How often should you charge the battery?

first123question921 wrote:

How often should my battery be charged? Is it okay to leave it plugged in while at home?

The rule of thumb—if you are near the mains leave it plugged in, if you need the portability then run on a battery only.

This is how you reduce the cycle count and prolong the working life of your battery.

Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks

Determine battery cycle count for Mac notebooks - Apple Support

The BHM software (battery health management) will do the rest for you, you do not have to micromanage the battery.

About battery health management in Mac notebooks intel— introduced with macOS10.15.5

About battery health management in Mac notebooks - Apple Support

w/ silicon

About battery health management in Mac notebooks - Apple Support

I usually recharge my 2021 16-in MBP M1 Pro when the battery is down to 50% (my arbitrary number), and definitely have it on the charger when performing macOS (or Xcode) update downloads and installations. I leave mine plugged in until it is charged, or if I am doing more intensive work on it. Otherwise, it is off the charger.

first123question921 wrote:

How often should my battery be charged? Is it okay to leave it plugged in while at home?

You can leave the charger plugged in whenever needed or convenient to do so. Leaving it plugged in will not damage the computer nor the battery. The computer's power/charging system is very capable of managing the system. There is no need for you to micromanage the power/charging of the computer.

Mine is plugged in whenever I am near a plug. I only use it unplugged when traveling.

That computer is a battery-CAPABLE device. It is not optimized as a battery-operated device. (It is NOT an iPhone.)

Your computer performs best when connected to AC power. It can use the full output of the Power Adapter AND when doing especially challenging work will also freely "borrow" power from the battery. In some cases, even with the power adapter connected, the charged state may even decline during stressful work.

When used only on battery, your computer has no extra cushion of power, and will perform more slowly. However, for ordinary non-stressful tasks this may not be objectionable (possibly not even noticeable.)

In general, you should ALWAYS connect AC power when it is possible to do so, and only run on batteries (which will be somewhat slower) when no AC sources are at hand. Your Mac will NEVER over-charge.

I don't travel with my MacBook Pro. It is my main computer and it is plugged in 100% of the time. The battery management system is very smart. My device recognizes I don't use it on battery and as such, with Optimized Battery Charging turned on, it keeps the battery at 80%, which is optimal for the long term health of the battery.

As others have said, you can't overcharge the battery.