ChargeLens — Battery Health and Device Batteries for Mac

ChargeLens shows how the Mac battery is really doing, and how much charge is left in AirPods, keyboards, mice and trackpads, from one click in the menu bar. Health, cycles and temperature sit above a list of every connected device, and everything stays on the Mac.

Health, not guesswork

Health is the battery’s full-charge capacity as a share of its original design capacity, with both figures shown in mAh underneath. Cycle count, condition, adapter wattage, time to full or empty and the battery’s own temperature reading sit alongside it.

Every battery in one place

AirPods show left, right and case separately whenever they report them. Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and other accessories that share a level get a percentage and a small gauge. A device that keeps its level to itself says not reported. Nothing is guessed.

A nudge before it goes flat

Pick a low battery level from 10% to 30% and one silent notification appears when any device, or the Mac on battery, falls to it. It does not repeat until that battery has been charged back above the level. A separate Full Charge Reminder says when the Mac reaches a chosen level while plugged in.

The last 24 hours at a glance

The Mac’s charge level is noted every five minutes while ChargeLens runs and kept for a week. The chart shows the last day, with a bar along the bottom for time spent charging and gaps where the Mac was asleep.

Right there in the menu bar

Show just the icon, the Mac’s charge, or the level of whichever device is running lowest, so a flat keyboard is visible without opening anything.

How it works

• Click the icon in the menu bar. The top of the panel shows the charge and whether the Mac is charging, on battery, or plugged in and holding its charge.
• Read the figures below it: health, cycle count, condition, adapter wattage, time to empty or full, and battery temperature.
• Scan the Devices list for AirPods, keyboards, mice and trackpads. Press the circular arrow to refresh straight away.
• Open the ellipsis menu to set Low Battery Alert, Full Charge Reminder and what the menu bar shows.
• Right-click the icon for Refresh Now, Open at Login, About and Quit.

Opening it the first time

ChargeLens is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click. ChargeLens needs no special permissions; the only prompt is the standard one asking whether it may show notifications, and saying no leaves everything else working.

How accurate is the health figure?

It is worked out from the full-charge and design capacities the battery itself reports. On a test Mac it matched the Maximum Capacity shown in System Information. Condition changes to Service recommended when health falls under 80% or macOS flags the battery.

Why do AirPods sometimes show no levels?

macOS only reports AirPods levels while they are in use or the case is open near the Mac, and the case usually reports only while it is open or a bud is inside. ChargeLens reads them from System Information, which updates every few minutes, so a fresh reading can take a moment. Press refresh after opening the case.

Does it send anything anywhere?

No. There is no account, nothing is uploaded, and the app never connects to the internet. The week of charge readings is a small file at ~/Library/Application Support/ChargeLens/history.json.

What about a Mac without a battery?

A Mac mini or iMac shows No internal battery at the top of the panel, and the device list and alerts for accessories still work.

Which Macs does it run on?

Any Mac with Apple silicon or Intel running macOS 13 Ventura or later.