How often is your MacBook battery charged?
If you have a MacBook, the health of your battery is very important. Over the years it continues to deteriorate, causing the battery life to gradually become shorter. That is why it is important to keep an eye on how often the battery is charged, so that you know approximately when it needs to be replaced. This can also be useful if you want to buy a second-hand MacBook and are curious whether the battery is still performing well. In this tip we explain how you can check this.
- Number of charging cycles
- Check charging cycles
- When worn out
Determine number of charging cycles
The expected lifespan of a battery is determined by manufacturers based on the number of charging cycles. Once a certain limit on the number of charging cycles has passed, the battery is worn out and may need to be replaced. Of course you can continue to use the battery, but it runs out faster, which makes it not always pleasant to work with it.
You can have the battery replaced for a fee. You can request the costs in advance from Apple. It is a good idea to have your battery replaced through Apple or an Apple-authorized company. This is often not or not much more expensive than through a non-approved company and you can be sure that original parts are used by certified technicians.
How often you can charge a battery varies per model. One battery cycle is the amount of energy it takes to fully charge a battery. If you charge a half-empty battery back to 100%, that is half a battery cycle. Do you only use 20% of the battery and then recharge it? Then you have to do that five times to complete an entire battery cycle (5 x 20% = 100%).
Check how many charging cycles the MacBook has had
Want to know how many battery cycles your Mac has already completed? You can easily look this up. Here’s how to check how many battery cycles your MacBook has endured:
- In the menu bar at the top of your screen, go to  > About This Mac
- In the window that appears, click the More info button.
- The System Settings will now open. Scroll down and click System Overview.
- Now the System Information utility opens. Look in the column on the left under Hardware.
- Click Power to view battery information.
- Status Information shows the number of charge cycles your Mac’s battery has completed. The higher this number, the older and more worn out the battery is.
For Apple Silicon models you can also see here what the maximum capacity of the battery is, expressed as a percentage. Here you can only view the status of the built-in MacBook battery and not that of connected wireless devices such as mouse and keyboard.
If you want a richer view of the status of the MacBook battery, take a look at CoconutBattery or Battery Health. We explain how to do this in a separate tip. Here’s more context on what difference it makes how often your MacBook battery is charged.
After how many charging cycles does your MacBook battery wear out?
Now you know where to look up how many cycles your MacBook’s battery has completed, but that won’t do you much good if you don’t know how many battery cycles the limit is. A battery is considered worn out after X number of cycles. On this Apple support page you can see the number of maximum charging cycles for each type of MacBook. For today’s MacBooks, the battery can go through a full charge cycle 1,000 times until it is worn out, according to Apple. If you have an older MacBook from before 2009, the maximum number of charging cycles may be around 500 or 300.
Of course, your personal experience also plays a role. If your MacBook is always connected to power and you rarely go out with it, it is not a problem that the battery has become ‘lazy’. If you often have to be on the road for a long time, you are more likely to encounter problems with a worn-out battery.
If your MacBook’s battery is no longer in good condition, consider replacing it so that you can use it for a few more years. This can be done by contacting Apple or an authorized repair company. You can also replace it yourself with some models, but you have to be handy.
To keep your battery good for as long as possible, we recommend using battery management on the MacBook. This feature keeps the MacBook battery charged at a lower percentage. In our tip you can read why you should do this and how to use it.
