this is how you use the new battery options

In macOS Big Sur, there is a new Battery section in the System Preferences. In this tip, we will tell you which options you will find there and how you use them.

macOS Big Sur Battery options

If you have updated your Mac (Book) to macOS Big Sur, you will see a new item when you open System Preferences: Battery. It collects all kinds of useful information about your Mac’s battery, and you also have a number of options. We discuss them with you.

The Battery tab has four parts: usage history, battery, power adapter, and schedule. Under ‘usage history’ you can see how much you have used the battery over the past 24 hours (or last 10 days). This gives you a simple overview of the days on which you have worked most with your Apple computer.

Battery and optimized charging

At ‘Battery’ you see a number of battery options that were also in previous macOS versions. For example, you can set when the screen is switched off, whether you want to see the battery status in the menu bar and you can enable Power Nap. The latter is a function that ensures that your Mac remains active when you have put it to sleep.

Especially useful is ‘optimized charging’, a feature you may already know from iOS. This smart way of charging should ensure that the life of your MacBook battery is extended.

It works like this: if you’ve turned on the setting, Big Sur looks at the times when you normally plug the charger into your laptop. The MacBook then charges up to 80 percent and the remaining 20 percent is only refilled shortly before you need to get started. As a result, the battery retains its full capacity for longer and wears out less quickly.

AC adapter and schematic

If you go to ‘power adapter’, you will see many of the same options as with ‘Battery’, but for the times when your Mac is connected to the charger. Finally, at ‘Schedule’ you can set when to use sleep mode, or when your Mac should be switched off automatically, for example.

Looking for more? Also check these macOS Big Sur tips: