To check battery health on a Mac, open System Settings, click Battery, and look at Battery Health. It reads Normal or Service Recommended. Click the info button next to it to see Maximum Capacity, which is how much charge the battery holds now compared with when it was new. The cycle count is in System Information.
Check battery health in System Settings
- Open the Apple menu and choose System Settings.
- Click Battery in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
- Look at Battery Health. It shows the condition of the battery.
- Click the info button next to the condition.
- Read Maximum Capacity.
The steps are the same in macOS Tahoe 26 and macOS 27. Only Mac laptops show Battery Health.
macOS shows one of two conditions:
- Normal. The battery is working normally.
- Service Recommended. The battery holds less charge than it did when it was new, or it is not working normally.
What does maximum capacity mean?
Maximum Capacity is the measure of your battery’s capacity relative to when it was new. That is Apple’s own definition. A new battery reads 100%. At 90%, a full charge lasts about nine tenths as long as it did on day one.
The number falls slowly as the battery ages. It does not show how full the battery is right now. That is the charge level, which you can show as a percentage in the menu bar.
What is a good battery health percentage for a MacBook?
A good battery health percentage for a MacBook is anything above 80%. Apple uses 80% as its line in two places:
- Apple designs the battery to keep up to 80% of its original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles.
- With AppleCare, Apple replaces the battery at no extra charge if its capacity drops below 80%.
So 95% and 88% are both fine. Below 80%, a full charge lasts noticeably less time.
Where is the cycle count?
The cycle count is not in System Settings. It is in System Information.
- Hold the Option key and open the Apple menu.
- Choose System Information.
- Select Power in the sidebar.
- Under Battery Information, read Cycle Count.
One cycle is 100% of the battery’s capacity used, not one time plugged in. See what counts as a battery charge cycle for examples, and the guide to the MacBook battery cycle count for the Terminal command and the limit of each model.
How many cycles is a battery made for?
Apple gives a figure for each product. This is the design figure, not a guarantee.
| Device | Cycles | What Apple says the battery keeps |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Neo | 1000 | Up to 80% of its original capacity |
| MacBook Air (Late 2010 and later) | 1000 | Up to 80% of its original capacity |
| MacBook Pro (2009 and later) | 1000 | Up to 80% of its original capacity |
| iPhone 15 and later | 1000 | 80% of its original capacity, under ideal conditions |
| iPhone 14 and earlier | 500 | 80% of its original capacity, under ideal conditions |
| iPad | 1000 | Up to 80% of its original capacity |
For a Mac, Apple’s wording is: “Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original charge capacity at its maximum cycle count.” Apple calls the battery consumed when it reaches that count. You can keep using it, with a shorter time on battery.
MacBook models from 2008 and earlier have a limit of 300 or 500 cycles.
What is normal after one, two and three years?
Apple does not publish a normal battery health percentage for each year. What it publishes is the cycle figure above. So judge your battery by cycles, not by age.
How many cycles you add in a year depends on how you use the Mac. The table below is plain arithmetic for three examples. It is an estimate, not a measurement.
| How you use the Mac | Cycles a year | After 1 year | After 2 years | After 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two full charges a week | About 100 | 100 | 200 | 300 |
| One full charge each working day | About 250 | 250 | 500 | 750 |
| One full charge every day | 365 | 365 | 730 | 1095 |
A Mac that stays plugged in at a desk adds few cycles. A Mac that runs on battery all day adds one or more each day.
Compare your own cycle count with your maximum capacity. If the capacity is above 80% and the count is below 1000, the battery is within Apple’s design figure.
Cycles are not the only cause. Apple says a battery’s age comes from “a complex combination of factors, including temperature history and charging pattern”. So a battery with few cycles can still lose capacity.
What if it says Service Recommended?
It means the battery holds less charge than it did when it was new, or it is not working normally. Apple says you can safely continue to use your Mac.
The guide to Service Recommended on a MacBook battery covers what a new battery costs and how to decide.
Battery health on an iPhone or iPad
The Mac does not show the battery health of your other devices. Each one shows its own.
- On the iPhone or iPad, open Settings.
- Tap Battery.
- Tap Battery Health.
On an iPad, this screen is on the iPad Pro (M4 and M5), iPad Air (M2, M3 and M4), iPad mini (A17 Pro) and iPad (A16). iPhone 15 and later show the cycle count. See how to check iPhone battery health and cycle count for the details.
What macOS does not show
macOS shows today’s numbers only. It keeps no record of them.
So you can see that the maximum capacity is 91%. You cannot see whether it was 92% last month or 99%. You cannot see how many cycles you use in a month either. The trend is what tells you how long the battery has left.
You can write the two numbers down each month. That works, if you remember.
Chart battery health over time
BatteryBud is a menu bar app for Mac. It records the maximum capacity and the charge cycles of your Mac and charts how they change. It does the same for your iPhone and iPad, which it reads over Wi-Fi after a one-time setup with a cable.
You can set an alert for battery health. BatteryBud then tells you when the maximum capacity drops below a level you pick.
BatteryBud costs $19, paid once. For what else it shows, see the battery monitor for Mac page.