Why MacBook won't charge to 100 percent
New Mac owners often find their laptop not fully charged. The charging percentages "freeze" at around 80, 85 or even 98, and the cherished "weaving" does not appear for some time. As a result, many people immediately begin to think that the computer's battery is out of order, or some other problem has appeared. Apparently, Apple is often asked this question, so the company clarified why this behavior of the MacBook battery. Spoiler alert - your Mac is fine, it just got smarter.
Why MacBook won't fully charge
MacOS 10.15.5 introduces a new feature that lets you manage your MacBook's battery. First, the owner can see the state of the laptop battery in the Battery Status menu. This can be done in the "Settings" - "Energy saving" menu. IOS has a similar feature. There, the system automatically calculates the remaining battery capacity as a percentage, indicating a critical condition and recommending contacting the service center for service.
The rest is done by automation. macOS manages battery health to extend battery life by reducing the rate of chemical aging. Sensors monitor the temperatures that have affected the battery, study the nature of its charging and other factors. The information is transmitted to the processor, where a decision is made whether to suspend charging or not. This happens on an as needed basis to ensure that your MacBook battery is charged to the level optimal for your use case, in order to slow down battery wear.
All rechargeable batteries are consumable items that degrade as they chemically age. With increasing age of the chemical components of the battery, its capacity decreases. That's why Apple added this new feature.
How to turn off battery management in macOS
If for some reason this mechanism annoys you, you can independently decide whether to use it by enabling or disabling the appropriate switch, which is hidden in the "System Preferences".
- Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu and open Energy Saver;
- Select "Battery Status";
- Uncheck the "Track battery status" checkbox and click "OK";
- Click Turn Off.
But we would not advise doing this unless absolutely necessary. At the same time, shutting down can extend battery life if you need it.
Tracking battery health not only helps extend battery life, but it can also reduce the amount of time your Mac runs on a single battery charge if capacity limits are enabled, Apple says.
Battery health management features are available on Mac laptops with Thunderbolt 3 ports and macOS Catalina 10.15.5 or later. This is a useful option as it extends your Mac's battery life by shortening the time the battery “spends” on maximum charge.
There are other reasons why Mac users may see a “Not Charging” warning while charging. For example, when the Mac cannot get enough power to charge the battery. Apple recommends using the included USB-C charging adapter in these situations. Or you can charge with another higher power adapter.