Rapid Battery Drain in macOS Big Sur? 8 Tips to Improve macOS Big Sur Battery Life

Dec. 18, 2020

My run withmacOS Big Surhad been incredibly smooth-sailing up until a week ago when the unexpected battery drain turned out to be a proverbial nightmare for myMacBook. From delivering around 7 hours of battery life consistently, the notebook would run out of steam within 2 to 3 hours. So, having just fixed the macOS Big Sur battery draining issue, I would like to share some of the viable tips to sort out the problem and improve the macOS Big Sur Battery life. If you are dealing with the same issue, they can come in handy in getting rid of the problem.

Tips to Fix Battery Draining Issue in macOS Big Sur

There could be more than one reason behind the battery life problem on your Mac running macOS Big Sur. For instance, it could be due to outdated apps, cluttered storage, worn-out battery, or the power-hungry apps that continue to run in the background without any restriction. Oh yes, who would rule out the possibility of a software bug, given how rampant it has become these days? So, you should look at this issue from various perspectives.

As the battery draining could be caused by many things, you will need to take on each usual suspect. For example, you will need to clean up your Mac, delete the outdated apps, take control of the power-hungry apps, update the software, and even replace the battery if need be.

Now that you know the task at hand, let’s get started with the troubleshooting guide!

The very first thing you should do to resolve the battery life problems on your MacBook is to track down the culprits. And with culprits, I mean the apps that are killing the battery.

Thanks to Activity Monitor, it’s pretty straightforward to find out the apps that are consuming the battery the most. Moreover, it can also let you spot the villains that are running in the background without any restrictions. So, head over toApplications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitorto find out the apps that have captured the most resources.

To make your task of nabbing the problematic apps a bit easy, Activity Monitor lets you check the actual status through different tabs likeCPU, Memory, Disk, Network, and Energy.

Give special attention to the Energy tab as it can play a key role in spotting the problems. Make sure to take a close look at theEnergy Impactas it provides a relative measure of the current energy consumption of each app. The lower the energy impact the better it is.

With macOS Big Sur, Apple has introducedsmart battery settingsthat you can use to enhance the battery life on your Mac. From letting you check the usage history of the last 24 hours and 10 days to enabling power nap while on battery power to scheduling the Mac to start up or wake at the desired time, the new battery settings can play a crucial role in boosting the battery life on your device.

To get started, launchSystem Preferences and choose Battery. Alternately, you can click on the battery menu at the top right corner of the screen and choose Battery Preferences. Now, you should see four options in the sidebar:Usage History, Battery, Power Adapter, and Schedule. Next up, take a close look at how the battery is used and also customize the battery settings in line with your needs.

Dark modehas got much more than what meets the eyes. With the dark theme, it makes the content appear soothing to the eyes, thereby preventing them from burning or straining. Pleasing appearance aside, it is also known to be power efficient. So, you should never fail to activate it to help your notebook last longer between charges.

With macOS Big Sur, you can enable/disable Dark Mode right from the control center. All you have to do to enable it is click on thecontrol center buttonat the upper-right corner of the screen. Then, click on the Display button and chooseDark Mode.

While it may seem to be a minor thing to many, forcing apps to close when you have used them can play a good part in extending the battery life on your Mac. The longer the apps remain open, the more battery they kill. Apart from eating into plenty of unnecessary battery, they also tend to slow down the device.

There are two ways you can force quit apps on your Mac. Simply, control-click on the app and chooseQuitin the menu. Or, click on theApple menuat the top left corner of the screen and chooseForce Quit. After that, select the app/s and hitForce Quit.

WhileGoogle Chromemay be probably the most feature-rich andpopular browseracross platforms, it doesn’t score well when it comes to efficiency. Not for nothing many brand the browser as resource-hungry. It not only hogs plenty of resources but also consumes a lot of battery.

If you use Chrome full time on your Mac, it could be the wrecker-in-chief. To prevent the browser from eating into a large share of the battery, I would recommend you to useSafari– full time.

Apple browser has vastly improved in recent times. Aside from being by far the best in terms ofsecurity and privacy, the web browser has added several notable features to enhance the browsing experience. What’s more, it’s also no longer a slouch when it comes toextensions. So, even if you love to use extensions, you would find Safari up to the task.

As for extending the battery life, you can count on Safari to eat way less battery than Chrome. Besides, it feels quite snappier on Mac and offers seamless syncing across iDevices – which is a big plus if you are into the Apple ecosystem.

Outdated apps tend to create plenty of problems. Apart from slowing down your MacBooks, they also kill a large chunk of the battery. Even in terms of security, outdated apps arevulnerable to hacking. Therefore, it’s recommended to keep the apps updated to the latest version.

You can navigate to theApp Store-> click on yourprofileat the bottom left corner of the sidebar ->Updates. Now, click onUpdate Allto update all the apps installed on your Mac.

What if you have installed apps from outside of the Mac App Store? Well, the process of updating apps installed from outside of the App Store is just as easier. All you have to do is just open the app you want to update and click on its menu at the top left corner of the screen. After that, click onCheck for Updatesand then update the app as usual.

Redundant files along with the app cache need to be cleaned up from time to time. And if wiping out the useless files frequently is not one of your virtues, chances are pretty high that your MacBook is cluttered. Considering how problematic cluttered storage is both in terms of slowing down the notebook and triggering the unexpected battery drain, you must get rid of all the useless files sooner than later.

Fortunately, macOS comes with an efficient storage cleaner that you can use to track down all the storage-hogging files and wipe them out with ease. Simply click on theApple menuat the top left corner of the screen and chooseAbout This Mac. Make sure theStoragetab is selected. Then, click onManage. After that, empty the bin and reduce the clutter by reviewing files. Also, optimize the storage to prevent unnecessary files from clogging up the storage.

If you have kept a tab on the recent macOS updates, you would already know that a software bug has been at the heart of several major issues. So, if none of the aforementioned solutions has fixed the macOS Big Sur battery drain issues, the problem could most probably be due to an adamant bug.

Navigate toSystem Preferences -> Software Update. Now, download and install the latest version of macOS Big Sur as usual. Once your Mac has been updated to the latest version, the battery life problems should be fixed.

Hopefully, you have got the better of the problem and your MacBook has started to deliver better battery life. As outlined above, the issue is often triggered by more than one problem. So, be sure to take control of each usual suspect.

Moreover, I would recommend you to get the most out of the battery settings as they can prove to be very helpful in maximizing the battery life on your portable Mac. Also, never fail to use Activity Monitor to catch the apps that eat into more energy.

In my case, the problem was caused by a number of power-hungry apps. Once I prevented them from running amuck, my MacBook’s battery life improved. Have any feedback? Make sure to send it across.

An old school bibliophile who turned a tech nerd out of obsession. When he is not digging into hacks and tracking down stories that are breaking the internet, you may find him reciting poems.