Mike Peterson
Apple, in a new support document, explains how a new "Not Charging" battery status is a feature of its macOS Catalina battery management tools.
The new Battery Health Management feature, introduced in macOS 10.15.5, is aimed at prolonging the lifespan of MacBook batteries by monitoring battery temperature and charging patterns.
In a recently published support document, Apple says that the new "Not Charging" battery status indicator is a part of the management suite.
"Depending on its settings, your Mac might temporarily pause charging to help calibrate battery health management, a feature designed to improve the lifespan of your battery," Apple writes.
The company adds that the indicator is normal and part of how the battery health management feature optimizes charging. Though the battery percentage may drop when a Mac has paused charging, it will soon resume powering up to 100% based on a user's charging patterns.
On the other hand, a Mac may sometimes show the "Not Charging" indicator if it is plugged in to a power source that isn't delivering enough power, or if it is plugged in using an incorrect cable or adapter.
The support document, which was first spotted by MacRumors, also refers users to another troubleshooting page if a Mac still won't charge with the proper power source and equipment.
Apple introduced a similar Optimized Battery Charging feature to iPhones and iPads in iOS 13, and to AirPods in iOS 14.
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14 Comments
They should say “charging paused” instead. “Not charging” sounds more like a problem that needs to be fixed.
How about “Battery Maintenance”. :)
"Battery Health Management" is a bit of a misnomer. The real term for this, and for every Apple product that has a non-user-replaceable battery, and especially those products with lithium-ion batteries, should be "Battery Death Management." There is nothing that you can do to prevent the eventual death of your battery-powered Apple device. It's not a question of whether it will die, but only a question of when it will die, and where you are in the warranty and/or product support lifespan for the product.
If you're lucky and the battery in your Apple device happens to die while under Apple Care, possibly by bloating up and destroying the device in the process, you are golden. Apple will take care of you. If your Apple device battery dies while the product is still being supported, you may be able to get the device repaired or replaced for the standard battery replacement charge. You're not golden, but maybe bronze. Once your Apple product gets assigned to the end-of-life list you are on your own and Apple will gladly recycle the dead, bloated hulk of your formerly treasured Apple device - at no charge. Woo hoo.
Not picking on Apple, okay maybe a little, but you really cannot think of any Apple device that has a non-user-replaceable battery as a durable product that you actually own and can pass down to your kids or donate to charity. You are basically renting these products for an indeterminate, but very finite, period of time after which time it will die in one way or another. For the slimmest and glued together recent products the most common cause of Apple Product Death for me has been battery bloat. Products like the last 3 generations of iPod Touches, iPads, and Apple Watch are particularly susceptible to Death By Battery Bloat (DBBB or DB^3). Other products, like Apple AirPods die silently and quietly on a time scale reminiscent of a Mayfly compared to their non battery operated cousins.
Apple is not alone in perpetuating this very expensive masquerading of quickly decaying products as semi durable goods. They can choke us on new features and dazzle us with design wizardry but they cannot escape the reality that every battery product they sell us is doomed from the day it is born to die in the most inglorious manner long before we are willing to give up on it. Putting some more intelligence in the charging circuitry and software controls is fine, but let's see the a similar level of investment that Apple is putting into "Apple Silicon" into "Apple Portable Energy" to move their products beyond the scourge that is inherent in every battery powered product that Apple currently sells. It really is that big of a deal, and Apple is doing very little, or nothing, to lead us away from a problem that grows exponentially with every new battery powered product they release.
If Apple has an achilles heel, this is it. They own the products and can no longer pass along blame to the battery manufacturers. Own it Tim.