Optimized battery charging issue solved ( MBP 2020, macOS Ventura )

hello whoever you are, you seem oddly interested in my personal viewpoint.

The reality is that this feature does not work, you can find all information you need in official documentation written by apple such as About Optimized Battery Charging on your iPhone - Apple Support

this is not "something somebody wrote on the internet"

It is not working, still waiting for a proper fix

ejbpesca wrote:

The battery charge optimizer on this MacBook M2 Sonoma does not function. At nearly two years old the battery has only been at 100% charge even though the optimizer is on. My question is now should I take it off the adapter cable and allow the battery to discharge periodically? Would an app like AlDente be a good choice for keeping the charge at 80%?

AlDente will keep your Mac at a preset percentage.

The free version keeps it at exactly that percentage.

The paid version will allow the battery to get a little exercise, by allowing it to drain a bit, and bring it backup, so the battery is not static at say 80%.

Yes, I own a copy of AlDente, and have paid for the extra features.

I obtained AlDente BEFORE Apple introduced Optimized Charging.

What I've found with respect the Apple's Optimized charing is if you are totally random on when you remove your Mac from power, it is difficult of the Mac to predict when it should charge the Mac to 100% before you take it off of power, so it just keeps it at 100%.

If you are sitting on the charger all the time, or if you have a habit of removing your Mac from the charger at 7:15am (more or less) every day before going to work, then it can predict when it needs to bring the Mac up from 80% to 100% in time for you to start using the Mac via the battery.

Now " the gate is open " on this topic.

The more persons and user who provide feedback the greater the chance Apple Will Listen

If everybody sits on their respective hands waiting for the Other Person(s) to do it , nothing will get done

Above is a personal opinion.

Batteries are considered Consumable Products. Over time it will degrade to a point where it needs to be replaced. The usage is normal as the capacity will go up and down all the time and never stay always at 100%. Apple Batteries are rated for 1000 Full Battery Cycles and / or 80% Capacity before needing Evaluation or replacement.

For additional reading on Battery and Apple Computers this link may help. About battery health management in Mac notebooks and especially for the M1 / M2 and Big Sur  & Monterey  and Ventura If battery charging is paused or on hold on your Mac

Depending on the Age of the computer, some aspects from the above links, may or may not apply to your computer.

A feature introduced into Big Sur & Monterey and Ventura 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, Ventura 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%

In my case, it took about 6 months for the Slow Learner Algorithm to kick in ( humour here )

kivanc48 wrote:

• Thank you for your informative replay, since there is no explanation from apple about how this feature works with a some technical point of view, we are experimenting with trial and errors. As I do not want my battery to wear off during some unnecessary charging/discharging cycles during learning.

Original poster from reddit explains that he contacted the apple support for this issue and get it is working by doing steps that I summarized.

Although I want to see some details as an engineer the solution I proposed is simple and also helpful for common usage. That is like that:

They will need to put some status indication to battery settings like "refreshing battery" or "learning in progress".

• Or some simple checkbox to indicate the computer is generally on AC power. ( Charger is always plugged )

Then have a few suggestions ;

1 - Get Support Choose a product and we’ll find you the best solution.Start now and open an Apple Support Ticket as they are Apple Employees to deal will these types of issues . 

2 - Product Feedback - Apple and make it known to Apple regarding this ongoing issue or request a Feature Addition

I accept (and expect) that not everyone agrees with me.

Previously, most of us happily went about using our Macs with the supplied chargers and batteries. I have seen varying lifetimes for these older laptop batteries in the past. One on a 13-year old 2010 MacBook Air I have still shows 83% original capacity. Another, on a 2013 MacBook Air, had to be replaced after 6 years.

Apple's introduction of the better battery management methods in its newest laptops and iPhones was a welcome development for most of us users. Made the product better and it was one less thing to worry about.

It sounds like you want to get more insight and even the ability to control that battery charging behavior at the user level. It seems that Apple does not want to do that at present.

Use this link to offer suggestions:

Product Feedback - Apple

P. Phillips actually suggested this some posts earlier, but your response was that it would be "futile." All I can say to that is: if you don't ask, the answer is guaranteed to be "no." We have seen some bugs fixed and features added when people provided feedback. Was it because of the feedback? We may never know, but it doesn't hurt to provide feedback and might be helpful.

Keep in mind that large companies prioritize new or changed features in the operating system. There is significant cost to any such change. These changes have to be soak tested thoroughly at significant expense before release. My guess is that security updates are a high priority. As might be adding features that many users want. I am guessing that allowing users to modify the optimized battery charging settings might be desired by a small minority of advanced users, but the vast majority of millions or billions of Mac users would not care, they just want their batteries to last. But if no one provides feedback to Apple, they will never know how many users want such features.

Personally, I would not be interested in the added complexity. It's just a battery! I prefer the current Apple set up. I doubt you or I could do a better job than the Apple algorithm anyway. Most users simply use their laptops and replace the battery when it wears out and probably do not care to micromanage the precise charging modes or patterns. The new Apple battery management probably means the batteries will last longer than they used to. Most Mac users replace their laptops before they have to replace their batteries.

There are many other posts from readers impatient for their Mac to "learn" a new battery management charging pattern faster. In all cases that I have seen, if the user is patient, the laptop does learn eventually. It may take weeks or months. But if the laptop is used occasionally off the charger, holding the charge level to 80% may not even be necessary, since the battery is already being periodically discharged and charged.

This is a user community, not Apple employees. Your approach may be interesting to some readers, but only Apple can implement it.

Product Feedback - Apple

Original orientations from @kivanc48 (first post) worked for me. Thank you

Macbook M1 MAX

6 days plugged via usb-c (I use two monitors as charger via usb-c, not the magsafe adapter), and the battery was at 100% and in green state.

Steps I followed:

• activated sleep mode
• unplugged the monitors (not using magsafe charger here)
• used the computer for 5 mins
• shutdown
• start
• login
• plugged the first monitor (waited image appears)
• plugged the second monitor (waited image appears)
• closed the lid (do not need it as I am using external displays)
• 1 minute later my mac activated the paused state battery (optimized charging)

With all due respect, I don't think you are correct about this.

I use two 2019 16" MacBook Pro laptops, both on 13.4.1(c). Both are plugged in almost all the time in one location. Then they are shut down (powered off fully), moved to another location, where they are then connected to the charger and THEN powered on. Within several weeks, both reverted to a long-term charge level of 80% with "Charging on Hold (Rarely Used Battery)" showing under the battery menu icon. Sometimes the level is 77% or something similar. Periodically, once in a while, they charge up to 100%. Then decreasing back to close to 80%. When the laptop, maybe once a week or so, is removed from the charger and used for a while, it will often charge up to 100%, stay there for a while but if on the power supply for another day or two, will go back to the lower (80%) level.

I have observed these behaviors very carefully because I was concerned at first about this "learning" behavior. When powered off, I almost never power on unless first connected to a charger, which is the opposite of what you suggest. But clearly both the laptops I use (one at work, one is a personal device) have learned to alter the charging behavior to preserve the battery.

My daughter also has a 2019 MacBook Pro 16" and she reports the same behavior as I have seen. These experiences do not match what you are reporting.

You posted in Reddit "that learning doesn't preserve between restarts or updates." From what I have observed on three MacBook Pros, it absolutely does preserve between restarts and updates. It would make no sense if it did not.

kivanc48 wrote:

What are you sayin 6 months to learn :) I believe we talked this before, I remembered that.

Yes you are right about sending feedback to Apple but regarding to my past experiences It is hard to find someone who has a grasp on the subject.

To achieve that level of would probably require having a Developers Level to communicate with the Apple Software Engineers

When I heard about the word "algorithms" I usually laugh because when you do not know about how it works or may not want to explain the details you generally use the sentences like "there are algorithms for solving these kind of problems"

By the way do you agree that this functionality was much better on Monterey ?

I can say with great certainty - the newest addition being a M2 machine purchased March 2023 that originally came with Ventura 13.0 and upgraded up to Ventura 13.5 is Still Learning

The Battery Capacity, as measures in Amps / hour, is still reporting 100 % to 102 % of Designed Capacity with about 5 Full Battery Cycles

Hope you find this information informative or at least helpful