# What is draining the battery, and what keeps the Mac awake. Canonical page: https://vitalsmac.com/features/battery The Battery tab lists the apps using the most energy, the apps holding sleep off and what each one claims to be doing, and the battery's own health, cycles and temperature, so a laptop that was full at nine and flat at one has an answer. ## Awake: Why your Mac would not sleep in your bag. The Battery tab lists every app holding sleep off, the reason it gave, such as Playing video or Downloading, how long it has been doing it, and whether it is keeping the screen on. Quit it right there if it should not be. - Each app holding sleep off - The reason it gave - How long, and whether the screen stays on - Quit it from the list ## Energy: What is using the battery, and how the battery is doing. Power per app with helpers counted, so Chrome's tabs count as Chrome, plus the battery's own numbers: charge, time remaining, cycles, Maximum Capacity against when it was new, and temperature. - Power per app, helpers counted - Charge, time remaining, and whether it is charging - Cycles and Maximum Capacity - Temperature ## Wake ups: The apps that never rest. An Idle Wake Ups column shows how often each app wakes the processor while it looks idle. Click the heading to sort and the apps burning battery while doing nothing you can see come to the top, which is usually the answer to a battery that drains overnight. - How often each app wakes the processor - Sorted, the restless ones first - The usual cause of a battery that drains overnight - Turn App Nap off for an app that should not nap ## Menu bar: Red at 20%, a bolt while it charges. A battery item with the charge or the time remaining. It turns red at 20% and under on battery power, shows a bolt while charging, and opens a dropdown with the apps behind the drain. - The charge, or the time remaining - Red at 20% and under, on battery - A bolt while it charges - The apps behind the drain in the dropdown ## Why it matters: battery on a Mac The battery menu in macOS lists the apps Using Significant Energy, and Activity Monitor's Energy tab adds Energy Impact and 12 hr Power. Both are right now or the last half day, per process, and neither says why the Mac would not sleep in your bag. The battery questions are about time and cause: what used it between nine and one, what is holding sleep off and since when, how often an app wakes the processor while it looks idle. The Battery tab lists energy by app with helpers counted, the apps keeping the Mac awake with the reason each gave and for how long, Idle Wake Ups per app, and the battery itself: charge, time remaining, cycles, maximum capacity and temperature. The menu bar battery turns red at 20% on battery and shows a bolt while charging, and the history keeps energy by app for the day and beyond. ## How to use it 1. **Open the Battery tab.** Power per app, highest first, with the helpers counted under their apps. The Idle Wake Ups column shows how often each app wakes the processor while it looks idle; click the heading and the apps that are not resting come to the top. 2. **See what is keeping the Mac awake.** Keeping This Mac Awake lists each app with the reason it gave, such as Playing video or Downloading, how long it has held sleep off, and whether it keeps the screen on. Quit it from the list if it should not be. 3. **Read the battery itself.** Charge, time remaining, whether it is charging, cycles, Maximum Capacity against when it was new, and temperature. In the menu bar, the battery turns red at 20% on battery and shows a bolt while it charges. 4. **Look back.** Over Time keeps energy by app, and the Peaks card the highest power and when. On a desktop Mac, and on Intel Macs, power still shows, as an estimate on Intel. ## Compared with Activity Monitor | | Activity Monitor | Vitals | | --- | --- | --- | | Energy by app | Energy Impact, per process | Per app, helpers counted | | Keeping the Mac awake | A Preventing Sleep column | The reason each app gave, and for how long | | Idle wake ups | A column | A column, sorted so the apps that are not resting come first | | The battery itself | System Settings → Battery | On the tab: cycles, capacity, temperature | | Over time | 12 hr Power | Energy by app, by the hour, for up to a year | ## The words behind it - [Energy Impact](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/energy-impact): Energy Impact is a relative measure of how much energy an app is using right now, shown in the Energy tab of Activity Monitor. - [Idle Wake Ups](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/idle-wake-ups): Idle Wake Ups counts how many times a process has woken the CPU from an idle state. - [Preventing Sleep](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/preventing-sleep): Preventing Sleep is a column in the Energy tab of Activity Monitor that shows whether an app is currently keeping the Mac from going to sleep. - [App Nap](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/app-nap): App Nap is a macOS feature that slows down apps you are not using, such as apps whose windows are hidden and that are not playing audio. ## Questions ### How do I find what is draining my Mac's battery? The Battery tab lists the apps using the most energy, now and today. The battery guide walks through the usual causes. ### Why won't my Mac sleep? Something is holding sleep off. The Battery tab lists the apps doing it, what each one said it is doing, and for how long. ### Why does Vitals show a different maximum capacity from System Settings? Both read the same gauge in the battery. Vitals shows today's reading, which moves a little with temperature; macOS works its number out less often and holds a new battery at 100% for a while. ### Does it show Bluetooth device batteries? Yes, on the Bluetooth tab and in the dropdown, lowest first. ### Does the menu bar battery warn me? It turns red at 20% and under on battery power, and shows a bolt while it charges. ### What are Idle Wake Ups? How often an app wakes the processor while it looks idle. An app that wakes it hundreds of times a second uses battery while doing nothing you can see. The column sorts, so those come to the top. ### Can Vitals stop an app from keeping the Mac awake? Quit it from the list, after a confirmation. If it is a setting rather than an app, the sleep guide walks through the ones that hold a Mac awake. ### Does it show power on a desktop Mac? Yes. Macs without a battery show power, and Intel Macs show an estimate per app. ## Read on - [What’s draining my Mac’s battery? How to find it, and what helps](https://vitalsmac.com/mac-battery-draining-fast) - [Why won’t my Mac sleep? How to find what is keeping it awake](https://vitalsmac.com/mac-wont-sleep) - [Vitals vs Activity Monitor](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/activity-monitor) - [Vitals vs iStat Menus](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/istat-menus) ## More of Vitals Every feature is at [vitalsmac.com/features](https://vitalsmac.com/features). Vitals is one payment, with every update for life: [pricing](https://vitalsmac.com/pricing).