I have a 14" M4 Pro MBP and ever since I upgraded to Tahoe the battery is draining incredibly fast. Has anyone else had this and if so have you been able to mitigate it?
MacBook Pro (M4)
I've been able to sort out what was causing it for me on my 14in MacBook Pro with M4 MAX 64gb . I had tried booting in safe mode, disabling all safari extensions, and reinstalling Tahoe. None of those resolved my issue.
It turns out two electron based apps were to blame, specifically Slack and VSCode for me. I used to have these apps open and running in the background all the time but after hard quitting those apps, my battery performance returned to normal (basically a full day or two, on a full charge).
I found this via a reddit thread. Folks are saying it has something to do with how those apps render shadows and how that affects the window server process.
Hi
I have the same issue. I m hitting 77% battery where before Tahoe this time of day = 90%. I updated the day after release and yet the drain is still a lot more than the previous OS.
I have now closed all virtual desktops but seeing no differences so far.
Josh
Same here. It's ridiculous! Before I could go 2 days without needing to charge my Mac.. now since the Tahoe update within a few hours it has run flat. Apple really needs to get bette at ironing out these glitches before they launch their updates as every update seems to have issues. Most frustrating!
I upgrade to 26.0.1 (25A362) directly, and even after some days my battery lasts literally 1/4 of the time of what it does before. I am not joking, it is unbelievable how fast the battery drains. I'm constantly checking in Activity Monitor if there's a specific culprit, but it randomly moves the energy impact from one app to another.
Thanks for the tips. Just to be clear: I bought a laptop to use away from power. Since the Tahoe update my battery life tanked, so “just keep it plugged in” isn’t a workable answer. Can we focus on why 26.x is draining so hard and what can be fixed?
Panda5598 wrote:
Thanks for the tips. Just to be clear: I bought a laptop to use away from power. Since the Tahoe update my battery life tanked, so “just keep it plugged in” isn’t a workable answer. Can we focus on why 26.x is draining so hard and what can be fixed?
Mac OS 26.1 is currently in beta and being tested. We cannot comment on the improvements made in battery performance as it is a violation of the terms of use for being a beta tester, so you may have to wait and see.
The recommendation to plug your Mac into power when it is available is a good one and should be followed. Certainly a laptop is meant to be mobile, but it is also true that speed is going to be limited on battery power with processor intensive apps, so to take full advantage of your Mac laptop you will want to have it plugged in when power is available.
In addition, when using your laptop on battery and there is power available that you are not using, then it just means you will be replacing your battery/laptop much sooner. The charge cycles that the battery is rated for is determined by how often the battery is discharged, not how often it is charged.
I updated my MBP (M3 max) a week ago my battery is draining crazy fast too, havent tried anything yet im sure it was right after the update.
Josh I just went back to 15.7 yesterday and will now wait until 26.1 comes out.
Thanks. Think I might do the same.
Josh
I agree with your situation. My MacBook Pro M2 Max has just not been the same since 26 and subsequently 26.0.1 still doesn't improve the battery.
Wow, so I should wait for a day or two. I thought of returning my new MacBook because I can't use. Wanna purchase a 32gb flash and downgrade to 15.7 Seq.
Calling a MacBook “battery-capable” is a stretch. If 26.x made battery life this bad, that’s a bug. “Just plug it in” isn’t guidance, it’s avoidance. Help me find the cause.
Battery Draining Fast since Tahoe upgrade
