How to Calibrate Your MacBook Battery and Whether It’s Worth It

As your MacBook ages, the battery efficiency decreases—that’s only a truth of life. Nevertheless, in the event you accurately preserve your battery, it’s attainable to maintain it going for longer and postpone changing it for so long as attainable. Calibrating your MacBook battery is usually instructed as a method to preserve its well being, however we’re unsure it’s that black and white.

We’ll clarify precisely what MacBook battery calibration is, the way it works, easy methods to do it, and why Apple doesn’t trouble recommending it anymore.


About Calibrating Your MacBook Battery


MacBook open on desk

As soon as upon a time, it was essential to calibrate your MacBook battery for it to work correctly. Calibrating a battery primarily means absolutely charging and discharging it to remind the software program how a lot cost the battery can maintain, so you realize that the onscreen battery proportion is all the time correct and your battery is working a most effectivity.

A calibrated battery will maintain a cost for so long as attainable and can cease your MacBook randomly shutting down with out warning whereas there may be nonetheless 20% cost left.

Do You Have to Calibrate a MacBook Battery?

Apple used to advocate calibrating your MacBook battery by absolutely charging and discharging it each month or so. Nevertheless, it has been over a decade since Apple stopped making these suggestions.

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Battery know-how has moved on to the purpose that it’s not essential to calibrate your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Professional battery to maintain it wholesome. It’s extremely unlikely that calibrating your MacBook battery will enhance its well being or make it last more.

That mentioned, there’s no hurt in making an attempt it in the event you’re experiencing numerous MacBook battery issues and have exhausted all the opposite choices. Additionally, in the event you’ve changed the battery in your MacBook, you could must calibrate it to make sure it’s working in addition to attainable.

Learn how to Calibrate a MacBook Battery

To calibrate the battery in your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Professional, you must absolutely cost and discharge the battery. Since there’s an issue together with your battery, you may’t belief the onscreen cost proportion to let you realize when it’s absolutely charged or discharged. As an alternative, you’ll must proceed charging and discharging the battery for a couple of hours both manner to ensure.


Simply comply with these steps:

  1. Join the facility adapter and cost your MacBook till it seems to have reached full cost. You’ll know this has occurred when the MagSafe cable has a inexperienced gentle or in the event you click on the Battery icon within the menu bar and it says 100% battery.
    MacBook battery percentage in menu bar

  2. Preserve your MacBook related to energy and proceed charging it for one more two hours. It’s positive to calmly use your MacBook throughout this time, simply ensure that it all the time stays charging.
  3. Now disconnect the facility adapter whereas protecting the MacBook open and powered on and permit it to empty all of the battery. To hurry this up, you need to go to System Preferences > Battery, then choose Battery from the sidebar and transfer the slider so the show will By no means flip off. It’s positive to maintain utilizing your MacBook throughout this time, however don’t exit of your method to drain the battery quicker than common, simply watch for it to discharge on the common price.
    MacBook battery preferences

  4. Finally, your MacBook will energy itself off. When this occurs, maintain it unplugged and wait for one more 5 hours or extra to make sure the battery is absolutely drained.
  5. After ready 5 hours or extra, reconnect the facility adapter and wait in your MacBook to totally cost the battery once more. If attainable, attempt to not use it throughout this time, although you could wish to return to the Battery preferences to ensure the show turns off after a couple of minutes once more.


And that’s it. When you adopted these steps, that’s all it takes to calibrate your MacBook battery. Hopefully it helped, but when it didn’t then there are many different methods to observe and enhance your MacBook battery well being.

Learn how to Monitor Your MacBook Battery Well being

When you’re involved about your MacBook battery well being, there are many third-party apps to observe your MacBook battery. Many of those apps are free and provide you with invaluable info on the variety of cost cycles, the present full cost capability, and the design capability.


The very best measure of your MacBook well being is evaluating the present full cost capability to the design capability. For instance, in case your MacBook battery was designed to carry 5,000mAh however it could actually now solely cost as much as 4,000mAh, then its well being has diminished to 80% well being.


Usually, Apple designs its batteries to take care of 80% of their design capability or extra for the primary 1,000 cost cycles. So utilizing an app to observe your battery well being can let you realize in case your battery is on monitor or not.

Different Methods to Keep a Wholesome MacBook Battery

Calibrating your MacBook battery won’t have an effect on its well being, however there are many different steps you may take to take care of a wholesome MacBook battery.

Usually, you need to maintain your software program up to date (to eradicate battery-draining bugs) and purpose to maintain your MacBook battery between 20% and 80% cost as a lot as attainable. Conserving a lithium-ion battery, just like the one in your MacBook, at 100% or 0% for too lengthy will degrade its well being. So that you shouldn’t maintain your MacBook plugged in to the tailored on a regular basis.

Take a look at our information for extra detailed tips about easy methods to enhance your MacBook battery well being.

Changing Your MacBook Battery


MacBook battery

In case your MacBook battery has already deteriorated and doesn’t maintain a lot of a cost, your solely answer could also be to get a substitute. Our suggestion is to e book an appointment at an Apple Retailer for an official battery substitute.

Nevertheless, this can price you wherever from $129 to $199 relying in your MacBook mannequin, and in case your MacBook is just too previous Apple could flat out refuse to work on it. So if Apple isn’t an choice, you should purchase home-repair kits from web sites like iFixit to switch the battery your self.


MacBook showing no battery screen

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