Battery Draining Fast since Tahoe upgrade

That should be expected while spotlight is indexing files in the background and optimizing object detection on your photo library after an update. Give it 3-4 days and leave the Mac plugged in when near a power source. Large Photo libraries may take a day or two longer.

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It really should not take long to index files with the speed of the M4 as long as the computer is not shut off to prevent it from indexing.

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.

Exactly the same issue as others describe, and Activity Monitor and top (CLI) do not show a clear service running over time that would be causing this.

I did find this as a solution. After Tahoe upgrade Settings > Battery > On battery is set to "Automatic" now and that seems to have it running in high power mode all the time. I changed that to "Low Power" and have been running for an hour and batter is still at 100%. Changed it back to Automatic and after 10 minutes I had already dropped 4%. So put it back in Low Power and seems to be back to what it was before.

Just curious. Is anyone experiencing this on the newest MacBook? Apple only tests software releases on the their newest hardware being sold so guessing this is some issue due to hardware differences in devices a couple of years back or more.

Same thing. I found that “duetexpertd” was running between 80-150% CPU. I called Apple in November and they couldn’t figure it out, so I reinstalled Sonoma and all the problems went away.

sp300z wrote:

https://www.macobserver.com/news/developers-push-fix-for-macos-tahoe-gpu-slowdown-in-electron-apps/

I just updated slack (as per earlier comments in this thread). Will see what happens. Lots of other electron based apps having issues with Tahoe however it looks like.

Thanks for the update and the information. Not sure why some users refuse to look at the installed apps and just jump to the conclusion that it is always Apple's fault because it worked before. The article you posted clearly explains why that is the case:

•  The problem wasn’t with Apple’s new system itself but with several popular Electron-based apps that suddenly began drawing excessive GPU power. 
• Electron, the framework powering many cross-platform desktop apps, had been using a private Apple API called cornerMask (via 9to5mac). Private APIs often exist for Apple’s internal use, not for third-party developers.
• However, not every app has caught up. Tools like 1Password, Bitwarden, Cursor, Dropbox, and Windsurf still use the outdated Electron version. Until their developers push the update, users may continue seeing reduced performance and higher battery drain.

erikbock wrote:

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?

hmmm....

on the M-series A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

then Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

The rule of thumb—if you are near the mains leave it plugged in, if you need the portability then run on the battery only—this is how you help optimize your battery charging and extend the working life of your battery by reducing the cycle count.

Have you let it finish indexing the files after the update?

As you can see in the post from ginomatico here:

I left it plugged in overnight; some people said there might be things happening in the background, so I figured I’d just let it sort itself out.

Not sure if that did the trick, but the battery’s been working fine since :)

Is it true that your Mac is not near power for 2 days at a time? The Mac is not an iPhone and should be plugged into power when it is available. You would be needlessly increasing your charge cycles that will have a significant effect on its Battery Health.

in addition to what Mac Jim ID points out, there are things that a newly-installed MacOS wants to do, that can only take place when there is power, and your Mac is awake but not too busy. These include re-building the spotlight index of every word in every document for fast searching, identifying objects and faces in your photos, and computing what files should be included in your backups.

erikbock wrote:

I do think that I have one of the culprits figured out. Going back to 15.7 and testing a theory I had. I have found that in 26.x my fans run more than in 15.x. Maybe my solution is to go back to an Air that has no fans.

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Some System Extensions are clearly not compatible with Tahoe and have not been updated yet by the developer. The report will show those extensions and also the CPU usage of processes consuming your battery while they run in the background.

I tested this theory and I was watching movies, for 30 mins it took a 7% battery.

After I closed slack, chrome, and VS code. for 1 hr it only took 6% battery.

https://www.macobserver.com/news/developers-push-fix-for-macos-tahoe-gpu-slowdown-in-electron-apps/

I just updated slack (as per earlier comments in this thread). Will see what happens. Lots of other electron based apps having issues with Tahoe however it looks like.

That computer is a battery-CAPABLE device. It is not optimized as a battery-operated device. (It is NOT an iPhone.)

Your computer performs best when connected to AC power, such as the power adapter. It can use the full output of the Power Adapter AND when doing especially challenging work could also freely "borrow" power from the battery. In some cases, even with the power adapter connected, the charged state may decline during very stressful work.

When used only on battery, your computer has no extra cushion of power, and may perform more slowly. However, for ordinary non-stressful tasks this may not be objectionable (possibly not even noticeable.)

In general, you should ALWAYS connect a power source when it is possible to do so, and only run on batteries (which could be somewhat slower) when no power sources are at hand. Modern Macs maintain optimum battery charge levels under program control, and will NEVER over-charge. Activate Battery Health Management and do not spend another moment of your time thinking about charging.

When you set it down in one place or for the night, plug it in. Then you won't CARE whether it would drain the battery when nominally asleep.

I was slightly upset, I exaggerated (I hadn't checked, it really seemed like 3 hours...). Reality is not that much better tho. It's less than 6 hours per cycle consistently. This shouldn't happen in an M3 Pro with a normal battery health. It seems this has been an issue since Tahoe beta, having to do with how it handles (or doesn't...) Electron apps. This is atrocious work, man. Isn't this just obliterating the longevity of machines for users that need VS Code (or any Electron app)? Plus, it's been 2 months already. We're up to 26.1 and they still haven't fixed this.