I have a MacBook Pro 16; that is 5 months old. It will not charge above 80%. I have done shutdowns and restarts, and I ran the diagnostics which said there is nothing wrong. Any ideas. I was running OS 14.4 and when I called Applecare they suggested upgrading to 15.3.2 but there is no change. It still only charges t 80%
[Edited by Moderator]
MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 2023)
see this article targeting Intel laptops:
About battery health management in Mac laptops - Apple Support
The goal is to have some hurly-burly in battery levels away from the 100 percent charged level, 100 percent of the time. The typical observed 80 percent level is a side-effect, NOT the ultimate goal. That goal is some activity and churn at levels lower than completely FULL.
if you use your computer on battery alone for a period of time, it may respond by fully charging for a while. this is NOT a defect, its is attempting to provide maximum runtimes when needed. After a while, it may revert to a lower level again.
see this article targeting Intel laptops:
About battery health management in Mac laptops - Apple Support
The goal is to have some hurly-burly in battery levels away from the 100 percent charged level, 100 percent of the time. The typical observed 80 percent level is a side-effect, NOT the ultimate goal. That goal is some activity and churn at levels lower than completely FULL.
if you use your computer on battery alone for a period of time, it may respond by fully charging for a while. this is NOT a defect, its is attempting to provide maximum runtimes when needed. After a while, it may revert to a lower level again.
Ken Spencer wrote:
I have a MacBook Pro 16; that is 5 months old. It will not charge above 80%. I have done shutdowns and restarts, and I ran the diagnostics which said there is nothing wrong. Any ideas. I was running OS 14.4 and when I called Applecare they suggested upgrading to 15.3.2 but there is no change. It still only charges t 80%
[Edited by Moderator]
What happens if you hold the Option key and click the Battery icon in the upper right menu bar?
Charge to Full Now
Ken Spencer wrote:
WOW! "Charge to full now?" What's that all about? I am already up to 83% What have I missed, all these years, using my older MacBook Pro from 2015? :-) I called Applecare and the person, clearly reading from a script, did not suggest this. Is only charging the battery to 80% a process that leads to longer battery life? Thanks so much for your help!
Good news. Thanks for your reply.
I will add in light of the Battery Health Manage to prolong the workin life of your battery
The rule of thumb—if you are near the mains leave it plugged in, if you need the portability then run on the battery only—this is how you help optimize your battery charging and extend the working life of your battery by reducing the cycle count.
If you do not need 100% for your travels, let the software work for you and forget about it.
It's a relatively new feature. As I recall, you wouldn't have had this option on your 2015 MBP.
WOW! "Charge to full now?" What's that all about? I am already up to 83% What have I missed, all these years, using my older MacBook Pro from 2015? :-) I called Applecare and the person, clearly reading from a script, did not suggest this. Is only charging the battery to 80% a process that leads to longer battery life? Thanks so much for your help!
This is great news to me. Thank you so much! And that's also great knowing about Battery Health Management. What is astounding to me is that when I called Applecare and told the agent that I had a MacBook Pro 16, she never came up with anything in her script or however they do that, that considered the Battery Health Management. I was going to head over to the Apple store and talk to a person who might know, but then I thought "Wait, try the forums!" Best decision I made! Thank you to everyone who helped with this one! Much appreciated.
Thanks. You are correct, that feature is not on my older MBPro.
Thanks so much for the details about why the battery software works the way it does. It always helps to know why stuff does what it does! I really appreciate your help!
MacBook Pro 16 won't charge above 80%
