A MacBook shows a battery icon in the menu bar, with no number. One setting adds the percentage.
Turn on Show Percentage
- Open the Apple menu and choose System Settings.
- Click Menu Bar in the sidebar.
- Select Battery, then click Battery Options.
- Turn on Show Percentage.
The percentage now appears next to the battery icon.
These steps are for macOS Tahoe and later. In macOS Sequoia, Sonoma or Ventura, click Control Center in the sidebar, go to Battery, and turn on Show Percentage.
What the battery menu tells you
Click the battery icon to open its menu. It shows:
- the power source, battery or power adapter
- the time until the battery is full, while it charges
- the apps that use significant energy
- a link to the Battery settings
Battery percentage not showing in the menu bar
A missing battery percentage has one of four causes.
- Show Percentage is off. Turn it on with the steps above.
- The battery icon is gone. You can remove an icon by holding the Command key and dragging it out of the menu bar. To bring it back, open System Settings, click Menu Bar, and select Battery. In macOS Sequoia or earlier, go to Control Center, find Battery, and turn on Show in Menu Bar.
- The whole menu bar is hidden. Move the pointer to the top of the screen to show it. To keep it in view, open System Settings, click Menu Bar, and set Automatically hide and show the menu bar to Never.
- Your Mac is a desktop. macOS has the Battery setting on a Mac laptop. An iMac, a Mac mini or a Mac Studio has no battery, so it has no battery icon.
In macOS Tahoe and later, Battery in Control Center always shows the percentage, with the setting on or off.
What macOS does not show
- Only this Mac. The menu bar has no place for your iPhone, your AirPods or your keyboard. See how to show your iPhone battery on a Mac and how to check AirPods battery on a Mac.
- No battery health. The percentage is the charge now. For the condition of the battery, see how to check battery health on a Mac.
- No history in the menu bar. The Battery settings have a chart of the last 24 hours and the last 10 days, and nothing beyond that.
Show every battery in the menu bar
BatteryBud is a battery monitor for Mac. It puts every battery you own one click from the menu bar: this Mac, your iPhone and iPad, AirPods, keyboard, mouse and trackpad. You can choose what the menu bar shows: this Mac’s battery, the lowest battery of all your devices, or one device you pick. You can also pin single devices to the menu bar with their percentage.
BatteryBud keeps day, week, month and year charts for each device.