Maintaining MacBook Battery Health: Tips and Insights

MacBook batteries naturally degrade over time, making 100% health impossible to maintain indefinitely.

### Maintaining MacBook Battery Health: Tips and Insights
* 🔋 After one year, my M2 Pro MacBook Pro shows **93% battery health**, having lost **7% over 50 charge cycles**, prompting the question of how to **maintain optimal battery health**.
* 🔍 A charge cycle is defined as a **complete recharge of the battery's capacity**, where using **50% of the battery** and recharging it **twice** counts as **one full cycle**.
* 🧮 Battery health is calculated by assessing the battery's **current maximum capacity** against its **original capacity**, alongside the **number of charge cycles completed**.
* 📉 It's common for batteries to not hold their design capacity, and a reading of **90% on a MacBook** is roughly equivalent to **95% on an iPhone** due to their differing power capacities.
* ⚡ A recommended product for charging is the **Chargeasap Geek 170 power bank**, which offers a **high output of 170 watts** and can charge **multiple devices simultaneously**, while also being **airline-safe** and **water-resistant**.
* 📱 Apple's advice for battery care includes **updating to the latest software**, optimizing battery settings, and **keeping the Mac connected to power when charging other devices** to avoid battery strain.
* 🔌 It's safe to keep your MacBook plugged in all the time, as it undergoes **micro-cycles to maintain charge without overcharging**, but fully discharging and recharging occasionally helps **recalibrate the battery management system**.
* 🌡 For long-term storage, keep the MacBook around **50% charged** and in a **cool, dry place**, as extreme temperatures can damage the battery, reminding us that achieving **100% battery health perpetually** is unrealistic.

My M2 Pro MacBook Pro, after 1 year, has only 93% battery health. It lost 7% in just 50 cycles, so this raises a logical question: How can I keep the battery health of my MacBook at 100%, and is it technically possible? The internet is full of conflicting information, so let's untangle this mess together. First, what is this battery health, and how are these cycles calculated?

One charge cycle is one full recharge of the battery's full capacity. Let's say your max battery is at 100%; you use it till it drops to 50%, then you charge it back to 100%. That's not a full charge cycle yet. If you use it again down to 50% and recharge it, these two halves add up to one full

charge cycle. So it's not about how many times you plug in your charger, but how much of the battery's capacity you use. The battery health is a bit trickier since it's not easily measurable. Your MacBook calculates its battery health by keeping track of two main things: the

battery's capacity to hold the charge over time and the number of charge cycles it's gone through. The Mac measures the current maximum battery capacity based on the output current and compares it to the original current when it was new. Over time, a bunch of

such measurements get added up, and based on that, the computer can guess an approximate capacity. This capacity and the number of cycles can get analyzed, and based on their correlation, the Mac decides the battery health. So when the Mac says that it has only 93%, it doesn't

Doesn't necessarily mean that the battery has retained 93% of its total capacity. You can check the true capacity of the battery with third-party apps like Coconut Battery, which in my case states that the real capacity right now is 89%. So what should you do first? Don't panic!

It is fairly common for batteries to not have the design capacity from the factory. Sometimes the battery can hold more energy, and sometimes less. Also, this lowered capacity on the Mac doesn't mean the same as it does on your iPhone. MacBook batteries hold much more power

by design, even though they might have a similar capacity to flagship iPhones. And that's exactly why 90% on a MacBook is roughly equivalent to 95% on an iPhone. With that settled, I want to show you something cool. This is a transparent power bank, the Chargeasap Geek

170. It has this cool triangular transparent design. Chargeasap says the Geek 170 is based on the prism in Pink Floyd's *Dark Side of the Moon* cover, and I absolutely love that. It has two USB-C and one USB-A port and can charge three

devices at once. I can charge my laptop, my phone, AirPods, all at the same time, and the speed of said charging is also admirable. It can give up to 140W of charge through a single Type-C port, making it ideal for charging my Mac on the go.

Total power output is 170 watts, so yeah, it's enough for everything. It also has super-fast charging support with a Power Delivery 3.1 standard, and its capacity is just massive, especially given its size: 24,000 milliamp-hours. It's basically a power station that fits in your pocket.

Great for trips or just everyday use. Sorry, but I just can't get over this design. This is my first transparent power bank, and I'm pretty stoked! Anyway, there's a smart display that shows various charge parameters and metrics, in case you're interested in that. But the

good stuff is still not over, because it is fully airline-safe and can be safely brought on your flights in your carry-on bags. Oh, and it's IP66 water-resistant. Not a big deal, come on—how often do you see water-resistant power banks? And last

but not least, it has a special low-current mode specifically for charging small devices like AirPods, Apple Watch, and so on. Thank you, Charge, for sponsoring this video, and I will leave a link in the description, so be sure to check it out. Some practical instructions

on taking care of your Mac battery can be found on Apple's website. The first thing Apple recommends is updating to the latest software, and I have some conflicting thoughts about that. On the one hand, new macOS versions often bring additional optimizations and performance improvements, but at the same time, as the

OS becomes more and more advanced, it pushes the MacBook a bit harder, thus consuming more energy. So this is basically a double-edged sword. If your MacBook is already old and the battery life isn't great, it may not make sense to install any updates, since they can

make the battery life worse. Usually, when it comes to MacBooks or iPhones, I give the same advice to everyone who asks: After your iPhone or MacBook celebrates its third birthday, you should not install major updates unless they're absolutely needed. And even better advice would be to buy a new iPhone or new

MacBook after that 3-year period, but not everyone can do that. Apple also recommends optimizing the battery settings, such as turning on low power mode, adjusting the brightness, turning off Wi-Fi, and so on. This might sound smart, but if we simplify this

advice to the bare minimum, we'll find it sounds something like: if you don't want the battery on your MacBook to degrade, don't use it. The third advice, however, is much more useful. Apple says that if we're charging other devices from our MacBook, we should keep the Mac connected to the

power adapter while connected to the outlet. Your MacBook will not use its battery to charge, for example, your iPhone; it will work as a hub, simply passing through the energy from the outlet to your iPhone without putting this strain on the battery. And I feel

like this is the perfect time to answer a lifelong question: Can you keep your MacBook plugged in all the time? Short answer is yes, you can do it without damaging the battery, but this rabbit hole goes a bit deeper than that—as deep as our love for you. So if you love what

we do, hit the like button and subscribe to the channel. Now, there's a thing called micro-cycles. When your MacBook's battery is fully charged and still plugged in, it goes through small charge and discharge cycles to maintain its charge without overcharging. In the long run, micro-cycles

can contribute to the overall wear of the battery, but their impact is relatively minor compared to full charge and discharge cycles. Now I want you to look at the battery icon on your Mac's menu bar. Typically, when your Mac is fully charged and is connected to the

The outlet looks like this and says that the power source is the power adapter, not the battery, and that it's fully charged. But sometimes it can also say something like this: 'Charging; on hold; rarely used on battery.' If you get this message, it's okay. This is Apple's optimized battery charging.

charging and working. When you see such a message, let the Mac do its thing. Don't press 'Charge to full' now. Trust me, your Mac knows best how to charge its battery. But even so, there are a few things you could do. First, don't forget to fully discharge and recharge your Mac.

And know this is not a part of that old myth about the battery's memory; it's much simpler than that. Fully discharging and then recharging your MacBook's battery can help recalibrate the battery's internal management system, so it more accurately reflects the actual

charge and health of the battery. If you never let the battery fully discharge, the system's estimate of the remaining battery life might become less accurate over time. However, it's not something you need to do often; once every few months is usually enough. Another thing is to use apps like Alente,

which fix what Apple has overlooked: battery charge limit. The general idea is that limiting the battery charge to 80% can help prolong its lifespan because it reduces stress on the battery. However, modern MacBooks come with built-in battery management features that help optimize battery health over time. These

features automatically manage charging and discharging, and if you're using macOS Catalina or newer, it already includes a Battery Health Management feature that adjusts the maximum charge level to improve battery lifespan. So limiting the battery manually might not give that huge of a

boost to health, as you would expect. Now let's address a couple more common questions. Like, MagSafe or USB-C? People who are just switching to MacBooks may not know that they can indeed charge their computers through the USB-C port, and when they do find this out, they

start wondering which option is best. And the answer here is simple—pretty simple: it doesn't matter. It's purely a question of convenience. MagSafe magnetically attaches to your Mac and will just snap off if you accidentally trip over it. USB-C, however, can handle

viable option for people working from the office, since in most offices there are docking stations or hubs that come with monitors. Or if you're someone who plans on using the Studio Display, the USB-C is an even better option for you because with just one port, you will not

only send the video feed to the monitor but also charge your Mac. These two charging methods are completely interchangeable, so charge however you like; it won't affect the battery. And people are often wondering about power adapters—which one to use? MacBooks still come with a power adapter included, unlike

iPhones. And I'd say that the best adapter you can choose for your MacBook is the original one because Apple precisely knows how much power your MacBook requires, so the power adapter that comes with your laptop is perfectly suited for that particular laptop.

However, if you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, you will be happy to know that slowly charging your MacBook works just as good as it does on the iPhone. I often recommend charging your iPhone with the least powerful adapter you can find, like that 5-watt adapter that came

With old iPhones, you can use the 10-watt adapter from your old iPad or even a 20-watt adapter from your new iPad; it doesn't really matter. And if you want to slowly charge your MacBook, it's better to charge it at night when you're not using it.

If you plug your Mac into a slow power adapter and then do something intensive, the MacBook will have no choice but to use battery power while charging. In this case, you will be damaging both the battery and the power adapter; they will get hot.

And you never want that to happen. The same goes for charging your MacBook from a power bank; those things don't give out enough power to allow the MacBook to charge efficiently, and you definitely don't want to overheat the power bank. So again, if you're going to attempt slow charging or charge your Mac from a power bank, do it at night when you're not using the computer. This way, it will charge slowly without overheating.

What I like about MacBooks is that all iPhone tricks work in them too. But due to the size of the batteries and the power they store—which is, by the way, much greater than the one in your typical iPhone—things that are secondary in iPhones become more important here. For example, you should avoid extreme temperatures and try to keep your MacBook relatively cool.

The comfort zone for MacBook temperatures is between 62 and 72°F or 16 to 22°C. Even storing the Mac in hot environments can damage the battery. It's better to keep your Mac cool rather than hot.

And a few more words about storing your Mac long-term: For long-term storage...

Keep your Mac half-charged, around 50%. Don't store it fully charged or fully drained to avoid damage. Turn off Safe Battery and store it in a cool, dry place with a temperature of around 90°F or 32°C. If you plan on storing the Mac for

over 6 months, make sure to recharge it to 50% every 6 months. The underlying idea behind all this is that you can't babysit your Mac and have 100% battery health perpetually, even if the system says that it does. In reality, it doesn't.

With no amount of tricks can you change the chemistry and physics. So just use your MacBook normally. Don't push the battery too hard; don't edit videos in the middle of the desert or do other crazy things. If you keep it plugged in, recharge it from time to time. If you use

it on battery, charge it with the original power brick or with a trusted brick. That's basically it. And if you plan on buying a new MacBook, we recently made a great overview of all the M-series chips, explaining who should buy which chip and why. Thanks for watching, and see you

The ONLY Way To Maintain 100% MacBook Battery Health

Arthur Winer

Understanding MacBook Battery Health and Charge Cycles

Author's MacBook Pro battery health decreased to 93% after one year and 50 cycles, prompting an investigation into maintaining 100% battery health.

A charge cycle is defined and explained using an example of partial charges adding up to a full cycle.

MacBook calculates battery health based on charge capacity over time and number of charge cycles.

The Mac estimates capacity by comparing current maximum battery capacity to its original capacity.

The displayed battery health percentage is an approximation, and third-party apps provide more accurate capacity readings (e.g., Coconut Battery).

Variations in factory battery capacity are normal, and MacBook battery health percentages differ from iPhones.

Features and design of the Chargeasap Geek 170 power bank are described.

It has two USB-C and one USB-A port, charging three devices simultaneously.

Offers up to 140W of charge through a single Type-C port and a total power output of 170W.

Supports super-fast charging with Power Delivery 3.1 and has a 24,000mAh capacity.

Includes a smart display, is airline-safe, IP66 water-resistant, and has a low-current mode for small devices.

Tips for Maintaining MacBook Battery Health

Apple recommends updating to the latest software, but this can have both positive and negative effects on battery life.

Advice to avoid major updates after three years or to buy a new device.

Optimizing battery settings (low power mode, brightness, Wi-Fi) is suggested, but this essentially means limiting usage.

Keeping the Mac connected to power while charging other devices prevents battery strain.

It's safe to keep the MacBook plugged in all the time due to micro-cycles and optimized battery charging.

Explanation of the 'Charging; on hold; rarely used on battery' message and Apple's optimized battery charging.

Fully discharging and recharging can recalibrate the battery management system.

Using apps to limit battery charge to 80% might not provide significant benefits due to built-in battery management features in modern MacBooks.

MagSafe vs. USB-C charging: Both are equally effective; the choice depends on personal preference and convenience.

Using the original power adapter is recommended for optimal charging.

Slow charging is beneficial for MacBooks with Apple silicon, similar to iPhones.

Avoid intensive tasks while slow charging to prevent overheating.

Slow charging or charging from a power bank should be done overnight to avoid overheating.

Avoid extreme temperatures; keep the MacBook cool (62-72°F or 16-22°C).

For long-term storage, keep the battery at 50% charge, turn off Safe Battery, and store in a cool, dry place (around 32°C).

Recharge to 50% every 6 months for storage exceeding 6 months.

Maintaining 100% battery health perpetually is unrealistic due to the limitations of battery chemistry and physics.

Use the MacBook normally, avoid extreme conditions, and use appropriate power adapters.