Apple's release of macOS Big Sur consisted of plenty of UI changes, security updates, bug fixes, and—surprisingly—the absence of a battery percentage in the menu bar.
If you usually check your Mac's battery percentage by glancing at the top-right corner of the screen, this change may frighten you a bit. It might worry you even further to find that there's no setting to enable a percentage under System Preferences > Battery.
Don't worry, we'll walk you through how to display a battery percentage in macOS.
Enable Mac Battery Percentage in the System Preferences
Your first thought may be to head to System Preferences > Battery, but as we mentioned previously, you won't find an option to display the percentage in your menu bar here.
Instead, follow these steps:
- Launch System Preferences.
- Head to Dock & Menu Bar.
- On the left menu, scroll down to Battery.
- Check Show in Menu Bar and Show Percentage.
That's it, now you can see your battery percentage in the menu bar.
Enable Mac Battery Percentage With Spotlight
You can also utilize Spotlight Search to display battery percentage on the menu bar. To do so, follow these steps:
- Hold Cmd + Space Bar.
- Type "battery percent" and scroll down on the left menu until you see the header labeled System Preferences.
- Click Dock & Menu Bar > Battery.
- Toggle Show in Menu and Show Percentage to on.
You're all set, now your Mac's battery percentage is displayed on the menu bar.
Keep Your MacBook Battery Healthy
Apple has you covered if your MacBook won't charge past one percent, but if you're just noticing some signs of battery deterioration, there are other methods available to curtail it, like using trusted third-party apps to monitor and even improve your Mac's battery life.
