My MacBook Air is not charging past 80%

Hi, recently whenever I've been charging my laptop it charges to 80% and then it comes up with a 'battery not charging' icon and stays like that. I have turned off optimized battery charging and battery longevity per Apple Support's request but it has not changed anything. I am looking for any advice anyone might have.


Thank you


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Macbook not charging past 80%


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Sep 3, 2025 04:06 PM

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Posted on Sep 3, 2025 04:36 PM

If you have an Intel Mac, reset the SMC. If you have an Apple Silicon Mac, reboot it.


Click on the Battery icon in the menu bar or control center, select the Charge to Full option.


Having said that, why disable optimized charging? It's there for a reason, to preserve your battery for as long as possible.

7 replies

Sep 3, 2025 05:35 PM in response to imogen299

Is the Charge to Full Now option available in the Battery menu, and if so and you select it, then wait a few minutes, does the battery charge past 80%?


Note that pausing at 80% full is exactly what Optimized Charging does, by design, if you usually run plugged in (the Mac learns your charging behavior, and if your behavior changes it adapts).


Basically, I recommend turning on Optimized Charging and forget about managing anything yourself. Connect the Mac to power as often as you conveniently can.

Sep 3, 2025 05:56 PM in response to neuroanatomist

I am waiting for the battery to charge back up to 80% to see if it has worked.


Before when I has optimised battery charging on it would pause at 80% and then charge up to 100% in the morning, now it was only charging to 80% and would not charge any further no matter how long I left it and there was no 'charge to full now option'. I will have to wait and see if resetting the SMC has worked

Sep 3, 2025 06:17 PM in response to imogen299

What is the exact model of your laptop and version of macOS? You can get this information by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac". FYI, you should always provide these details when asking for assistance online.


Have you installed any third party apps for the battery, charging or power management, or control of the laptop? Some of them may have options to restrict battery charging so review their settings if you such an app(s) installed.


Otherwise only Apple's Optimized Charging will pause the charging at 79% or 80%. The only other times I have ever seen Apple laptops stall on charging was about a decade ago where I had multiple laptops get stuck around 72% or so. Disconnecting & reconnecting the Magsafe 2 charging cable allowed charging to resume. I have never seen that issue since that time.

My MacBook Air is not charging past 80%

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