How to check your MacBook’s battery health
Open System Settings › Battery: Battery Health says Normal or Service Recommended. For the numbers, hold Option, choose Apple menu › System Information and select Power: under Health Information you’ll find Cycle Count, Condition and Maximum Capacity, the share of the original capacity the battery still holds.
Updated
In System Settings
- Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Battery.
- Find Battery Health: it says Normal or Service Recommended.
- Click the info button next to Battery Health for more.
According to Apple, Normal means the battery is functioning normally. Service Recommended means its ability to hold a charge is less than when it was new, or it isn’t functioning normally; you can keep using the Mac and get it serviced if the shorter battery life bothers you.
Maximum capacity and cycle count
System Information › Power shows Cycle Count, Condition and Maximum Capacity under Health Information. In Terminal:
system_profiler SPPowerDataType | grep -iE "cycle count|condition|maximum capacity"
Watching the trend
One reading tells you little. BatteryGuard saves the maximum capacity and cycle count once a day on your Mac and draws them as a chart, so after a few months you can see how quickly your battery is aging.
Questions
What is a good maximum capacity?
It goes down slowly with use. Apple designs MacBook batteries to keep up to 80% of their original capacity at 1,000 cycles. Watch the trend rather than one reading.
When does Apple replace the battery for free?
With an AppleCare plan, if the battery keeps less than 80% of its original capacity, Apple replaces it at no charge, according to Apple’s support page.
My Mac doesn’t show Battery Health. Why?
Older Macs and macOS versions don’t have it. Hold Option and click the battery icon in the menu bar instead: it may say Replace Soon, Replace Now or Service Battery.
Sources
- If you see battery “Service Recommended” on your Mac laptop — Apple Support
- Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops — Apple Support