MacBook Air M2 with macOS 26.1 experiencing battery drain

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Level 1

4 points

MacBook Air M2 with macOS 26.1 experiencing battery drain

So, the day Thursday 12th of November I bought a brand new MacBook Air M2. I have an iPhone 14 Pro and I know that iOS 26 drains the battery a lot. But I thought that in Mac it wouldn't drain the battery also in standby mode.

I installed macOS Tahoe 26.1 on my MBA M2 and im having battery draining issues with only 3 charge cycles. Draining in VSCode, Xcode and in standby mode. I left my Mac closed for 8 hours and I got -7% of battery. With Sequoia I hadn't that issue. 30 mins searching things on google and -8% of battery. I need to downgrade to Sequoia again.

Is this draining problem going to be solved?

Is my MBA M2 going to be fully compatible with Tahoe 26.1 without draining problems and almost all the efficiency that Sequoia gives me or better?

Thank you.

MacBook Air, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 16, 2025 5:51 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

neuroanatomist

Level 9

55,373 points

Nov 16, 2025 7:44 AM in response to PR3C14D0

Your Mac is fully compatible with Tahoe, as is the Apple software running on it. You most likely have 3rd party software/extensions installed that aren’t fully compatible with Tahoe.

It is possible there are processes running in the background that are using significant resources. Check Activity Monitor, CPU tab (sort by % CPU) and Memory tab (sort by Memory) to see what's running hard.

Activity Monitor User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

You can also see if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode, which disables 3rd party extensions and performs some system cleanup.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Nov 19, 2025 9:39 AM in response to PR3C14D0

I have a MacBook Pro m4 chip. I purchased last year and gently used for mostly document editing and coding and sometimes video editing and music generation. It was a charm in the beginning with all types of usage it would go a week with no problem. Lately, I will say within the last two months, the battery drains so fast. I am very lightly using it. Like only for editing documents. Last night I charged it and looks like it drained while it was a sleep. There is no third party software installed. I have no plugged device or anything.

seeing so many people from various type of MacBooks reporting similar issues makes me think; either Apple has generic battery issues despite the promised technology or intentionally software updates make older MacBooks drain fast making user consider upgrading their MacBooks. I don’t know which possibility is better.

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Answer 3

PR3C14D0 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 16, 2025 4:37 PM in response to neuroanatomist

It's a brand new MacBook Air M2. I only installed Visual Studio Code and NodeJS.

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Answer 4

rulayy

Level 1

8 points

Nov 25, 2025 2:16 PM in response to PR3C14D0

how did you downgrade?

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Answer 5

PR3C14D0 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 20, 2025 2:37 PM in response to CanboJackson

So, yep. I went to an Apple Store and they told me that Tahoe 26.1 must be installed for a week for "adequating" the system to the battery. So I downgraded to Sequoia 15.7 and is the best battery usage I ever had. 15 hours coding and 20% left.

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