzliya

I'm sorry, but there is absolutely nothing we can do about this other than quote Apple documentation at you.


"Your iPhone uses on-device machine learning to learn your daily charging routine so that Optimized Battery Charging activates only when your iPhone predicts it will be connected to a charger for an extended period of time" and


"Your Mac learns your charging routine and aims to ensure that your Mac is fully charged when unplugged."


Apple does not specify how long this learning takes. It is reasonable to assume that any change to the algorithm, or significant changes to your configuration, such as installing a new version of the operating system, will require an update to the parameters, necessitating a new learning sequence.

May 7, 2022 3:41 PM in response to avrahamfromherzliya

@avra, Wondering if there's been any change in the charging behavior, now that it's been a few weeks?


I am experiencing something similar. My new MBP that I've had for about a month was consistently charging to 80% (as expected/preferred) with battery optimization enabled, and plugged in most of the time. A few days ago, I unplugged and ran the battery down quite a bit (perhaps ~25% +/-), and when I plugged it back in, it charged to 100%, where it's remained for the last few days. I'm hoping it will go back down soon.


Just as there is a way to over-ride optimized battery charging, I wish there was a way to force/manually control optimized battery charging.

May 7, 2022 9:13 PM in response to avrahamfromherzliya

We use two different MacBook Pros that are on "optimized charging" and are connected to a charger most of the time. I have observed both stay at 80%, sometimes one will stay at a slightly lower or higher %. And sometimes one will go up to 100%, one of those two is in fact currently at 100%, the other is at 78%, both are connected to chargers.


Apple uses a proprietary (not revealed to us) algorithm for this and what I have observed is that it does not just stay at 80% forever, it will sometimes charge to 100% and stay there for some days or weeks, and then go down and stay at a lower number for a while. It is best for the battery to be "exercised" now and then, versus stay at one value for extended periods.


There is only one way to "interfere" or try to control this -- that is to click the "charge to full now." but that will take the battery to 100%. Which seems to be not what you want. Also, I have found that restarting the Mac (which of course happens during the MacOS upgrade you performed) SOMETIMES seems to reset the cycle and it goes to 100% ... but not every time.


I suggest that you focus on other more pressing matters and not worry about this or interfere with the process that Apple designed to maximize the life of your battery. Worry about things you can control. Leave it on the "optimize battery" and let it do its cycling, which changes slowly, on the timescale of weeks or even months. And someday you very well might need to replace the battery when or if it wears out, but it's an inexpensive service; however leaving it on the optimize battery setting and not interfering will result in the longest battery life.

Jun 12, 2022 6:17 AM in response to avrahamfromherzliya

Well, some good (?) news at last.

Since early May I left my MBP permanently connected to the adaptor. It continuously charged to 100%.

About ten days ago I noticed battery level is set at 79-80%.

I suppose the optimisation scheme is working.

I doubt I will notice that in my power bill, but hope the battery will live longer.

I wonder if there's a way to measure that, except of "wait and see".

Best to all.

The end of Optimized Battery Charging?

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