How to Check MacBook Battery Health

In System Settings

Open System Settings → Battery and look for Battery Health. On recent macOS versions it shows the battery’s Maximum Capacity and a condition such as Normal or Service Recommended.

Cycle count in System Information

1. Hold Option and open the Apple menu, then choose System Information.
2. Choose Power in the sidebar.
3. Under Health Information you will see Cycle Count and Condition.

In Terminal

system_profiler SPPowerDataType | grep -E "Cycle Count|Condition|Maximum Capacity"
pmset -g batt

The first command prints the health fields where your macOS version reports them. pmset -g batt shows the current charge, whether it is charging and an estimate of the time remaining.

What the numbers mean

• Cycle count: one cycle is a full charge’s worth of use, not one plug-in. Apple publishes the rated cycle count for each Mac model, so look yours up.
• Maximum capacity: how much charge the battery can hold now compared with when it was new. It is an estimate, and it drifts a little between readings.
• Condition: Apple’s own summary of whether the battery needs service.

Looking after the battery

Keep the Mac out of extreme heat, avoid leaving it at 100% on a hot desk for weeks, and let macOS’s Optimized Battery Charging do its job if it is on.

Limits

Different Macs and macOS versions expose different fields. If a value is missing, macOS is not reporting it. Treat precise-looking degradation numbers from third-party tools with caution.