Tips to Improve Battery Life of MacBook Running macOS High Sierra

When I encountered macOS High Sierra battery drain issue, these are the solutions that not just helped me fix the problem but also allowed me to extend the battery life on my MacBook. I would suggest you give them a look if your macOS device is going through the same pain!

Ever since I upgraded my MacBook Pro to macOS High Sierra, I have found my laptop running more smoothly. Apart from some common hiccups like a bit fast battery draining, I haven’t faced any major issues with the OS. Having come across this problem quite a few times before, I could easily stop the rapid battery consumption on my Mac using some viable tricks. Have you encountered the same problem on your Mac? I would recommend you try out these quick solutions to improve macOS High Sierra battery life on your Mac as they perfectly worked for me.

In my case, it was power-greedy apps and features that were making life difficult for my notebook. However, I can’t rule out miscellaneous bugs which might be shortening the life of the battery. Anyway, let’s head over to troubleshoot the macOS High Sierra battery draining issue!

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How to Fix Battery Drain Issue of MacBook Pro Running macOS High Sierra

Quick Navigation

Quick tips
Look at battery consumoption apps
Turn off location services
Turn off transparency & motion effects
Turn off automatic updates
Use only Safari
Turn off iCloud Photo Library/iCloud Photo Sharing and My Photo Stream
Update Apps on your MacBook
Reset PRAM & SMC and clean up Your Mac/Update Your MacBook
Update your MacBook

Quick Tips:

Do not keep multiple tabs opened at Once: This is a pretty little but very effective trick. The more tabs are opened, the more difficulty your device will have in running smoothly. And if it doesn’t run smoothly, it will eat unusual battery.
Keep Brightness At Medium Level: Make sure to keep brightness at the medium level.
Get the most out of Energy Saver: Head over to Apple menu → System Preferences → Energy Saver and fine tune it ideally to save more energy on your laptop.

Give a quick look at the battery consumption

First off, have a detailed look at the battery usage on your Mac to have the fair amount of idea about which apps and services are using the most power.

Go to Finder → Applications → Utilities → Activity Monitor (or simply search “Activity Monitor” from Spotlight Search) → Click on Energy tab at the top center. Now, find the culprits which are putting a bit more pressure on your computer.

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If you find any app eating more battery than usual, then delete it and reinstall it later.

Turn off Location Services

Continuous location tracking is known to eat into a lot of battery. Hence, either use it only for certain apps or completely turn it off. One thing you need to know that turning it off will prevent you from locating your computer with Find My Mac feature.

Step #1. Click on Apple logo → System Preferences.

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Step #2. Click on Security & Privacy.

Step #3. Click on the lock icon to make changes.

Step #4. You need to enter your Apple ID and password.

Step #5. Click on Privacy tab → Click on Location Services.

Step #6. Now uncheck the box next to Enable Location Services.

Step #7. Click on Turn Off to confirm.

Step #8. In the end, make sure to click on lock icon again to prevent others from making any changes.

Turn off Transparency & Motion Effects

Disabling transparency and motion effects could help in reducing the battery consumption. Therefore, do not fail to give this simple trick a try.

Step #1. Open Apple menu → System Preferences → Accessibility.

Step #2. Click on Display and uncheck the box next to Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency.

Disable Automatic Updates

The automatic updates and downloads are very helpful in letting you update apps or download contents with ease. However, it would be better to turn it off to extend the battery life of your MacBook.

Step #1. Click on Apple menu → System Preferences → App Store.

Step #2. Click on lock icon and enter your MacBook username and password.

Step #3. Uncheck the boxes for Install App Updates, Install macOS Updates, Download newly available updates in the background, Automatically download apps installed on other Mac, Install system data files and security updates.

Use only Safari

Safari is not just most secure but also the most efficient web browser. As compared to Firefox and Google Chrome, it consumes less battery.

The latest macOS version allows you to customize website options to enhance your experience. For instance, you can disable auto-playing videos to browse the web with the needed peace of mind. Head over to this complete guide to ideally enhance your web browsing experience in Safari.

Turn off iCloud Photo Library/ iCloud Photo Sharing and My Photo Stream

When iCloud Photo Library is enabled, it automatically uploads your entire library to let you easily access your pics across the iDevices or on the web. When My Photo Stream is on, it will automatically import your recent images from devices without iCloud Photo Library as well as send new photos to My Photo Stream album on those devices.

Step #1. Click on Apple menu → System Preferences → iCloud.

Step #2. Click on Options next to Photos.

Step #3. Uncheck the boxes for iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream, and iCloud Photo Sharing.

Update Apps

Many a time, I have found the outdated apps playing the villainous role in consuming battery more than usual. Therefore, I would suggest you update them to the latest version. App Store → Updates.

Reset PRAM & SMC and Clean Up Your Mac/Update Your Mac

Haven’t yet been able to resolve the battery draining issue? Try resetting PRAM and SMC. This little trick can help your computer get rid of the problem and also allow it to run more smoothly.

Clean Up Your Mac

If you are still struggling to resolve this problem, clean up your Mac to remove the junk files. MacClean is a handy third party tool that allows you to quickly eliminate unnecessary files. (Related article: how to use Optimized Storage to Manage files on Mac.)