If battery charging is paused or on hold on your Mac

With macOS Big Sur or later, your Mac can learn from your charging habits to improve the lifespan of your battery.

In macOS Big Sur or later, Optimised Battery Charging is designed to improve the lifespan of your battery and reduce the time your Mac spends fully charged. When this feature is enabled, your Mac will delay charging past 80% in certain situations. Your Mac learns your charging routine and aims to ensure your Mac is fully charged when unplugged.

On Mac computers with Apple silicon or the T2 security chip, Optimised Battery Charging is on by default when you set up your Mac or after updating to macOS Big Sur or later.

Resume charging

If you need to have your Mac fully charged sooner, click the battery iconNo alt supplied for Image in the menu bar, then choose Charge to Full Now.

Check the charge status

When Optimised Battery Charging is active, the battery status menu shows when your Mac will be fully charged or whether charging is on hold. If you keep your notebook connected to a power source most of the time, you may see the message "Charging On Hold (Rarely Used On Battery)" when charging is paused.

Pause or turn off Optimised Battery Charging

You can temporarily pause or turn off Optimised Battery Charging.

Pause or turn off Optimised Battery Charging in macOS Ventura

  1. Choose Apple menu  > System Settings.

  2. Click Battery in the sidebar.

  3. Click the Show Detail buttonNo alt supplied for Image next to Battery Health.

  4. Turn off “Optimised battery charging”, then click Turn Off or Turn Off Until Tomorrow.

  5. Click Done.

Pause or turn off Optimised Battery Charging in macOS Monterey or earlier

  1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences.

  2. Click Battery, then select Battery in the sidebar.

  3. Deselect “Optimised battery charging”, then click Turn Off or Turn Off Until Tomorrow.

Learn more

Battery health management is another feature of your Mac notebook that is designed to improve your battery's lifespan. Find out more about battery health management in Mac notebooks with Apple silicon or Intel processors.