Some users have reported that, after upgrading to macOS Monterey, their Mac’s batteries have been draining very quickly. When experiencing this problem, the battery may drain from full charge in less than a couple of hours. Users experiencing this problem also note that the computer gets very warm and the fan runs loudly and continually.
See also: Best Fixes for Mac Running Slow after macOS Monterey Update
There are many different problems that can cause rapid macOS Monterey battery drain issue. In this article we will walk you through some steps to identify and troubleshoot macOS Monterey battery drain problem.
First of all, after upgrading to macOS Monterey, you may find that your MacBook’s battery drains much faster. This is probably because macOS Monterey is doing some background work to set itself up – and after a few hours or a day, things should have settled down and your battery life should be back to normal. If you spend too much time and fiddle with too many things trying to resolve the issue, the process may take longer.
Use these tips to fix rapid macOS Monterey battery drain problem:
1. Restart your Mac
To try and resolve macOS Monterey battery drain issue, first try rebooting your Mac.
Go to Apple menu > Restart.
2. Check Activity Monitor
You may want to look for processes that are consuming a lot of resources. Sometimes there is just one process responsible for all of your problems. In order to see what’s going on with processes on your computer, take a look at Activity Monitor.
- Open a Finder window.
- Go to the menu bar at the top of your screen and select Go. Scroll down and select Utilities.
- From the Finder window, double-click on Activity Monitor.
- Select the CPU tab in Activity Monitor. Look for any processes using a large percent of your CPU.
Spotlight Search Indexing
One of the things that can take a while to complete after upgrading to a new macOS is indexing by Spotlight search. Spotlight can help you find apps, documents and other files on your Mac.
If you see that spotlight.app is using a large percent of your CPU, you have a few choices:
- Let it finish. It may take a while – a day or two maybe if you’ve freshly upgraded.
- Disable some of the Spotlight search categories. Go to System Preferences > Spotlight and uncheck some/all of the categories. Now, stop the process. Select the spotlight.app process in Activity Monitor, then click on the Stop button (a hexagon with an X in it).
Other Processes
You may see that there is some other process hogging your resources. Some users have reported seeing that a Chrome helper process is the problem. You should first try to figure out what that process does and where it is coming from. You can stop the process by selecting it in Activity Monitor and then clicking on the Stop button. Your process could be something incompatible with macOS Monterey. If the process is part of some software that is now obsolete or that your are no longer using, you should remove that software.
3. Make Sure to Force Quit Apps
The next thing you should do to fix macOS Monterey battery drain problem is to make sure no unnecessary apps are open on your device. The best way to deal with it is to force quit the apps that are not currently active. Click on the Apple menu at the top left corner of the screen and choose Force Quit. After that, select all the running apps and click Force Quit.
Alternately, you can also right-click on an app in the Dock and choose Quit in the pop-up menu.
4. Make sure all your apps are updated
Outdated apps tend to drain more battery. Therefore, make sure all of your apps are updated. To do so, open the Mac App Store on your Mac and click on the Updates option in the sidebar. Then, update all apps.
5. Use Safari Instead of Chrome
Some people have found that switching from Google Chrome to Safari as their default web browser can help with Monterey battery drain issue, as Chrome is notorious for using up a lot of resources which can lead to your MacBook’s battery draining faster. Safari, meanwhile, was made by Apple and is better configured to minimise battery use.
6. Update Your Mac
If none of the tricks listed above work in fixing macOS Monterey battery drain issues, I suspect the problem could be due to a software bug. In this case, head to System Preferences -> Software Update and download and install the latest version of macOS Monterey on your Mac.
7. Reset PRAM and NVRAM
If Monterey battery draining problem continues, try resetting the PRAM and NVRAM on your MacBook. If you are worried about data loss, let me tell you that it only resets some settings. All your media and data remain secure. So, closely follow the steps listed below:
- First, shut down your MacBook (Intel-based MacBook) and turn it on.
- After that, press and hold the Command, Option, P, R keys at once right after the startup sound.
- Make sure to hold these keys until your notebook reboots and you hear the startup sound again. And that’s it.
Note: It’s worth pointing out that there is no option to reset NVRAM/ PRAM or SMC on the M1 MacBook. Though the new M1 MacBooks come with parameter memory, which settings can be viewed and customized, there is no command to reset NVRAM. Apple says that the M1 chip is fully capable of handling the issues entailing PRAM itself.
8. Reset the SMC
- To reset the SMC, Shutdown/power off your MacBook.
- Press and hold 3 keys: Shift, Control and Option.
- Press and hold the power button, without releasing the other 3 keys.
- Hold all keys for 10 seconds, then release.
- Press the power button on your Mac.
9. Check your MacBook Battery Health
To more directly investigate your Mac’s battery, you can take a look at it’s health.
- Go to System Preferences > Battery.
- Select Battery in the sidebar. Then click on Battery Health.
- If you see Service Recommended, then you should take your Mac to an Apple Store or authorized service provider for evaluation.
10. Contact Apple Support
If none of these steps has helped, you can contact Apple Support for advice on how to resolve your macOS Monterey rapid battery drain problem. The following are available Apple support options:
Do you have an iOS device? In that case, you may also be interested in taking a look at some of the basic troubleshooting steps you should follow if your iPhone battery is draining faster after iOS 15 update.
We hope you were successful in troubleshooting your macOS Monterey rapid battery drain problem. Which of the troubleshooting methods that we discussed here worked for you? Did you have another solution for Monterey related battery drain issues? Share your experiences, thoughts, and opinions in the comments section below!