The ‘Service Battery’ warning on your Mac can be an unexpected buzz-kill for you. It is a critical concern, nevertheless, solvable.
There are around three different ways you can fix the service battery warnings on your Mac. But, before we rundown the solutions, here’s a quick pick for all the battery conditions your MacBook detects.
- If the battery status indicates ‘ Normal ’, your battery is functioning well, and you don’t need to fix any issue
- If you see ‘ Replace Soon ’ as the battery status, it means that the battery is working, but may not get charged eventually
- If there’s a ‘ Replace Now ’ message or a ‘ Service Battery ’ warning on Mac, you need to fix the battery immediately
Now, let’s look at the three ways that can fix the service battery warnings on Mac.
1. Check the System Report
You need to check the battery’s cycle count. That’s the first thing you’ll do to fix the battery service warnings on Mac.
Thankfully, every MacBook has an inbuilt tool to detect the battery’s cycle count.
You need to run a System Report on Macbook to detect the battery’s cycle count. The System Report also tells you condition of your MacBook battery.
To view System Report on Mac,
- Go to the Apple menu
- Click on ‘ About this Mac ’
- Go and click on System Report
- Now, click on Power
Here, the battery’s cycle count gets displayed. For those who don’t know, a MacBook battery’s cycle count stands somewhere between the amounts – 0 to 1000.
If the cycle count falls within this theoretical maximum limit, your battery is good for use and you don’t need to replace it. Also, a recent MacBook Pro battery is considered in good condition if its cycle count touches the 1000 cycles.
Earlier MacBook batteries worked well under 300 cycle count. In 2009, Apple set the ideal battery cycle count for MacBooks to 500 cycles.
2. Recalibrate the Battery with System Management Controller (SMC)
After noting the battery’s cycle count, you can modify the SMC settings and fix the issue. For resetting the service battery warnings, MacBook Pro users can use the SMC feature on their computers.
It helps you recalibrate the battery and restore all power settings to default.
To recalibrate your Mac’s battery with SMC,
- Charge your MacBook’s battery to the fullest ( 100% )
- Make sure that the MagSafe light turns green
- Keep the MacBook running for a few hours ( connect the mains )
- Now, unplug the mains and let it run on the battery
- Save your work and let the MacBook consume all the charge in its battery
- When you see the low battery sign , don’t shutdown or connect the mains
- Let the MacBook’s battery drain out
- Eventually, your MacBook shuts down automatically in the absence of power
- Now, leave the MacBook as it is for the night (make sure you don’t plug in any power source)
- Next morning, charge the MacBook to full capacity once again
This way, your Mac’s SMC settings recalibrate the battery and try to fix the warnings. Several users could fix the issue with this method.
You don’t see any MacBook Pro battery service warnings after this message.
Ideally, you should’ve recalibrated the battery the first time you logged into your MacBook. Even now, you can recalibrate it without any risks.
However, the recalibration process takes a few hours. We recommend you to allow your battery to recalibrate overnight.
3. Reset the SMC Setting
The SMC hardware chip controls power settings. So, you can also reset the entire chip to fix the battery service warnings on Mac.
If you follow the steps below, the SMC chip reprocesses any customizations made by Mac users. Then, it resets the hardware settings (including power plans) to default.
Shut down your MacBook
- Now, press Shift , Ctrl , Option keys and the power button – all at once
- Hold the press for a second
- Release the keys together at once
- Now, turn on the laptop
This resets the SMC chip, so check if you’re still facing the Service Battery warnings on your MacBook/Mac.
If the solutions presented above couldn’t fix the problem, you need to either replace the battery or take your MacBook to an Apple service center.
Log on to Apple Support website or find the nearest authorized Apple service center here .
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