How to see which app is draining your Mac's battery

The quick check

Click the battery icon in the menu bar. Under Apps Using Significant Energy, macOS lists anything currently using a lot of power. If the battery icon isn’t showing, turn it on in System Settings → Menu Bar.

The detailed check: Activity Monitor

1. Open Activity Monitor and click the Energy tab.
2. Sort by Energy Impact to see what’s using power right now.
3. Sort by 12 hr Power to see what’s used the most over the last 12 hours. This is often more useful, because it catches apps that drain the battery in the background.
4. Check the Preventing Sleep column. “Yes” means an app is keeping your Mac awake.

Battery settings

System Settings → Battery shows your battery level and screen-on time over the last 24 hours or 10 days, and Battery Health shows whether the battery itself is holding charge as it should.

The usual suspects

• Browsers with many tabs, especially video or heavy web apps.
• Video calls and screen sharing.
• Sync and backup apps working through a big upload.
• Developer tools: dev servers, file watchers, containers, and emulators left running.
• Apps preventing sleep, so the Mac never rests between uses.

What helps

• Quit what you’re not using, rather than just closing its window.
• Turn on Low Power Mode in System Settings → Battery when you need the battery to last.
• Lower screen brightness; the display is one of the biggest power draws.
• Stop dev servers and containers you’re not actively using.