my battery on my MacBook Pro M1 Pro late 2021 is always on 100 and my battery health is at 87. I'm always plugged in and was wondering if there is a safe way to force the battery to lower to 80 charge, to relieve the pressure and preserve battery health. I have optimized charging on, but it is not stopping at 80 charge.
The BHM learns as it goes...
You do not have to micro-manage battery charging, let the built in software work for you. Use your mac as you see fit.
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.
About BHM battery health management M1/M2/M3/M4 SoC
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211832
If you are determined to do something—shut down and reboot.
A SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262 will sort anomalies
Battery Health Management feature tracks your usage history and detects that you do not generally run your battery down to low levels. So when you see less than 100 percent as a full charge, it is charging less than the highest level for longest battery lifetime.
NOTE that charging to 80 percent is a side-effect, NOT the GOAL.
The goal is to have some hurly-burly (percolating activity) around using your battery, either by your actually using it, or by leaving it less than fully charged, so that the cells are not 100 percent charged 100 percent of the time. Battery Health Management will also from time-to-time let the battery decline slightly to 'get some exercise' and run lower (thought to be around twice monthly) if you do not do so by your ordinary use.
The feature tracks you actual usage. If you continue to not require 100 percent charge for a few weeks, it generally will revert to a lower "full" level. but it takes some experience, which takes some time
If your recent usage patterns demand top battery capacity, the battery will charge completely to be sure you are not stuck out in the wild with no power.
Executive summary: “If you keep your Mac plugged in continuously for several days, it will start pausing the charge at 80%. If you run a small amount of the time on battery, it will keep doing that. If you run some of the time on battery, it will charge to 100%.” © 2025 neuroanatomist
I agree with everything you stated, and my M5 MacBook Pro, running Tahoe 26.4.1, with battery optimization enabled, used to behave as you described. I'm plugged in 99% of the time. Previously, after occasionally being on battery for around 30-40 minutes, it would charge back up to 100% after 24-48 hours when plugged back in. However, this week, after briefly unplugging and plugging back in, the battery is still at 100% after a week. Tahoe 26.4.1 has added the ability to also set a hard battery limit, which I may eventually try, but I would prefer to let the optimization handle it.
Optimized charging not limiting MacBook Pro battery to 80
