Which apps use the most battery on a Mac?
Updated 15 November 2026
macOS can show you which apps are costing you charge, now and over the last hours. Here is where to look, how to read the numbers, and what to do about a heavy app.
1. The quick look: the battery menu
Click the battery icon in the menu bar. Under Using Significant Energy, macOS lists apps that are currently using a lot of energy. If the list is empty, nothing stands out right now.
2. The full list: Activity Monitor › Energy
Open Activity Monitor (Applications › Utilities), choose the Energy tab and sort by Energy Impact. Then sort by 12 hr Power to see which apps cost the most over the last 12 hours (or since startup). An app that tops both columns is your main drain. Apple's guide to the Energy tab.
- Energy Impact is a relative score for the app's use right now. It isn't watts or a percentage of your battery, so a score of 40 doesn't mean 40% of anything.
- Preventing Sleep shows apps that are keeping the Mac awake; they also cost charge overnight (see the sleep guide).
- App Nap “Yes” means macOS is already slowing the app down while it's hidden.
3. Apps that commonly use the most battery
- Web browsers, especially with many tabs, video, or pages that keep running scripts. Each tab can show as its own process (for example “Google Chrome Helper”). Safari is usually the lightest browser on a Mac.
- Video calls (Zoom, Teams, Meet, FaceTime): camera, encoding and screen sharing all cost power.
- Apps built on Electron (many chat and note apps) can use more than you'd expect for what they do.
- Games, video editing, 3D and code builds: heavy by nature.
- Sync and indexing: cloud drives, Photos and Spotlight after an update or big import.
4. How to cut an app's battery use
- Quit apps you aren't using; closing the window often leaves the app running.
- Close the browser tabs you don't need, and pause videos in background tabs.
- Update the app: high energy use is often a bug fixed in a later version.
- Check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions for apps that start on their own and run in the background.
- Turn on Low Power Mode on battery (System Settings › Battery).
What Activity Monitor can't tell you
It shows the last few hours on this boot, and only as a relative score. It doesn't keep a record over days, doesn't say how much of today's charge an app cost, and doesn't tell you whether today was unusual for your Mac.
Quick answers
How do I see which apps use the most battery on a Mac?
Open Activity Monitor, choose the Energy tab and sort by Energy Impact for now, or by 12 hr Power for the last 12 hours. The battery menu also lists apps using significant energy.
What does Energy Impact mean on a Mac?
It's a relative score of how much energy an app is using right now. It isn't measured in watts or as a percentage of the battery.
Does Chrome use more battery than Safari on a Mac?
Often, yes. Safari is built by Apple for macOS and is usually the lightest browser on a Mac; in any browser, many tabs and video cost the most.