Check Your Battery Health and Improve its Lifetime [Mac]

Do you know the health status of your Macbook’s battery? Sure, you know the current charge and how long until you need to charge it again, but do you know its age, temperature, power usage, etc?

Probably not.

Knowing this type of information can be very beneficial and can help you to extend the lifetime of your battery. Luckily, the free Battery Health app for Mac can help you with that.

Here’s how.

1. You can download Battery Health from the Mac App Store.

2. When you start the app, you will see the Welcome Screen. Here, you can choose to start the app at login, subscribe to email updates, and connect with the developer.

3. Once you click on the “Start Battery Health” button, the Battery Health Stats window will appear. If it doesn’t appear, you can simply click on the menu bar icon to display it.

Note: The menu bar icon does not have a menu (like most menu bar icons); it’s used to simply show/hide the Battery Health Stats window.

Since Battery Health displays all of your information on a single screen, it’s pretty easy to see the health and details of your battery. Here’s what each section of the stats window is for:

1. Battery Charge – The current battery charge in milliampere-hour.

2. Battery Health – The current max displays the current capacity of which your battery can be charged. The original max displays the original capacity of which your battery could be charged, when it left the factory.

3. Time Remaining – Find out how long your battery will last (from its current state), if you continue to use it for various tasks like Internet browsing, watching movies, listening to music, watching movies, or leaving it on standby.

4. Details

Cycles let you know how often your battery has been drained and then recharged.Age is pretty self-explanatory: you can see how long ago your battery was manufactured.Temperature tells you the internal temperature of your battery (in Celsius and Fahrenheit).Power usage shows how many watts of electricity your battery is supplying to your computer in order to keep it running.mAh usage lets you know how many milliampere-hours are being used at that moment; you can even see a visual representation of this whenever you’re not charging your battery.

So, how do you keep your Mac’s battery healthy and extend its lifetime. Battery Health can help you with that as well. Just click on the “Tips” button at the bottom of the Stats window; the window will flip over and you’ll see some very useful tips to “help ensure you get the most out of your Mac’s battery over its lifetime.”

I won’t go into detail for each tip since they’re explained on the app, but I will list the title of each one.

Turn off AirPort WirelessTurn off BluetoothMinimize use of FaceTime CameraRemember to eject discs from the DVD driveReduce screen brightnessTurn down/off the backlit keyboardTurn down volume or use headphonesRun fewer applications at once/turn off unneeded applicationsDo NOT disable a CPU coreCalibrate the battery once every 1-3 months

What tips/tricks do you use to keep your Mac’s battery healthy? Are you aware of any of the above tips? Do you use them to help extend the lifetime of your battery?

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