Safari-related battery drain on 2021 MacBook Pro

I’ve been seeing this a lot lately on my 14-inch 2021 MacBook Pro. Often, but not exclusively, when I’m watching YouTube videos. Is this normal? Did I get a bad battery? Do I just watch too much YouTube? Any thoughts welcome!

Activity Monitor will give you a better idea of the battery being used. Activity Monitor > Energy tab > sort by 12 hr Power from largest to smallest.

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Do you have an option in the Battery system setting to Optimize video streaming while on battery? I have that set on my MacBook Air. Don’t know if it’s available on your Pro model. Good luck. I would expect your battery to hold up better than that. How many battery cycles do you have on it?

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This is most likely the correct answer… I’m surprised at how much time I spend “going down that rabbit hole” most days.

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Interesting. Safari is showing up as second on the list. Apparently Microsoft Teams is even worse.

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Thanks! I didn’t know about that setting! I’ve turned it on now.

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Mind you, the notification perhaps is telling you the application that is using most energy now, not the application that was responsible for draining the battery during the last few hours. Teams would be my main suspect here.

Edit: on a second reading on your message, it seems that macOS is pinpointing Safari as the culprit, though.

Another avenue of exploration …

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You know, I’ve SUDDENLY been getting just about the same messages on my M1 MBA which never happened before. It is driving me crazy.

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I’ve started seeing this message in the last couple of weeks or so and I haven’t changed my program usage at all.

However, I updated to Ventura 13.2.1 when it was released (13th February), so I’d speculate – purely on circumstantial evidence! – that this is the effect of a new warning in Ventura, not a sudden increase in battery drain.

I could be completely wrong of course…

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Your reasoning is sound. I’ve held off with my M1 MacBook Air and am still running on good old macOS Monterey although I’ve been getting itchy to upgrade. No battery drain messages.

FYI, I put my MBA into service in May of 2021 (21 months ago) and Apple Battery Health reports that I still have 92% of original battery capacity.

However, Marcel Bresink’s Battery Monitor app reports that I have only 88% of original battery capacity with 317 charging cycles. I always run off the battery, except of course when the charger is plugged in. It is my practice to plug in when the battery drops to 40% and to unplug when it gets to 80%. The Battery Monitor app helps with this by audibly announcing every 10% change in battery up or down.

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I have a MacBook Pro M1 Pro (October 2021) and it’s at 89% after 332 cycles, which doesn’t seem unreasonable. I have AppleCare+ anyway, so it will be replaced as and when it becomes a problem (and if it doesn’t take too long to get to that stage).

In the meantime, I just use it – a few hours plugged into the dock and a few hours on battery – and don’t worry overmuch about managing the cycles.

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And you are right not to worry. As many have said on this forum, just use your Apple gear for its intended purpose. Apple makes gear that usually holds up remarkably well.

I, on the other hand, am just a little obsessive compulsive and enjoy paying attention to this sort of thing. :rofl:

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My first thought was whether YouTube had changed something about how it streams its videos, but you’re right, this could also be a change in Ventura.

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