Originally Posted by plantsower
I downloaded two different battery health apps. Neither would open even though one of them said it worked on my particular mac. Today I got a message saying "You are now running on reserve power." It recommend I connect the adapter. I WAS connected. It said I had 1% power at that time. Now it says I have 83% power. My question is even though the battery may be bad, and I'm getting warning messages, will my MacBook still work as long as I have it plugged in if it's just a battery problem? The adapter light is orange continually, not green anymore. I called a repair guy but he said Apple has the monopoly on their parts and he can't get them. He told me the off brand batteries weren't trustworthy in his experience.

  • Leaving the charger/adapter plugged in 24x7 will keep your MacBook running until the battery fails completely or the charger/adapter fails.


Originally Posted by plantsower
I live too far away from am Apple store anyway. Plus, I don't want to wait in line like is always required because they are always busy.

  • Contact Apple Support and they will send you a shipping box for your MacBook and have it back in your hands typically within five working days.
  • There is a reasonable flat fee charge for battery replacement.


REMEMBER: I have preached from this pulpit before, and dislike being repetitious, but due to changes in battery technology, ie. the switch from NiCD to Li-Ion, Apple has significantly altered their recommendations on battery charging. (Unfortunately, some of the old recommendation documents have not been removed from the web.)

  1. Leaving a device on full charge for an extended length of time IS NOT RECOMMENDED
  2. Fully discharging the battery periodically IS NO LONGER RECOMMENDED
  3. Recent versions of iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS(?) have an Optimized Charging feature that when activated attempts to bring your device to full charge just before the start of your day to MINIMIZE THE TIME THE BATTERY IS AT FULL CHARGE.
  4. If you are not going to be using a battery operated device for an extended length of time, DISCHARGE THE BATTERY TO ABOUT 80% BEFORE STORING THE DEVICE.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein