How To Keep Your MacBook's Battery Healthy - Should You Leave It Plugged In?

How do you keep your MacBook's battery healthy over the years? Should you leave your MacBook plugged in or is that bad for your MacBook? Please watch this ultimate guide to keeping your Apple MacBook battery healthy and making sure it lasts many years. Many of the tips in this video are for both M1 MacBooks as well as Intel MacBooks.

In this video we cover:

At 0:17 in Video - Introduction
At 1:02 in Video - Cycle Counts vs. Battery Health - Not The Same
At 5:02 in Video - How to Keep MacBook Battery Healthy
At 6:42 in Video - How To Store MacBook For Long Periods Of Time
At 7:39 in Video - Should You Keep MacBook Plugged In
At 12:27 in Video - Wrap Up Video

If you are interested in keeping your MacBook's battery in the best condition possible then watch this video and we also have some other video's below for more topics about MacBook batteries.

[fratini.]

I use mine plugged in most of the time, and every two weeks I unplug it and let it discharge up to 40 or 50% and than I plugged in again.
It's a 16 inch, late 2019 Macbook Pro (I bought it in 2021 - two years use). The cycle count is just 58 and the battery health is excellent.

[e.random]

Thnks for the info i just purchased and old mid 2015 MacBook pro but with a new battery from the istore but I don’t seem to see optimise battery setting am running montera 9:46

[nostalgicgirrl]

i am a first time macbook user and i have an M1 Macbook Pro 2021 model, 13 inches... or 13.3 inches. I am understandably quite nervous about owning such an expensive elite product.. haha. I have been worried about the battery health because i want my laptop to be durable for years to come. Your video was very helpful and your channel seems underrated to me. Good luck and thanks once again!

[alzabine]

Thanks a lot for the video, Battery health on my last Macbook (2019, 16 inch) was 85% after 3 years of use. Now that I upgrade to M1 Pro 16 inch, I need to take care of my battery health even better. I am curious about some guys who posted that their BH is still 100% even after more than 50 CC. Well, I guess your tips are the answer. You've just got one more subscriber man. Cheers from Indonesia 🇮🇩

[bjc]

Great video, you kept it simple and right to the point. I look forward to more tips and reviews.... Thank you

[OMKhin-lmky]

Thanks for this very insightful video. Very helpful! Many sources give different suggestions, and I was so confused about which suggestions to follow. You've explained very well about optimising the battery, and effectively put my mind to ease.

[ginogiodomingo]

Thanks Craig! This is the most accurately correct video I watched about Battery and Power for a Mac!

[rderck_nlne]

Great video, thx! I subbed right at the moment when you were saying that you put a lot of info in your vids and talk fast. Meanwhile I was thinking 'finally a YouTuber that gets to the point already without a lot of irrelevant talking and doesn't protract his pronunciation of every word in every sentence'.

[DimplePoji]

Thanks craig.. A first time user of mac after 30 years of windows.. haha.. subbed!

[RaymondKPhotoVideography]

First off all, very informative video! 👍🏻👍🏻

So here I am being a bit confused as to if I should keep battery optimization on on my 14" M1 Max.. (plugged in most of the time)

I previously owned a 15" 2012 MacBook Pro (the last classic unibody), and I almost always had that one plugged in as well.

Having never used battery optimization on that one, I had it at 100% most of the time because of being plugged in.
But then at least once ever 3-4 months, I unplugged it to keep the battery charge flowing, running it down to like 30/50% before plunging it in again.

This kept my cycle not only super low, but also super healthy even until I sold it Dec last year. (Cycle was 67, and battery Health a strong 93%. ...after 10 years of use..!

So now with the Battery optimization option there, I tried it, but noticed after like 2 weeks, it had used almost 4 Cycles whilst it had always been plugged in...

Apparently (like you said in your video) it keeps it often around 80%, however I've seen it run (whilst using it) to as low as 60 before it even decided to charge again to around 80%

And it seemed to have done so even whilst not using it.

Seeing these results, I don't really like the battery optimization so much as it just discharges and recharges the battery to such an extend multiple times each week that it adds cycle counts to it even when not using it..

Am I under a wrong conclusion if I say I'm better off turning 'battery optimization' OFF, and instead use my 'old way' of using the battery/charging?
As I think it's a better way to keep it healthy with low cycles, than the battery optimization option?

[PadthaiPeter]

Hi. Thanks for the video -- Just got a used 2022 Macbook Air M2 with Battery Cycles = 3.

Macbook Air is out of the basic warranty now. But amazon does offer a third party warranty for my purchase.

I wonder, do I need that warranty? I know Macbooks rarely break even after many many years of use. My previous 2015 Intel Core i7 is still running but I now want to upgrade.

[seundavidakanni]

This is the best video to help clarify the battery topic. Glad to know about the battery bypass. Thanks alot

[prakharprakarsh]

very nicely explained, thank you so much .

[Thomas-jfri]

Thank you so much I was searching for a video explaining about how to reduce the battery cycle count

[johnlexterrosales]

mine finally went to 99% with only 29cc after 8 months of using it. Plugged in most of the time. What I've noticed, battery percentage decreases fast once it dropped down to 99%. Now with 33cc, it instantly went to 96% just a while ago. Probably, it's not the cc that determines your battery health, it's how or how long you've been using it.

[Dr.Stein]

Nice and simple man, thanks for this.

[Steger]

Hi, thanks for this vdo. Question, my charger is 145 W i think is it better to get a lower voltage like 85w if we leave it plugin or even recharge slowly? Is for a M1 16 inches. Thanks

[Obayda]

thanks alot for this informative video

[archtac]

thanks for this man!! Love the video, really helpful, looks great, sounds great! the way you present information, your pacing, just perfect! Found you video through google images in Germany by the way

[tiennguyenvan]

Thanks for greet video, I have question, my 13" M1 Pro's battery health fell to 89%, 310months into using it. It had 170 charge cycles. Is that okay/normal?