MacBook plugged in but not charging: what to check, in order

MacBook plugged in but not charging? Often it's Optimized Battery Charging holding at 80 percent. If not, check the cable, adapter, port, heat and battery.

28 October 20266 min read

If your MacBook is plugged in but not charging, open the battery menu first. If it says charging is on hold at 80 percent, that is Optimized Battery Charging and nothing is wrong. If it says the battery isn't charging, or the percentage drops while plugged in, check the outlet, cable and adapter, try another port, let the Mac cool, restart it and look at Battery Health.

Most cases are solved by the first two or three of those checks. Below they are in order, from the quickest to a trip to Apple.

Click the battery icon near the right end of the menu bar. If there isn't one, recent versions of macOS let you add it in System Settings > Control Center, under Battery. The wording varies a little between versions, but the menu tells you a lot.

What you see	What it usually means
Charging is on hold, at or near 80 percent	Optimized Battery Charging is holding the charge on purpose. Normal
Battery Is Not Charging, battery nearly full	macOS often lets a full battery drift down a little before topping it up. Usually normal
Not charging, battery well below full	The Mac isn't getting enough power, is too warm, or has a fault. Keep reading
Power Source: Power Adapter, but the charge keeps falling	The adapter can't keep up with what the Mac is using
Power Source: Battery, even though it is plugged in	The Mac doesn't see the charger at all. Check the outlet, cable and adapter

The same menu may also mention that service is recommended. That is about the battery's condition, and the last section covers it.

Is it stuck at 80 percent?

This is the most common case, and it isn't a problem. With Optimized Battery Charging on, your Mac learns when you usually unplug. When it expects you to stay on the charger for a while, it stops at 80 percent and finishes charging closer to the time you normally leave, which slows battery wear.

If you need a full battery now, choose Charge to Full Now from the battery menu. Before a trip, you can switch the feature off until tomorrow: it lives in System Settings > Battery, under Battery Health. Optimized Battery Charging on Mac explains how it decides when to hold and when switching it off makes sense.

Check the cable, adapter and port

Most real charging problems live here, and every check takes a few seconds.

Try another outlet. Skip power strips with their own switch while you test, and make sure the adapter's plug or extension cable is pushed fully in.
Unplug both ends and reconnect them firmly. That means at the adapter and at the Mac. A USB-C cable that is half seated at the adapter end is easy to miss.
Swap the cable. USB-C cables are not all alike. Some carry only a little power, and some are made mainly for data. Use the cable that came with the Mac, or one sold for charging laptops.
Check what the Mac sees. Hold Option, click the Apple menu and choose System Information. Click Power and look under AC Charger Information. If Connected says No, the Mac doesn't detect the charger. If it says Yes, the Wattage line shows how much power the adapter offers.
Plug the charger straight into the Mac. Power passed through a hub, dock or display is often less than the adapter's full output. Take the middleman out while you test.
Try another port. On a MacBook that charges over USB-C, try a port on the other side. On Macs with MagSafe, the USB-C ports can usually charge as well.

Then look at the ports themselves. Lint from a pocket or bag can pack into a port and stop the plug from seating. Shine a light in, and clear it gently with a soft, dry brush. Never use anything metal.

On Macs with MagSafe, the light on the connector is a handy check: amber while charging, green when the battery is full. No light at all usually means no power is reaching it, so go back to the outlet and the adapter.

Why does my MacBook lose charge while plugged in?

If the Mac is plugged in, sees the charger, and the percentage still drops, it is using more power than the adapter supplies. The battery makes up the difference.

The adapter is too small for the work. A lower-wattage adapter can keep a MacBook going through email but fall behind during a video export, a game or a long build with external displays attached. A phone charger falls well short. Compare the Wattage line in System Information with the adapter that came with your Mac.
The Mac is too warm. A hot MacBook may slow or pause charging to protect the battery. Move it to a hard surface, keep the vents clear and get it out of direct sun.
A quick test. Close the lid and leave it charging for a while. If it charges when idle but not when you are working, the adapter is the limit, not a fault.

Restart, and reset the SMC on Intel Macs

A restart clears a surprising number of charging glitches, because it resets the parts of the system that manage power.

On a Mac with Apple silicon, there is no separate reset to do. Shut it down, wait about 30 seconds, then start it up again with the charger connected.

On an Intel MacBook, the chip that manages power and charging is called the System Management Controller, or SMC, and resetting it is a long-standing fix for charging problems. On models with Apple's T2 security chip:

Shut down the Mac.
Press and hold Control and Option on the left side and Shift on the right side, for 7 seconds.
Keep holding them and also press and hold the power button, for another 7 seconds.
Release all four keys, wait a few seconds, then press the power button to start up.

Older Intel MacBooks use a different combination. Apple's support article on resetting the SMC lists the keys for each kind of model.

When is it the battery, and when should you visit Apple?

If the charger checks out and a restart doesn't help, look at the battery itself. Open System Settings > Battery and read Battery Health. Normal means the battery is working as expected. Service Recommended means it has lost a good share of its capacity or isn't working normally. It can still charge, just less. MacBook battery health explained covers both readings and the cycle count.

Apple Diagnostics can check for hardware problems, the battery included. On a Mac with Apple silicon, shut down, press and hold the power button until the startup options appear, then press Command-D. On an Intel Mac, hold D as it starts up.

Go to Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider when:

A known-good Apple adapter and cable still don't charge it.
System Information says the charger isn't connected, whatever you plug in.
The Mac shuts down while the battery still shows charge.
The case doesn't sit flat, the trackpad feels raised, or a gap appears along the bottom. These can be signs of a swollen battery. Stop using the Mac, unplug it, and don't press on it.

Make a Time Machine backup first if the Mac still runs. It is good practice before any repair.

Where Notchpals fits

Notchpals doesn't diagnose charging problems. Its Tech care characters only watch the charge level. If Juice is your Tech care pick, this battery with a flair for tragedy peeks out of the notch when your MacBook drops below 20 percent while it is running on battery, and again, louder, below 8.

Juice, Tech care: **Battery critical**, when the battery drops below 8% and isn't charging

Once macOS reports the Mac as running on the adapter, though, Juice counts it as taken care of and stays quiet, even if the percentage is slowly sliding. So Notchpals won't tell you that a charger isn't keeping up. For that, the battery menu and the checks above are the right tools. Where the visits do help is earlier: plugging in at 20 rather than racing the last few minutes means a weak charger or a loose cable shows itself while you still have time to fix it. And if Juice starts turning up earlier in the day than it used to, that is a fair hint to read Battery Health.