How to show battery percentage on Mac

If you’d like to know exactly how much battery life remains on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, you may want macOS to display the % next to the battery symbol in the menu bar. This article explains how to show battery percentage on MacBook in a few different ways.

How to show battery percentage in the menu bar

If you look to the right of the menu bar, you’ll see a battery icon. However, if you want to check how much charge your Mac still has, you need to click on that icon. If there was a percentage next to the icon, it would give you a better idea of how much battery life you have.

You probably know that since Apple released macOS Big Sur, the battery level percentage has been turned off by default. Fortunately, it’s easy to turn it back on by following the steps below:

Go to System Serrings > Control Center.
Scroll down to the Battery.
Switch on "Show Percentage".

That’s it! This is how you enable battery percentage on your MacBook.

But is showing battery percentage on MacBook enough for you? If you also want to see more detailed information about the battery's condition, I recommend downloading Usage. This app is designed to monitor your Mac's vital signs – CPU load, hard drive health, and, of course, battery. I've created customizable widgets with it and can see how my Mac's battery is doing at all times.

Novabench offers even more detailed insights into your battery status. It shows both the full and maximum charge capacity of your battery and compares these figures to the original design capacity, as well as battery test results from other Macs in the app's database.

Show the battery percentage of all your Apple devices

Those of us who are completely immersed in the Apple ecosystem have a lot of batteries to consider; you may have a MacBook, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods, all of which must be charged so as not to ruin your day. Fortunately, with Batteries, you can sync all of your products under one widget rather than switching between them frequently to determine whether you need to charge them.

For example, I want my Mac to show the battery percentage for my AirPods and notify me when they run out of battery. Want your Mac to show the Magic Mouse battery status? No problem. The app supports it, too.

To make your Mac show battery percentage of iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, etc., you need to do the following (only once):

Connect your device.
In Finder, enable "Show this device when on Wi-Fi".
In the future, use the same Wi-Fi network as your computer.

The best part is that when any of the devices I’ve connected to Batteries run out of power, the app lets me know so I can charge them on time.

How to increase your Mac’s battery life

It’s great that your Mac can display the remaining battery life as a percentage, but that information won’t help you extend the life of the battery.

Fortunately, you can do a few easy things to help your battery last longer. For example, you can set custom charging limits and enable heat protection, which prevents your Mac from charging if the temperature rises above the acceptable range. This way, you can use your charger while working without worrying about the battery.

My favorite app to set charging limits and manage battery health is AlDente Pro.

iStat Menus is another app I use to optimize my MacBook’s battery life. It has a smart battery monitoring feature that lets you know what’s happening with the battery. The tool shows the Health, Cycles, and Condition of the battery.

What I like the most is that iStat Menus shows you how much time is left on your current charge and even a list of apps that are taking up too many resources. When you move your mouse over each of these options, you’ll see more information that will help you better deduce the battery’s condition.

And finally, make sure your Mac stays cool. The fans that turn on when your device gets too hot use up the most battery life. So, it’s better to limit the number of tasks that use a lot of processor power and could cause heat.

Also, a lot of processes that run on your Mac consume CPU cycles and RAM. They also affect your battery life. These can be apps that are enabled in Login Items or processes controlled by launch agents that are hidden in the Library folder. It’s possible to stop them from running at startup using an app called CleanMyMac X. Here’s how:

Open CleanMyMac X – you can install it from Setapp.
In the left sidebar, click Optimization > View All XX Items.
Check the box next to Login Items.
Then select the items you want to get rid of and click Remove.
Check the box next to Launch Agents.
Then select the items you want to get rid of and click the Remove button.

I also recommend using CleanMyMacX’s Smart Scan feature to remove useless add-ons, unneeded files, apps you no longer use, and settings changes that harm your Mac’s performance.

If you want to know more, read our detailed guide on how to make your MacBook’s battery last longer.

Show battery percentage on macOS & extend battery life with one app

So, let's sum up.

If you want to see the percentage in the menu bar: Go to System Serrings > Control Center > Battery > Show Percentage. Or simply install Usage.
If you have a lot of batteries to consider (MacBook, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods): Use Batteries app.
If you care not only about your battery percentage display but also your battery health: Install iStat Menus and AlDente Pro.

Finally, I regularly use CleanMyMac X to clean up and optimize my MacBook. Try it. I know you’ll love it.

And don’t worry. You don’t need to buy each app separately because Setapp gives you access to 240+ tools for an affordable monthly fee of $9.99. You can also take advantage of Setapp’s free week-long trial to see how it can improve your workflow and solve your tasks. There’s nothing to lose, and you might discover some great apps!