How to Fix macOS Tahoe 26 Battery Drain Issue

Some users have reported that, after upgrading to macOS 26 Tahoe, their Mac’s batteries have been draining very quickly. When experiencing this problem, the battery may drain from full charge in less than a couple of hours. Users experiencing this problem also note that the computer gets very warm and the fan runs loudly and continually.

Battery drain issues following macOS update are not uncommon. These issues can result from several different causes, and this article will guide you through steps to identify and troubleshoot the problem.

First of all, after upgrading to macOS Tahoe, many things will need to take place in the background, even after it appears to you that the installation has finished. These processes can sometimes take a day or two to complete. If you have recently installed macOS Tahoe 26 update, you may want to wait a couple of days to see if your battery life returns to normal. If you spend too much time and fiddle with too many things trying to resolve the issue, the process may take longer.

Reboot

To try and resolve your macOS Tahoe 26 battery drain problem, first try rebooting your Mac.

Go to Apple menu > Restart.

Check Activity Monitor

You may want to look for processes that are consuming a lot of resources. Sometimes there is just one process responsible for all of your problems. In order to see what’s going on with processes on your computer, take a look at Activity Monitor.

Open a Finder window.
Go to the menu bar at the top of your screen and select Go. Scroll down and select Utilities.
From the Finder window, double-click on Activity Monitor.
Select the CPU tab in Activity Monitor. Look for any processes using a large percent of your CPU.

Spotlight Search Indexing

One of the things that can take a while to complete after upgrading to macOS 26 Tahoe is indexing by Spotlight search. Spotlight can help you find apps, documents and other files on your Mac.

If you see that mds or mdworker processes are using a large percent of your CPU, you have a few choices:

Let it finish. It may take a while—a day or two maybe if you’ve freshly upgraded to Tahoe.
Exclude specific locations from being indexed.
- Go to System Settings > Spotlight (or Siri & Spotlight in some versions).
- Scroll down and click the Search Privacy button (or Privacy tab).
- Add the disk or folder that you want to exclude from indexing. This can reduce the amount of data being indexed, which may reduce CPU usage.

Other Processes

You may see that there is some other process hogging your resources. Some users have reported seeing that a Chrome helper process is the problem. You should first try to figure out what that process does and where it is coming from. You can stop the process by selecting it in Activity Monitor and then clicking on the Stop button. Your process could be something incompatible with macOS 26 Tahoe. If the process is part of some software that is now obsolete or that you are no longer using, you should remove that software.

Reset NVRAM or PRAM

For Intel-based Macs:

Shut down your Mac.
Power on your Mac and immediately press and hold four keys: Option, Command, P and R.
Hold for 20 seconds, then release. Your Mac may appear to restart during this time.

For Macs with Apple silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4):

NVRAM resets automatically during startup. Simply shut down your Mac, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on. No manual key combination is needed.

Reset the SMC

Important: Macs with Apple silicon do not have an SMC. For these Macs, simply restarting your Mac performs the same function as an SMC reset on Intel Macs.

For Intel-based Mac notebooks with non-removable batteries:

Shut down your MacBook from the Apple menu.
Press and hold three keys: Shift, Control and Option on the left side.
While holding those three keys, press and hold the power button as well.
Hold all four keys for 10 seconds, then release.
Press the power button to turn on your Mac.

For Intel-based Mac desktops (iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro):

Shut down your Mac and unplug the power cord.
Wait 15 seconds.
Plug the power cord back in.
Wait 5 seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

Boot into Safe Mode

For Macs with Apple silicon:

Shut down your Mac completely.
Press and hold the power button until you see "Loading startup options."
Select your startup volume.
Press and hold the Shift key, then click "Continue in Safe Mode."
Your Mac will restart automatically. When the login window appears, you should see "Safe Boot" in the menu bar.

For Intel-based Macs:

Go to the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the menu bar. Choose Shut Down.
Wait 10 seconds, then press the power button.
Immediately after your Mac starts up, press and hold the Shift key.
Release the Shift key when you see the login window.
Log in to your Mac. You might be asked to log in again.
After you are booted up in safe mode, restart your Mac by going to the Apple menu and selecting Restart.

Note: Your Mac will be shut down in the middle of these steps, so either print, write down or follow these instructions from your phone.

MacBook Battery Help

To more directly investigate your Mac’s battery, you can take a look at its health.

Go to System Settings > Battery.
Look for Battery Health near the top. Click the "i" (info) button next to it.
If you see Service Recommended, then you should take your Mac to an Apple Store or authorized service provider for evaluation.

You can also try using Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac for hardware issues.

For Macs with Apple silicon:

Shut down your Mac.
Press and hold the power button on your Mac until startup options appear.
Release the power button, then press and hold Command (⌘)-D until your Mac restarts.
Follow the onscreen instructions. In macOS Tahoe 26 and later, you can select specific diagnostics to run (such as display, keyboard, or trackpad diagnostics).

For Intel-based Macs:

Shut down your Mac.
Press and hold the D key as your Mac starts up. If that doesn’t work, try pressing and holding Option (⌥)-D instead.
Release the key when you see a progress bar or are asked to choose a language.
Follow the onscreen instructions.

If none of these steps has helped, you can contact Apple Support for advice on how to resolve your battery issues in macOS Tahoe 26.