Laptop Hint – Do You Know Which Apps Are Killing Your Battery?

Take a look in the top right corner of the menu bar on your display. Do you see an icon that looks like a battery on its side? (If not, go into System Preferences > Energy Saver and click the check box for “Show Battery Status in Menu Bar.”) Now, when you click on the battery icon in Mavericks and the latest OS, Yosemite, you’ll see a new feature.

Battery Status Menu

The Battery Status Menu monitors and reports on how your open apps may be impacting battery life. This can be really helpful if you think your battery is discharging faster than it should at times or isn’t lasting as long as expected. When all of your open apps are using an average amount of energy, the menu indicates "No Apps Using Significant Energy.”

When one or more of your open apps consume higher than average energy, the menu will display "Apps Using Significant Energy." This is followed by a list of the offending applications. You can then click on those apps to open Activity Monitor to see greater detail.

Hardworking Apps Use Energy
Don’t be surprised if certain apps use a significant amount of energy doing what they’re supposed to. For example, if you’re performing some serious editing of a very large photo, or streaming a movie from the web or running a backup process, the apps associated with those tasks will require more energy to get the job done. As long as their usage is reduced upon completion of the task, you’re fine. If – on the other hand – an app continues to draw down your battery, there may be a problem.

What If There’s a Problem?
Try entirely closing down the app and then restarting it. If this doesn’t fix the problem, something more serious may be going on. If you’re technically inclined, you can take a deeper look into an app’s performance by going back into Activity Monitor and reviewing the stats presented there. The Energy tab displays every running app’s impact on your battery based on CPU usage, network traffic, disk activity and other criteria. The higher the number, the greater the energy the app is using. This may help shine a light on background processes that certain apps run in the background even when you're not using them. You won’t be able to change this behavior without deleting the app from your computer. I’d recommend contacting Apple Support or your independent Mac professional to help you make that determination.

An Extra Added Bonus
Hold down the Option key while selecting the battery icon to review a little bit of helpful information. The first entry will be the “condition” of your battery based on a proprietary Apple algorithm. Anything other than "normal" deserves your attention.

Note: The Battery Status Menu feature will appear whether your laptop is attached to a power source or not.