Battery

About

Battery is a free, open-source charge limiter for Apple silicon Macs (M1, M2, M3). It is aimed at people who keep their MacBook plugged in most of the time. The app holds the battery at around 80%, which the project says can prolong battery longevity. It discharges to 80% when plugged in, stops charging above that level, resumes charging below it, and keeps the limit active after reboots and after the tray app is closed.

Battery is available through Homebrew (`brew install battery`), as a downloadable DMG, or as a command-line-only installation. The first launch asks for an administrator password so it can install the components it needs. The app also installs a command-line tool, which is the only way to set a custom charging percentage. The CLI supports commands such as `battery maintain`, `battery charging`, `battery charge`, `battery discharge`, and `battery status`.

Battery only works on Apple silicon Macs and will not run on Intel models. The project notes that Al Dente is an alternative for older Macs. The author also notes that blocking the app's URLs in Little Snitch will break auto-updates.