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Tagbert

macrumors 603
Jun 22, 2011
6,234
7,270
Seattle
When optimized battery charging is working it will keep the charge around about 80%-90% according to the battery indicator. It doesn’t show 100%. Whoever told you that is wrong. I haven’t figured out why it works well for me and others can’t seem to get it to work. It does take several weeks the first time it starts working. After that it seems to kick in sooner—usually within 24 hours for me.
I was suspicious of that when I read it. Just commenting that there is a lot of conflicting information out there.

I wish that Apple would give us this optimized charging system but give us an alternate where we say, just charge to XX%.
 

Natzoo

macrumors 68020
Sep 16, 2014
2,016
646
The problem with aldente is that i read some reddit problems specially with m1. Burned thunderbolts etc etc. Is aldente approved by Apple? Short answer:no. I wish Apple give us options like some asus laptops.
Wait really? I have used it on my m1 pro since release and it has been fine.
 

mlody

macrumors 68000
Nov 11, 2012
1,623
1,236
Windy City
I also use aldente and my laptop is fine. I using it Mon thru Fri when my mac is connected via a dock for working. On Friday evening, I disable aldente and allow it to charge to 100% so that I dont have to bother with charging during the weekend. Usually this allows me to use laptop all weekend without working to charge it and on Monday when I start my grind over again, I turn aldente and make sure that my laptop does not charges past 80%.

Apple's optimized charging would never work for my use case
 
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ric22

Suspended
Mar 8, 2022
2,713
2,958
Aaaaaaand are Apple finally implementing the 80% limit this year? Or do they still want our batteries to die sooner than necessary?
 
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DaveEcc

macrumors regular
Oct 17, 2022
206
362
Ottawa, ON, Canada
1718333444094.png

Apple's built-in optimized charging. It's been sitting at 80% for a few days, though sometimes it decides to charge to full. It's not clear when it will fully charge or not... but based on a recent post, charing 20-80 vs 40-100 only makes a 1% difference in battery health after 750-800 charges. Unless you're draining your battery before charging all the time, it's not worth trying to micromanage it.
 

Howard2k

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2016
5,671
5,586
🥴 please tell me you don't think that's the same thing ??

Yes, my battery limits itself to 80% as Apple determines based on behaviour

Clearly they’re not trying to kill my battery. If that was the case they wouldn’t have implemented the feature.
 
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Tagbert

macrumors 603
Jun 22, 2011
6,234
7,270
Seattle
🥴 please tell me you don't think that's the same thing ??
Optimized Charging is different on MacBooks where it sets a target charge amount and generally keeps the MacBook there. On iPhones it is there to keep the phone from hitting 100% too soon in overnight charging and delays the charge so you hit 100% at what it estimates your wake time is. The phone version is not useful for me so I use the phone’s 80% charge limit setting instead.
 

ric22

Suspended
Mar 8, 2022
2,713
2,958
I have that feature turned on, but never once has my MacBook Air M1 charged itself to less than the full 100%.

It isn't my work computer, so I don't charge it on a regular schedule. For anyone without a regular schedule it is in no way helpful. They could get a dev to implement a hard 80% cap in 2 minutes- as third party software is capable of doing.
 
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jdb8167

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2008
4,854
4,594
Optimized Charging is different on MacBooks where it sets a target charge amount and generally keeps the MacBook there. On iPhones it is there to keep the phone from hitting 100% too soon in overnight charging and delays the charge so you hit 100% at what it estimates your wake time is.
macOS does the bolded part too. I plug my MacBook Air in after I get home from work and it charges to 80% then waits until morning to continue the charge to 100%.
Screenshot 2024-05-22 at 12.36.02 PM.png
 
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throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
9,137
7,293
Perth, Western Australia
my 14" Pro usage today - after being used on AC power a lot (for months).... and then using it on battery during the day a bit. there's a lot going on here - but its all built in battery management.

The 8AM ish charge is when I got to work and plugged into my dock. see it actually drop whilst on AC power down to 80 percent in anticipation of not needing to be used on battery, today was abnormal. when I plugged it back into my dock later in the day it charged hard at 2pm (85W charger or so in the thunderbolt dock).

then charged back up to 100 percent in the evening before I left work in antiquation of being off-charge until tomorrow.

Screenshot 2024-06-17 at 8.44.54 PM.png
 
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Mellofello808

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 18, 2010
1,088
2,162
my 14" Pro usage today - after being used on AC power a lot (for months).... and then using it on battery during the day a bit. there's a lot going on here - but its all built in battery management.

The 8AM ish charge is when I got to work and plugged into my dock. see it actually drop whilst on AC power down to 80 percent in anticipation of not needing to be used on battery, today was abnormal. when I plugged it back into my dock later in the day it charged hard at 2pm (85W charger or so in the thunderbolt dock).

then charged back up to 100 percent in the evening before I left work in antiquation of being off-charge until tomorrow.

View attachment 2389656
Use Al Dente
 
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Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2020
1,436
1,136
My experience, I never did get consistency out of the M2 staying at 80% using Apple's optimization. It was almost always tethered and shot to 100% on occasion even though there wasn't a pattern that I required this to do so. In short, battery health declined even though it shouldn't had to. Fast forward and the battery was replaced alongside every other component due to fluid damage. I used AlDente Pro after this and am a very happy camper with it saying at 80%.

Another experience. Battery optimization worked fantastically for me with my 13 Mini for 6 months. As expected, location, overnight charging and alarm would keep things charged to 80%, then ramp to 100% a few hours before I woke up. Perfect! Then one day it totally stopped doing this and no amounts or resets to relearn brought it back again. It just charged overnight to 100% no matter what.

Obviously I've lost confidence in Apple's battery optimization technology to stay consistent.
 
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Howard2k

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2016
5,671
5,586
My experience, I never did get consistency out of the M2 staying at 80% using Apple's optimization. It was almost always tethered and shot to 100% on occasion even though there wasn't a pattern that I required this to do so. In short, battery health declined even though it shouldn't had to. Fast forward and the battery was replaced alongside every other component due to fluid damage. I used AlDente Pro after this and am a very happy camper with it saying at 80%.


Battery health declines over time, whether you use it or not.
 

jennyp

macrumors 6502a
Oct 27, 2007
647
276
My M2 Max MBP is almost exclusively used with a Studio Display, which obviously charges it. With the System Settings > Battery > Battery Health > Optimised Battery Charging toggled on, it never goes above 80%. Under the menubar icon it says "Power Source: Power Adapter. Charging On Hold (Rarely Used On Battery)". There is an option there to "Charge to Full Now" but I never do that. I unplug it from the display at night. I've had it since April 2023, using it virtually every day, and the "Battery Health" reports "Battery Condition - Normal" and "Maximum Capacity - 100%". So I don't see the need to buy a third-party app. (Edit: running on Sonoma 14.7 btw)
 

Howard2k

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2016
5,671
5,586
It’s not that simple. Time is one factor but the rate of decline is greater if you constantly charge batteries to 100%.

Of course. The previous posted said that "battery health declined even though it shouldn't had to". My point is that it will still decline whether you use it or not.
 
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Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2020
1,436
1,136
Of course. The previous posted said that "battery health declined even though it shouldn't had to". My point is that it will still decline whether you use it or not.
It was my comment. Then I'll add "prematurely"going by the premise that it shouldn't actually have spiked to 100% in the first place. That was the point I was trying to make.
 
Last edited:
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rocketbuc

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2017
348
323
Yes you can, here is what you need to do.

1. Download the App called AlDente and set the charging limit to 80% or more. The key is to have it set at least to 80%, anything over 80% will bypass the battery and it will use the power straight from the charger. Under 80% it will go through the battery and add unnecessary stress.
2. In Mac OS System Preferences, go to Battery and disable Optimized battery charging. Leaving this enabled will conflict with AlDente since the app will be doing the battery charging.

AlDente Pro is not required, you can do it with the free version too. The Pro version has some nice features and if you buy it the license is lifetime, not subscription. Your call in the end.
Are you sure the battery bypass only works at >80% levels? I understood that once Al Dente stops the charging it always transfers into that state? Why would it only work above 80%?
 
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