How to see your MacBook’s battery cycle count
Hold Option, choose Apple menu › System Information, then Hardware › Power: the Cycle Count is under Battery Information. Apple designs every MacBook Air and MacBook Pro since 2018, and MacBook Neo, for 1,000 cycles, at which point the battery should still hold up to 80% of its original capacity.
Updated
In System Information
- Hold the Option key, open the Apple menu and choose System Information.
- Under Hardware, select Power.
- Under Battery Information, find Cycle Count.
In Terminal
system_profiler SPPowerDataType | grep -i "cycle count"
The same command without grep also shows the battery’s Condition and Maximum Capacity.
What counts as a cycle
According to Apple, a charge cycle happens when you use all of the battery’s power, but not necessarily in a single charge. Using half the battery one day and half the next is one cycle.
How many cycles a MacBook battery is designed for
Apple lists a maximum cycle count of 1,000 for every MacBook Air and MacBook Pro from 2018 onward, including all Apple silicon models, and for MacBook Neo. At that count the battery is designed to keep up to 80% of its original capacity.
Watching it over time
BatteryGuard shows the cycle count and maximum capacity in its panel and saves one reading a day on your Mac, so you can see how fast they change instead of checking one number now and then.
Questions
What happens when my MacBook reaches 1,000 cycles?
Nothing stops working. Apple designs the battery to keep up to 80% of its original capacity at its maximum cycle count, so it just holds less charge than when it was new.
Does charging from 50% to 100% count as a cycle?
Half of one. A cycle is all of the battery’s power used up, but not necessarily in one go: two days of using half the battery add up to one cycle.
Does keeping it plugged in add cycles?
A Mac running on its charger with a full battery uses little or none of the battery, so cycles grow slowly. Sitting at 100% for long periods wears the battery in a different way, which is why macOS has Optimized Battery Charging.
Sources
- Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops — Apple Support