The maximum battery cycle count for a modern Mac is 1000. After that, it rapidly degrades unless you use Mac’s optimized charging feature. So, what should you do when this feature isn’t working or suddenly stops working on your Mac?

Optimized battery charging is a useful feature that can help prolong your battery’s lifespan. However, there are a few things that you need to do to make it work.

1. Give Your Mac Some Time To Learn Your Routine

The best thing about Mac’s optimized battery charging is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to optimization. Instead of setting hard rules on charging, it studies your routine and determines the best time to start charging based on how you use your Mac.

It works well for most users but doesn’t work right away. So, if you notice that the optimized battery charging isn’t working, then it may still be establishing a routine that it can use to determine the best time to charge to preserve its life. It may take a few days or even a few weeks for this feature to work properly.

So, if you’ve recently bought your laptop, keep using it as you normally would and follow a routine to help this feature learn more about your usage. If it’s still not working after months of routinely using the Mac, it’s likely a sign that something else is wrong.

Another reason the optimized battery charging feature stops working is that it’s continuously gathering data based on your usage. There may be instances when it stops working because the software determines that you’ll need your laptop fully charged.

When this happens, keep using the Mac as you normally would. The software will eventually adjust according to your routine and return to working properly after a few cycles.

Tips for Optimized Battery Charging

Instead of trying to fix Mac’s optimized battery charging when it’s still new, it would be best to work with it to provide you with better charging routines.

Here are a few things you can do to prolong your battery’s lifespan and ensure that the optimized charging feature works well for your Mac:

Be consistent with your routine. Optimized battery charging doesn’t set hard rules for it. It’ll study your work schedule and apply rules specific to it. Keep it consistent if you use your Mac from 9 am to 5 pm. This helps your laptop understand that it should be charging during these times and not when it’s idle.
Keep using optimized battery charging. Unless you need to travel and you need 100% capacity, it’s always best to keep this feature enabled. This ensures that your Mac gets better at understanding how you use your laptop and your work habits.
Practice good charging habits. Avoid draining your battery or allowing it to go below 20% when using it. You can never fully avoid draining your laptop, but reducing the instances it drains will also help you prolong its lifespan.
Always use the original charger. Whenever you use any device, always use the original charger that comes with it. If you really need to replace it, ensure you’re getting the charger from a reputable brand or a replacement from Apple.

2. Keep Your Mac Connected to the Charger

If you’ve drained your Mac’s battery and haven’t charged it for a long time, it’ll take some time for the optimized charging feature to kick in.

You may even have to keep the laptop plugged in for 24 hours before it starts working again. This will give it enough time to reach the ideal capacity and start working again. Since a drained battery disrupts your established routine, the optimized charging feature will take quite a while to determine what it should do to work better for you.

Aside from this, you also need to avoid unnecessarily draining your laptop’s battery to preserve its health. Although there’s no way to avoid draining it, you still need to keep the instances it happens at a minimum. The more frequently it happens, the faster your battery degrades over time.

If you keep it drained for an extended period without charging, the degradation happens more quickly, so charging your Mac is essential even if you’re not using it!

3. Enable/Disable Optimized Battery Charging for Mac

Whenever you’re trying to fix an issue with your Mac, you should disable and enable the feature that’s having a problem. Disabling the optimized battery charging and enabling it again allows it to reset and possibly fix the error it’s experiencing. It’s the easiest fix you can try, and nothing could go wrong when you disable/enable this feature.

You may also want to look at the settings and see if it’s enabled or if someone accidentally disabled the feature.

I’ve worked with several Macbooks experiencing the same issue, only to discover that the optimized battery charging feature isn’t working because it’s disabled. If none of these solutions worked, you could also reboot it to give your computer a complete refresh. Despite how good Macbooks can get, they still run complex programs that can have issues while in use.

Restarting your computer is an excellent way to refresh your system and might help you get your optimized battery charging to work again.

4. Check for OS Updates

Your macOS needs constant updates to keep it working smoothly with the apps installed on your computer. It also ensures that all the native functionalities will work properly, including the optimized battery charging feature. If the operating system has bugs or glitches, the optimized charging feature may stop working.

So, if you’re starting to experience or notice that this feature isn’t working on your laptop, try to see if there’s any system update available.

Keeping your macOS up-to-date will not only help you avoid issues with the functionalities of your laptop but will also ensure that it remains safe and secure by fixing all the bugs in the software you’re using.

5. Check the Power Source

Another reason Mac’s optimized battery charging feature might not be working isn’t because of faulty hardware or software but because of the power source.

The outlet you use to charge your laptop may not have an output. Therefore, it would be best to check it before working on other possible fixes for the optimized battery charging feature. The easiest way to check whether this is causing the issue is to use a different power outlet to charge your laptop.

You can also plug another electrical device into your outlet to charge your Mac and see if there’s electrical output. There’s nothing wrong with checking the outlet you’re using; it may even help you save hours trying to fix your Mac’s optimized battery charging. Many people have had the same issue only to find that their laptop isn’t charging because their outlet doesn’t work.

6. Check the Cord and Power Adapter for Visible Damages

If you’ve been using the optimized battery charging feature for years before it suddenly stopped working, you might want to look at the power cord and adapter you’re using. The optimized charging feature is a combination of hardware and software capabilities. If one of these is faulty, your laptop won’t charge properly.

Aside from preventing the optimized battery charging feature from working, a faulty power cord or adapter can drastically degrade it. That’s why it’s essential to only use the original charger for it or a replacement from a reputable brand.

So before you contact Apple Support or bring it to a service center, which may cost a lot if it’s already out of warranty, try to check the cord you’re using. This can save you from an unnecessary and potentially expensive service to get your Mac working again.

7. Contact Apple Support or Send for Repair

If you’ve tried all the possible fixes for the optimized battery charging and it’s still not working, the next best option that you have is to contact Apple Support. If your Mac is still under warranty, you can send it to an authorized Apple Reseller for repair.

However, you can send it to a reputable technician to replace the battery if it’s already outside the warranty. This process will cost less than sending it to Apple to repair it for you. Remember, a modern Macbook only has a maximum battery cycle of 1000. Once it reaches that threshold, its health will start to degrade.

However, it doesn’t mean that your laptop will be useless after 1000 cycles because you can still replace the battery for the MacBook. If your Mac is still under warranty and you have AppleCare+, the best option is to bring it to a service center, and they’ll repair it for free. If it’s already out of warranty, bringing it to a technician for a battery replacement is an inexpensive alternative.