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I just upgraded my MacBook Pro to MacOS Big Sur Version 11.0 Beta, and my battery, even though the power adapted is connected, is showing the message "Battery is not charging", while displaying this (new) icon:

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My Mac is indeed not charging, even though the battery source is the power adapter. How is it possible to solve this issue?

UPDATE: This looks like a new feature of MacOS Big Sur. In the Battery settings, there is a new option called "Optimised battery charging" which stops battery charging after 80% to reducing battery ageing. By unchecking this option the battery starts charging again normally.

enter image description here

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  • The battery charging code is one of the things that was heavily overhauled, so it's not surprising to see bugs there, I would say. That's what Beta testing is for, after all.
    – Jörg W Mittag
    Sep 23, 2020 at 19:52
  • I am now getting a notification in settings: "The battery's capacity is significantly reduced. To restore capacity, please check your service options." and I'm getting a "Service Options" button too. I wish if I would have not updated the OS to keep my battery alive
    – Adil
    Nov 16, 2020 at 13:48
  • I have MacBook Air 2017 modal and i have same issue which you posted but unfortunately in my mac there is no option like Optimised battery charging and no other options as well. Please help me to make it like before. Thanks in advance.
    – Birju
    Oct 18, 2021 at 6:59

5 Answers 5

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UPDATE: This looks like a new feature of MacOS Big Sur. In the Battery settings, there is a new option called "Optimised battery charging" which stops battery charging after 80% to reducing battery ageing. By unchecking this option the battery starts charging again normally.

enter image description here

Improve this answer
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  • 3
    Is it available in older mac? I have MBP15 mid 2015 and I can't see this option on Big Sur.
    – pawisoon
    Dec 9, 2020 at 21:33
  • Yeah, that was the first thing I tried. Doesn't work.
    – SMBiggs
    Feb 17, 2021 at 19:35
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Resetting SMC helped me with "Charger not recognized" after update to Big Sur.

**

I am using Macbook Air 2020 with 30W charger. Interesting was that after update I was not able to charge with 30W original Apple charger but it was charging from 65W AVACOM USB-C power bank.

After reset (option+control+righshift etc) it started recognizing the original 30W charger - https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201295

I hope this helps you all too.

Happy Big Surring & charging :-)

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  • +1 The 65W (90W in our case) worked great, thank you for saving us from an expensive service call.
    – tremoloqui
    Jan 22, 2021 at 4:16
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Theres also a button when you click the icon to "charge to full now." However, its recommended to keep optimized battery charging on so your Mac battery can be prevented from aging quickly. to SMBiggs that button comes when your Mac will say "charge complete by [time] or charging on hold (rarely used on battery) I cant make that button come on demand, it is in the menu bar after clicking on battery icon

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    Where is that button? A picture is worth a thousand words.
    – SMBiggs
    Feb 17, 2021 at 19:41
  • If battery charging is paused or on hold on your Mac: support.apple.com/en-in/HT212049
    – nik
    Mar 22, 2021 at 7:35
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    M1 on Monterey, plugged in via USB-C to display, I do not have this button.
    – Luke Puplett
    Nov 29, 2021 at 18:23
  • @LukePuplett Same here... Very annoying. I'm about to call them because even though the power source is the power adapter it drops down as if it's on battery. Before a power outage (laptop wasn't plugged in at the time) it used to be I could charge to full: and I'd have to do it once a day or else it'd drain and drain. Now after this power outage I don't see the option to charge at all. Yesterday I used a power bank and saw the option but today I don't. Very annoying and ridiculous. I don't even have optimise feature enabled!
    – Pryftan
    Feb 1, 2022 at 13:29
  • @LukePuplett Maybe it's too late now but I let mine get down to 90% and it then started charging. I don't have optimised charging set though which is funny that it's doing this. I always have it plugged in so I'm not fussed about that. Hope that helps or you got it resolved.
    – Pryftan
    Feb 1, 2022 at 16:21
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Resetting and trying a different charger worked for me. How bad from Apple to drop such a bad feature on old MacBooks.

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I’m sure this is a feature added to extend the battery life. You have the option to turn this off if you want to stick with the old method of charging.

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