Credit: Apple
Apple's latest developer preview of macOS Catalina 10.15.5 includes a new feature called Battery Health Management that the company says could extend the overall life of your MacBook's battery.
With lithium-ion batteries like that found in MacBooks, iPhones, and other portable devices, it's not a good idea to charge the battery to 100 percent capacity. This, along with raising temperatures, can wear out a battery, shortening its overall charge capacity.
With Battery Health Management turned on, the temperature and charging history of the laptop's battery is analyzed, and then adjustments are made so that the battery isn't charged all the way, thereby preserving some of your battery's overall life.
According to Apple, Battery Health Management is turned on by default, but you can turn it off in System Preferences. Though I haven't actually used the feature yet, it does seem like something I'd want to leave on. You might want to turn it off for those times when you need to charge the battery to full capacity, like if you're going on a airplane.
Apple said that the Battery Health Management feature will be available on all MacBooks that are equipped with Thunderbolt 3, so that means all MacBook Pro models from 2016 and later, and the 2018 or later MacBook Air.
