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Yosemite Battery Drain

I have been using Yosemite Beta for about a month. My battery drained incredibly fast using the Beta. I suspected battery issues would improve after updating to the public release of Yosemite yesterday. The issue has not resolved, however. Just in the last minute and a half of typing this question, my battery percentage has dropped 3%!


When you update, you get the notification that you need to optimize your mac to prevent excessive battery drain, but there is no description of how to optimize within Yosemite or on the web. How does one optimize their mac for Yosemite?


Apple, get on this!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 6:01 AM

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Jan 28, 2015 12:37 PM in response to moheny

I performed a clean install and unfortunately just listening to music in iTunes with the screen on level 3 brightness it's estimated I'll only get 3:58 and battery is already down to 92% with only being on for about 20 or so minutes.


Pram and SMC have also been reset.

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Feb 9, 2015 4:55 AM in response to Alex_lveb

Hello all,

On a Macboook pro Mid 2009 (French model) with a brand new battery that was lasting long with Mavericks and discharging so fast with Mavericks even in sleep mode - I tried twice to do a clean install of Yosemite and disconnecting the battery for a while - but nothing worked and I am now looking for a downgrade back to Mavericks. Hope that Apple will quickly find a fix for this bug as it is very difficult for me to work with a less than one hour lasting battery instead of the usual 5 hours.

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Feb 9, 2015 8:21 AM in response to moheny

Oh no another problem! Just got my 2011 MBP back from the 4th logic board replacement and now I have the same battery issue as those posting here. Clean install, all resets done, cpu usage maybe 2%. Noticed this problem immediately. Cannot run with just the screen saver on for more than 4 hours. Will monitor the thread.

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Feb 16, 2015 9:18 AM in response to Diane1349

All these tips don't work for my Macbook Pro. I also noticed a huge amount of battery drain during sleep mode and remaining battery life indicator does not show correct information (e.g. it will tell me that I can get 5Hours out of my battery whilst it actually last only 2 hours). An I repeat my battery is brand new and I did not have such battery drain issues with Mavericks a coupe of weeks ago!!

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Feb 16, 2015 9:31 AM in response to Fabricedid

My next step is indeed to verify if what Activity Monitor says is true. I really have my doubts. I've been checking mine against just letting the screen saver run continuously until it drains. What I find very, very interesting is that the logic board failures are due to crappy solder that was used to comply with the European market. There is also a wake up issue with mac mini related to compliance with European standards. This is pretty ridiculous. Can Apple not make products that work for the United States any more? But I hate a PC more than my Apples...so guess I'm stuck.

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Feb 16, 2015 6:55 PM in response to Diane1349

I have been following this thread for a few days because I was surprised at how quickly my battery drains a full charge, and I wondered if there was something wrong.

I've come to realize that the people who come on here to help others have difficulty when a thread grows by leaps and bounds, from people other than the original poster chiming in with the same or similar problem.

However, I can understand why people who are having the same issue as the original poster gather in one place, around a topic, in spite of the fact they 'should' start their own thread.
For those of you who haven't found a solution to the fast battery drain, I have no solution. However, I have some 'anecdotal facts' if you please, that might (or not) be of importance to much more knowledgeable posters in pondering the issues shared in this long thread.


1) My most recent apple purchase is a MacbookPro Retina 13inch, mid 2014 model, which was shipped with Yosemite and then updated to Yosemite 10.10.2 operating system. So, I'm using a brand new macbook pro. I haven't even had it 2 weeks yet.

2) I have NOT installed anything, except system (and possibly safari) updates through the Appstore, except for one hidden object game from the App Store.

That game can run my battery down in 2 hours or less, with nothing else running, to my knowledge. Nothing else is opened by me or being used by me when I play it.

3) I haven't used my new macbook for anything other than browsing and playing that hidden object game, and I don't go to unsafe websites. It's never even been used to watch a youtube video. I don't have a Facebook account, and I haven't even set up mail on it yet.

4) A fully charged battery lasts me roughly 5 hours, just browsing with safari. I say roughly, because even though I've been having to charge it 2 or 3 times a day up to now, (I so far always let it go from full charge down to 10%, which causes the machine to tell me that I need to plug into power) something is improving. I just have no idea why, unless it has something to do with indexing, which I know nothing about, but I did see it referred to in this thread as being relevant to battery drain. Anyway, roughly 5 hours is actually an improvement, because for the first 7-8 days of use, a full charge drained in usually just over 4 hours, just from using safari. It drained in about 2 hours when playing the hidden object game, and still does. I've seen the little battery icon drop drastically, sometimes as much as 30% in 10 minutes, while playing that game. (No, I don't actually know what that means as far as anything to do with the game, or Yosemite or my machine, but it sure makes me think that game is a battery hog.)

5) The only tweaking I did on this new machine was to A... adjust my safari settings. I unchecked automatic safe downloads. I turned off the switch for plugins and extensions. I unchecked all the options to allow safari to save my passwords. and B... in preferences, I checked the option that decreases transparency. and C... I turned on firewall. and D...I turned off notifications. and E... I lowered the screen brightness.

I did all those settings during the first day of use, 9 (almost 10) days ago, with the exception of one; Just today, I did B.

I think that's the sum of my tweaking with settings. I might be forgetting something, but if I am, it would have been something simple like those settings. I don't do things that require much skill or knowledge with computers, because I don't know how and don't want to ruin a wonderful (to me) and expensive (for me) machine.

I have no idea what my experience means, if anything, in terms of whether or not the battery is functioning as it should, or whether it's because of Yosemite if it isn't. I don't know if it sheds any light on the issue about battery drain to someone with more knowledge.


Here's hoping it's of some practical use to someone, and not just adding length to this thread. If not, I apologize.

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Feb 16, 2015 7:34 PM in response to bewitchedbymac

...and when i browse, i do things like searching and reading on this website. it's my understanding that loading a webpage drains more system resources and the battery than does just reading that web page, after it's loaded. It did and still does surprise me how fast my battery drains.
...and, Diane, I didn't mean for my remarks to be directed as a response to you in particular. Sorry about that. I merely meant to keep what I had to share within this thread, because so many people accessed this thread to discuss the battery issue.

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Feb 16, 2015 7:52 PM in response to bewitchedbymac

Interesting Bewitched....if you're talking about anything I've posted that doesn't belong here so be it. I have no knowledge what the heck you're talking about but since you mentioned my name I must have irritated you. If I could respond outside of this thread I wouldn't take up this space. The way I see it is that any and all posts add to the general flow of information and what others are experiencing. And it's all related to other Apple issues. One can choose to read all 28 pages or simply look at more recent dates. Your long post of your experience is just as valid as anybody elses. Perhaps one thread under the heading of Yosemite issues would be more valid.....there are so many.

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Feb 16, 2015 9:55 PM in response to Diane1349

Diane, there's a misunderstanding. I have no problem with anything you have posted here. In fact, I am hoping that people who are keeping up with this thread will possibly find a solution for you and all the others who are having this problem. I've been reading this thread for days, because I think my battery should run longer on a full charge than it has been.
I am not here to criticize you or anyone else. I'm sorry if the way I expressed my thoughts caused a misunderstanding.

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Feb 16, 2015 10:57 PM in response to bewitchedbymac

I agree that people should be free to add to the discussion here, instead of having to start another thread. I tried to express that in my original post, partly in defense of some others who were treated rather shabbily by more experienced posters, at least in my opinion.

The way some others who posted here were treated made me shy away from posting up until now, because some of the people with a lot of experience points come across as scolding them for not starting another thread. I finally posted, because I think this site must be here for people to seek help and share problems and possible fixes, and a topic is much easier to find, read and discuss on one thread.
It was never my intention to call you out in any unpleasant manner. I've never posted before, so I didn't know when I hit the 'reply' button that my post was going to go on here as a reply to your post. After I saw how it posted as a reply to you, my next post was intended to let you know that I didn't mean for it to be directed specifically to you. I only meant to add to the discussion, not to address my comments to one person only.
I hope this helps clear up any misunderstanding.

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Feb 17, 2015 8:27 AM in response to Alex_lveb

Battery check in Safe mode produced no differences. Seems like there's nothing else to try. Back to the Genius Bar! I had no problems until I got my laptop back from having it's 4th logic board installed and at that time they did a fresh install of Yosemite. So it will be interesting to see what they do or say. Thanks for all the useful tips and things to check from all who've posted here.

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Yosemite Battery Drain

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