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Updated

How to Show the Battery Time Remaining on Mac

With Battery Indicator

  1. Open Battery Indicator. Its icon is in the menu bar.
  2. Click the icon, click the “…” button at the bottom of the menu, and choose “Settings…”.
  3. In “Menu Bar”, set “Show” to “Time remaining”.
  4. To show the time as text, like 4:35, set “Type” to “Text”.

Click the icon to see the time remaining and the time when the battery will be empty. While the Mac charges, it shows the time until the battery is full. When you disconnect the charger, the menu bar shows … for a short time, and the menu shows “Calculating Time Remaining…”, while macOS calculates the time.

Battery Indicator can also notify you when the battery is full or at the percentages you choose, and hide its icon while the Mac is on power. Press Option while the menu is open to see the condition, the health, and the cycle count of the battery.

Show the battery percentage

The battery item of macOS can show the percentage next to its icon:

  1. Open “System Settings › Menu Bar”.
  2. Select “Battery”, click “Battery Options”, and turn on “Show Percentage”.

Battery Indicator shows the time remaining by default, and the percentage when you hover over its item in the menu bar. With “Show” set to “Percentage”, it is the other way around.

Why macOS does not show the time remaining

macOS showed the time remaining in the battery menu until macOS Sierra 10.12.2. Apple then removed it, as the estimate changes much with what you do on the Mac. The time is only an estimate, also in Battery Indicator, which shows the same number that macOS calculates.

Get Battery Indicator

Remaining battery time in your menu bar

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$6, one-time purchase

Platform
macOS
Requires
macOS 26.6 or later
Category
Utilities
Released
February 2017
Privacy
No personal data collected
Developer
Sindre Sorhus

More about Battery Indicator →

Without an app

macOS still calculates the time remaining. You can see it in two places:

  • Activity Monitor: Open Activity Monitor, and click “Energy”. The bottom of the window shows “Time remaining”, while the Mac is on battery.
  • Terminal: Run this command:
console
pmset -g batt

It shows the percentage and the time, like 85%; discharging; 5:12 remaining. While the Mac calculates, it shows (no estimate).

The battery menu in the menu bar shows the time until the battery is full while the Mac charges, but not the time remaining on battery.