MacBook Air M1 battery drain - anybody else...?!

[blacksinatra]

Hey everyone I've been scouring the internet on claims on battery issues. My wife bought me the M1 MBA base model for Christmas.

Usually I try not to be anxious with things like these but my battery life I noticed was definitely an issue.

From reading Reddits and forums people say the first few days is indexing etc. I did a clean install and updated to latest OS right after I registered. Fast forward to after I charged my laptop to 100 percent yesterday it shows I've lost, 25% battery life with 4 hours of on screen usage. This has been light browsing with a little YouTube in Safari with 4-6 tabs open at a time. It seems like when Mac is fully charged it does not loose percentage for 6-7 hours but once the battery start to move it you notice drain. Last night in Sleep the battery went down 6-7%.

I just feel with all the claims from users and reviewers coupled with the fact I mostly use my MBA for web browsing and Microsoft Office for work and watching YouTube running at 50% brightness I should see better battery life. Also Coconut Battery displays a lower battery percentage than displayed on my MBA.

I'm going to book an appointment with Apple tomorrow, I already did a support call where we ran diagnostics but the rep did not seem experienced with M1 and says battery is fine. I'm on my 3rd charging cycle.

I also showed my screen time used last week where it was showing 48hrs of something in the "other" category.

 

[ca$hman]

On my M1 MBA I have icloud enabled, with no extra configurations, wake for network enabled. The only thing I've done is clean out the Google/Chrome cruft from my system. I have no issues with battery loss during sleep.

This was also the solution for my MBP M1 8/512. Although at first I did not removed Chrome, but just killed and permanently disabled the Keystone process. When this solved the issue I was so disappointed in G so I decided to fully remove Chrome. You can read all about issue at this website: Chrome is Bad

 

[Clausewitz]

Hey everyone I've been scouring the internet on claims on battery issues. My wife bought me the M1 MBA base model for Christmas.

Usually I try not to be anxious with things like these but my battery life I noticed was definitely an issue.

From reading Reddits and forums people say the first few days is indexing etc. I did a clean install and updated to latest OS right after I registered. Fast forward to after I charged my laptop to 100 percent yesterday it shows I've lost, 25% battery life with 4 hours of on screen usage. This has been light browsing with a little YouTube in Safari with 4-6 tabs open at a time. It seems like when Mac is fully charged it does not loose percentage for 6-7 hours but once the battery start to move it you notice drain. Last night in Sleep the battery went down 6-7%.

I just feel with all the claims from users and reviewers coupled with the fact I mostly use my MBA for web browsing and Microsoft Office for work and watching YouTube running at 50% brightness I should see better battery life. Also Coconut Battery displays a lower battery percentage than displayed on my MBA.

I'm going to book an appointment with Apple tomorrow, I already did a support call where we ran diagnostics but the rep did not seem experienced with M1 and says battery is fine. I'm on my 3rd charging cycle.

I also showed my screen time used last week where it was showing 48hrs of something in the "other" category.


View attachment 1706638


View attachment 1706619View attachment 1706624

Your battery looks good to me actually.

24% in 4 hours = 96% in 16 hours. Apple estimates MBA's battery at 18 hours from maximum charge. You are near about that mark. Ordinarily, 12+ hours of screen time should be viewed as a good battery performance.

However, check "energy impact" for Safari in the Activity Monitor, especially when playing YouTube. I only use MS Word. It doesn't usually seem to have a major energy impact. OneDrive on the other sometimes has a high energy impact. If you are using that then look up its energy impact.

It is normal for Coconut Battery and other similar apps to show battery's capacity less than what the Mac is displaying.

What surprises me, however, is your claim that your MBA does not lose charge for 6-7 hours when charged to 100%. I sure hope that is the case when the MBA is either not being used at all or being utilised ever so sparsely. Otherwise, you shouldn't be complaining at all. 6-7 hours of 100% charge would be amazing. On the other hand, its normal for your Mac to loose charge relatively quicker once it starts to drain from 100%.

6-7% drain during sleep is something to look into. Try turning off "Wakeup for network access" in System Preferences -> Battery -> Power Adapter. Also, turn off "automatically download episodes" for the Podcasts if you are using that. Although I think that these features shouldn't really have that much of an impact when enabled. Some users, however, suggest "Wakeup for network access" helps things a little.

 

[blacksinatra]

Thanks for replying! At time of writing this as Im monitoring my battery with 7 tabs open total playing time for YouTube is 45min. Activity monitor measures 8 hrs of battery life left. My total on screen time usage is 6.2hrs. and I have 59% battery life left.

I don't watch podcasts and wakeup for network access is off. Not sure why coconut battery is showing a difference.

My energy impact has been between 2-4 up and down with YouTube Playing

 

[Clausewitz]

Thanks for replying! At time of writing this as Im monitoring my battery with 7 tabs open total playing time for YouTube is 45min. Activity monitor measures 8 hrs of battery life left. My total on screen time usage is 6.2hrs. and I have 59% battery life left.

I don't watch podcasts and wakeup for network access is off. Not sure why coconut battery is showing a difference.

My energy impact has been between 2-4 up and down with YouTube PlayingView attachment 1706827
View attachment 1706820

Again, looks good to me.

AFAIK, your Mac will keep on reestimating "time remaining" according to your usage. For instance, it is likely to show more time remaining if you quit streaming YouTube. Expand Safari to also see YouTube's energy impact. I think you are over thinking this (while I say this confidently I too fret over my MB's battery performance). But if it helps, take it to Apple store & have it checked, as you plan to. Although, I think they are likely to tell you that your battery is discharging normally.

 

[blacksinatra]

Again, looks good to me.

AFAIK, your Mac will keep on reestimating "time remaining" according to your usage. For instance, it is likely to show more time remaining if you quit streaming YouTube. Expand Safari to also see YouTube's energy impact. I think you are over thinking this (while I say this confidently I too fret over my MB's battery performance). But if it helps, take it to Apple store & have it checked, as you plan to. Although, I think they are likely to tell you that your battery is discharging normally.

Thanks @ca$hman and @Clausewitz as I'm writing this with 9% battery left and 12hrs total screen on time. I fully charged my MacBook Sunday 10am. Im starting to feel that you would get higher numbers if you did use the lap top straight through without any sleeping, but hey. @Clausewitz I did go the Mac store. @ca$hman your right. The tech said that googlechrome has been an issue with battery on the m1 for some people. He saw that even though I had not been using chrome at all Onedrive and Keystone was active in the background consuming energy. So let's see if this makes a difference as I had Apple remove all these processes.

 

[Clausewitz]

Thanks @ca$hman and @Clausewitz as I'm writing this with 9% battery left and 12hrs total screen on time. I fully charged my MacBook Sunday 10am. Im starting to feel that you would get higher numbers if you did use the lap top straight through without any sleeping, but hey. @Clausewitz I did go the Mac store. @ca$hman your right. The tech said that googlechrome has been an issue with battery on the m1 for some people. He saw that even though I had not been using chrome at all Onedrive and Keystone was active in the background consuming energy. So let's see if this makes a difference as I had Apple remove all these processes.

OneDrive can have high energy impact. At least that's my experience. Always quit it when not in use. Chrome is well known energy consumer. In fact, some even suggest other Google services, such as its search engine and Gmail also have unusual energy impact. I have also observed more energy drain while streaming on YouTube.

12 hours of screen time is good. I believe you will be able to get more now that you have quit Chrome & OneDrive.

How is your sleep time battery drain during the last 15% charge? Its second time that I have let my MB charge drop below 20% and first that I had it drop below 10%. This time around I have noticed unusual drain during very short sleep intervals.

 

[ca$hman]

Thanks @ca$hman ... @ca$hman your right. The tech said that googlechrome has been an issue with battery on the m1 for some people. He saw that even though I had not been using chrome at all Onedrive and Keystone was active in the background consuming energy. So let's see if this makes a difference as I had Apple remove all these processes.

Great and hopes this makes the difference for you as it did for me so you can enjoy your MBA M1 as you should. Best.

 

[blacksinatra]

Hey guys just an another update after they removed chrome and everything (as they said) it seems my battery life ended up being worse. I had some weird thing in the screen usage in the "other" category keeping it awake at night and running constantly.

Went back to the Apple store again the tech said there is probably some things they missed so they recommend doing a wipe and reinstall. That took an hour to finish.

When I got home and went through the initial set up, It wouldn't let me create a computer profile. It just kept freezing on that screen and 10 mins later it would say "error cannot use user name". So you can imagine I'm very frustrated at this point. So I immediately schedule another support @ apple store in a couple hours but I call tech support to see if they have a solution. The tech on the phone basically guides me to do another reinstall, same issue.

Fast forward, I go back to the Apple store at this point Im ready to do an exchange and wait a month. The tech says it could be something I'm the firmware preventing it to take the login. So he says he's going to do a full firmware rebuild install. Moreover malls closing now, I have to come back in the morning to pick it up as it was taking too long and the computer they were using to run the reboot had a hiccup.

Only good thing out of it was that the manager said they'll extend my Grace period so if I ever have any issues whether it's in 1 week or 2 weeks whenever I can do an exchange.

Didn't imagine everything would be so buggy with these chips. Overall any MBA users I'd appreciate comments on your battery life when using just Safari with a 6+ tabs open.

Thanks!

 

[smoking monkey]

I'm using a M1 MBA so interested in what the Apple Store says was the issue. Something running in the background...mmm... It could be something you moved over with migration (if you did it that way). It could be an app you are using. It could be your computer is faulty. I think it's wise for others following this not to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts of the OP's computer set up and things they have DLed onto it.

I personally don't find the batter lasting an amazing amount of time, but then again, I think I've got the brightness up a fair bit and I'm also editing graphic and animation intensive slides in Keynote for hours a day. I imagine that's going to kill the battery fast.

 

[blacksinatra]

I'm using a M1 MBA so interested in what the Apple Store says was the issue. Something running in the background...mmm... It could be something you moved over with migration (if you did it that way). It could be an app you are using. It could be your computer is faulty. I think it's wise for others following this not to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts of the OP's computer set up and things they have DLed onto it.

I personally don't find the batter lasting an amazing amount of time, but then again, I think I've got the brightness up a fair bit and I'm also editing graphic and animation intensive slides in Keynote for hours a day. I imagine that's going to kill the battery fast.

Yes I guess so. At the end I got it back. Last charged since Saturday Looks like I'm approaching 12 Hours. This is @ again 50% brightness and with 2 gmail accounts open, Facebook, Youtube, Macrumors, Google Search, notes app Open. which I consider is as Light Browsing, I don't have Youtube Running but in this test I've put my screen usage below.

My wife says I'm being obsessive and ungrateful. I'm just considering the face If I can't get 14-15 hours doing this, I won't be getting even less time with things running and doing more multitasking. Also Coconut battery is reading 98.2 Design Capacity I thought it should be at at least %100. But of course through the Battery in preferences is reading 100%.

 

[Galius]

Hey guys just an another update after they removed chrome and everything (as they said) it seems my battery life ended up being worse. I had some weird thing in the screen usage in the "other" category keeping it awake at night and running constantly.

Went back to the Apple store again the tech said there is probably some things they missed so they recommend doing a wipe and reinstall. That took an hour to finish.

When I got home and went through the initial set up, It wouldn't let me create a computer profile. It just kept freezing on that screen and 10 mins later it would say "error cannot use user name". So you can imagine I'm very frustrated at this point. So I immediately schedule another support @ apple store in a couple hours but I call tech support to see if they have a solution. The tech on the phone basically guides me to do another reinstall, same issue.

Fast forward, I go back to the Apple store at this point Im ready to do an exchange and wait a month. The tech says it could be something I'm the firmware preventing it to take the login. So he says he's going to do a full firmware rebuild install. Moreover malls closing now, I have to come back in the morning to pick it up as it was taking too long and the computer they were using to run the reboot had a hiccup.

Only good thing out of it was that the manager said they'll extend my Grace period so if I ever have any issues whether it's in 1 week or 2 weeks whenever I can do an exchange.

Didn't imagine everything would be so buggy with these chips. Overall any MBA users I'd appreciate comments on your battery life when using just Safari with a 6+ tabs open.

Thanks!

Had the same issue, I did the following and it worked:

M1 Mac clean install, getting stuck at "Create a computer account"

I wanted to do a clean install on my shiny new M1 MacBook Pro, running macOS 11.1. I booted into recovery mode and navigated to disk utility, click my Macintosh HD entry, erase, then erase volume g...

apple.stackexchange.com

1. shut down your computer
2. hold the power button until the "options" icon shows
3. select the "options" icon
4. when next screen loads, select menu item to launch terminal
5. in terminal type "resetpassword" and hit enter
6. when a reset password box appears, select menu item to erase Mac (see note below)
7. in new pop up confirm option to erase Mac.
8. once erased, exit back to recover
9. reinstall the operating system
10. once installed, create the account.

 

[blacksinatra]

Had the same issue, I did the following and it worked:

M1 Mac clean install, getting stuck at "Create a computer account"

I wanted to do a clean install on my shiny new M1 MacBook Pro, running macOS 11.1. I booted into recovery mode and navigated to disk utility, click my Macintosh HD entry, erase, then erase volume g...

apple.stackexchange.com

1. shut down your computer
2. hold the power button until the "options" icon shows
3. select the "options" icon
4. when next screen loads, select menu item to launch terminal
5. in terminal type "resetpassword" and hit enter
6. when a reset password box appears, select menu item to erase Mac (see note below)
7. in new pop up confirm option to erase Mac.
8. once erased, exit back to recover
9. reinstall the operating system
10. once installed, create the account.

Hey Thanks for this I let apple fix the issue at the store. But great to know for next time.

I'm overall doing an exchange at the Apple Store when it comes back in stock. Coconut battery is reading the capacity @ 97% of design capacity. As well not happy with all I went through.

 

[Juloooo]

Hi guys,

Received my brand spanking new MA M1 yesterday and it's a great machine indeed. Fast and responsive!

However... I do find that my battery life is much shorter than what everybody have reported? I understand I wouldn't get 16 hours as reported, but I was expecting at least 10...? I will list my observations below.

1. Battery has drained 6% while sleeping - I have read most of you don't have any drain overnight? It was sleeping between midnight and 10am - you can see battery draining on the graph attached.

2. Just running MS outlook and Safari (5 tabs) I would lose around 20% in 1.5 hour. I haven't used Chrome, all of the updates and indexing were done yesterday. I have had computer on for 1.5hr this morning and it went from 83% to 66% in less than 2 hours. I understand Outlook isn't optimised yet, but still it drained more than running benchmarks or using Zoom (the famous thread!).

Anybody else experienced something similar? Any recommendations on "resetting" the battery or anything else I could do?

Strange...

Thanks,
P.

Yes I have similar problems. My battery life is also much shorter than reported. Very glad do see that other people have this problem too.

 

[Fred Zed]

Hey everyone I've been scouring the internet on claims on battery issues. My wife bought me the M1 MBA base model for Christmas.

Usually I try not to be anxious with things like these but my battery life I noticed was definitely an issue.

From reading Reddits and forums people say the first few days is indexing etc. I did a clean install and updated to latest OS right after I registered. Fast forward to after I charged my laptop to 100 percent yesterday it shows I've lost, 25% battery life with 4 hours of on screen usage. This has been light browsing with a little YouTube in Safari with 4-6 tabs open at a time. It seems like when Mac is fully charged it does not loose percentage for 6-7 hours but once the battery start to move it you notice drain. Last night in Sleep the battery went down 6-7%.

I just feel with all the claims from users and reviewers coupled with the fact I mostly use my MBA for web browsing and Microsoft Office for work and watching YouTube running at 50% brightness I should see better battery life. Also Coconut Battery displays a lower battery percentage than displayed on my MBA.

I'm going to book an appointment with Apple tomorrow, I already did a support call where we ran diagnostics but the rep did not seem experienced with M1 and says battery is fine. I'm on my 3rd charging cycle.

I also showed my screen time used last week where it was showing 48hrs of something in the "other" category.


View attachment 1706638


View attachment 1706619View attachment 1706624

Your screen on time to battery loss seems normal. I lost around 20% for just over 3 hours of screen on time. You got 4 hours of screen time for 25% loss . None issue.

 

[chrisia777]

My problem is that battery lost seriously during sleep.

 

[mi7chy]

Blaming it on Chrome sounds like BS. My battery only went down from 56% yesterday new out of box to 50% overnight with hours of Chrome usage and sleep. Prefer to use Chrome since it has uBlock Origin, works with Stadia game streaming, etc. Only difference is I haven't logged into iCloud yet and just using local account and turned off a lot of Apple data collection.

 

[Juzy]

I have a sleep drain problem with this. It drains ~25% during 24 hours when lid closed. I contacted Apple support but they couldn't do anything. It seems the problem occurs with M1 chip.

 

[ROMAR]

I have a sleep drain problem with this. It drains ~25% during 24 hours when lid closed. I contacted Apple support but they couldn't do anything. It seems the problem occurs with M1 chip.

No, i don´t think so!

 

[Zazoh]

No, i don´t think so!

Agree. Mine doesn’t do that. Something is running. I’d check the activity monitor.

 

[Tardegard]

Same issue here, battery drained from 81% to 38% after 19 hours of total INACTIVITY.
Is it normal?

 

[svanstrom]

Same issue here, battery drained from 81% to 38% after 19 hours of total INACTIVITY.
Is it normal?

Define "INACTIVITY"…

 

[Tardegard]

Define "INACTIVITY"…

continuous sleeping, lid closed

 

[svanstrom]

continuous sleeping, lid closed

Do you get the same results if you first put it into sleep mode, instead of trusting the closed lid to automatically put it into sleep?

Do you allow wake for network access and power nap while on battery?

 

[Tardegard]

Do you get the same results if you first put it into sleep mode, instead of trusting the closed lid to automatically put it into sleep?

Do you allow wake for network access and power nap while on battery?

Don't know about putting into sleep manually, i'l try that.
No, wake for network is disabled.
I uninstalled google also, just now.