You see the problem. While battery health management can extend your battery\u2019s overall lifespan, it will likely also reduce your everyday runtime before you need to charge. It\u2019s too soon to know the full extent of this tradeoff, and we suspect that it may be impossible to determine, given that everyone uses their Macs differently.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth noting that this battery health management feature appears only for those running macOS 10.15.5 or later, and only then if the Mac in question is a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 ports. In essence, then, it\u2019s available only on MacBook Pro models introduced in 2016 or later, and MacBook Air models introduced in 2018 and later. (The Thunderbolt 3 port requirement is merely a shorthand way for Apple to indicate \u201crecent Mac laptops.\u201d)<\/p>\n
So, if you have a supported laptop and you\u2019re running macOS 10.15.5, what should you do? We see three scenarios:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Favor lifespan:<\/b> If you seldom run your laptop\u2019s battery down to the electronic fumes because it\u2019s easy for you to plug in whenever you need to charge, leave battery health management enabled. That will preserve the battery\u2019s overall lifespan to the extent possible.<\/li>\n
- Favor runtime:<\/b> For those who need to eke every last bit of power from their batteries, disable battery health management. You might have to replace the battery sooner, but you\u2019ll get more runtime in everyday usage.<\/li>\n
- Switch as needed:<\/b> Many people need the longest possible runtime only occasionally, such as on long flights with no under-seat power. In such situations, switch battery health management off for the flight and back on when you return to normal usage patterns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Switching is easy, but Apple buries it deeply enough that it\u2019s clear that the company doesn\u2019t think most users should be disabling it regularly. Open System Preferences > Energy Saver, click the Battery Health button at the bottom, and in the dialog that appears, uncheck Battery Health Management and click OK. You\u2019ll be prompted to make sure you know what you\u2019re doing; click Turn Off to finish the job.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/macworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/got-a-mac-laptop-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-battery-health-management-in-catalina-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOne final note. The reduced maximum capacity with battery health management enabled may have an undesirable side effect\u2014a recommendation from the Battery Status menu\u2019s health indicator that you need to replace your battery. To check your battery\u2019s health, hold the Option key down and click the Battery Status icon on the menu bar. At the top of the menu, next to Condition, you\u2019ll see either Normal or Service Recommended. (In previous versions of macOS, it could have said Replace Soon, Replace Now, or Service Battery.)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/macworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/got-a-mac-laptop-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-battery-health-management-in-catalina.png\")
<\/p>\nRegardless of the term, anything but Normal indicates that your battery is holding less of a charge than when it was new. If you see that message and you aren\u2019t getting enough runtime for your needs, get the battery evaluated at an Apple-authorized service provider or Apple Store.<\/p>\n
(Featured image by Thomas Kelley<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Social Media: If you have a Mac laptop with Thunderbolt 3 ports, the new battery health management option in macOS 10.15.5 Catalina could extend the lifespan of your battery. However, it comes at the cost of reduced everyday runtime. Learn more here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,106,25,112,185],"tags":[118,86,3110,122,3111,85,3112],"class_list":["post-7530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple-consulting-ct","category-apple-support-ct","category-mac","category-mac-support-ct","category-mactech","tag-apple","tag-appleconsultants","tag-applesupport","tag-mac","tag-macconsultants","tag-macsupport","tag-techsupport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7530"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7539,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7530\/revisions\/7539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Favor runtime:<\/b> For those who need to eke every last bit of power from their batteries, disable battery health management. You might have to replace the battery sooner, but you\u2019ll get more runtime in everyday usage.<\/li>\n