Apple’s Next macOS Update Could Extend the Lifespan of Your MacBook’s Battery

With iOS 18, Apple introduced a feature that allowed you to set a charging limit on your iPhone. The goal was to extend the life of the battery, by limiting how often you fully charge it. Batteries age with each full charge cycle, so by preventing your battery from charging to 100% every time you leave it plugged in, you can slow down this aging process, meaning your device will last longer between charges.

Now this same feature is coming to your Mac. Apple is currently testing this feature as part of macOS 26.4, which means you will soon be able to tell macOS to stop charging your laptop once the battery level reaches a specific charge level. This feature is ideal for anyone who keeps their MacBook plugged in all the time while working: it will allow you to ask your MacBook to stop charging when the battery is at 80% or any charge level up to 100%.

Battery optimization is nothing new for macOS

Credit: Pranay Parab

To be clear, your MacBook already comes with a battery optimization feature, which is enabled by default. This feature automatically slows down the charging speed of your MacBook once the charge level reaches 80%. Based on your past usage habits, macOS waits to continue charging your MacBook until it thinks you’ll need to use the laptop again. So if you plug in your MacBook at night and usually remove it from the charger at 8 a.m., it can keep your MacBook at 80% until 7 a.m. and then charge the extra 20% over the next hour.

You can check if it’s enabled by clicking the Apple logo in the upper left corner of your Mac screen and going to System Settings > Battery. Click on the I button next to Battery health and you will see that Optimized battery charging is activated.

But this is all automated, depending on how you use your MacBook. What makes this new recharge feature different is that you set the recharge limit manually. This way, if you work with your MacBook plugged in all day, it doesn’t need to charge to 100% whenever it wants. Instead, you can keep it at any charge limit between 80% and 100%.

How to Enable Charge Limit on Your MacBook

This new feature is available with macOS 26.4, which is currently available in the Developer Beta channel for Mac updates. I strongly advise against installing it on your primary MacBook, as problems with the beta version could result in data loss or destruction of your laptop. Unless Apple decides to remove this feature, it should be available to everyone with the general release of macOS 26.4.

If you have a spare MacBook on which you have macOS 26.4 beta installed, you can access System Settings > Batterywhere you will see the “Charging Limit” feature listed under Battery Health. Here you can manually limit the maximum charge level between 80% and 100%.

Third-party battery management apps are better

While Apple’s methods for reducing battery aging are sufficient for most people, you can do much more with third-party battery management apps. These apps will allow you to do more than just set a billing limit. For example, you can start charging the Mac when the battery reaches 50% and stop charging when it is at 80%, or stop charging if the battery is too hot.