Cooked vs the macOS charge limit
macOS has held a charge limit since Tahoe 26.4, it’s free, and it’s already on your Mac. If 80% covers you, this page ends here and you don’t need us. The rest of it is about the band Apple doesn’t go into, and about what your Mac does when you’re not looking.
Cooked
Charge limiter with a background service
- 20–100%
- Limit range
- Yes
- Discharges to target
- Free, €9.99/yr or €24.99 once
- Price
macOS
Charge limit built into the system
- 80–100%
- Limit range
- No
- Discharges to target
- Built in
- Price
Feature by feature
| Feature | Cooked | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest limit you can set | 20% | 80% |
| A limit on macOS 13 to 26.3 | included | no |
| A limit on macOS 27 | included | included |
| Holds the number you set | On macOS 13 to 26 | partial |
| Discharges down to your target | included | no |
| Menu bar shows what it’s doing | included | partial |
| Live health and temperature | included | partial |
| Battery history, from today back to months ago | paid | partial |
| MagSafe light follows your limit | paid | no |
| 12-month health projection | paid | no |
| Price | Free, €9.99/yr or €24.99 once | Built in |
- included
- no
“Partial” means macOS does some of it: it shows “Charging On Hold” in the battery menu, reports battery health without a temperature, and charts the level for the last 24 hours and 10 days. “Paid” marks what needs a Cooked license. On macOS 27, Cooked sets Apple’s own limit, and goes below 80% only on Macs that accept it.
Checked on September 24, 2026 against Apple’s own support documentation, linked below. Anything macOS does that isn’t written there isn’t claimed here.
Where they actually differ
Apple’s limit needs Tahoe 26.4. On macOS 27, Cooked sets it for you
The Charge Limit setting arrived with macOS Tahoe 26.4. On Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia and earlier Tahoe releases, there’s no limit to set, only Optimized Battery Charging. Cooked holds one on all of them, from macOS 13. macOS 27 changed how apps control charging, so there Cooked sets Apple’s own limit: 80 to 100% like System Settings does, and below 80% on Macs that accept it. On a Mac that won’t go under 80, Cooked holds 80% and tells you so.
80% is a real limit, and for a lot of people it’s enough
Open System Settings, Battery, the info button next to Charging, and pick anything from 80 to 100%. That’s it. It’s free, it ships with the system, and there’s no app to trust. If your Mac lives on a desk and 80% gets you through the day, use it and keep your money.
Below 80% is where an app starts to matter
The gentler part of the curve sits under Apple’s floor, and macOS won’t go there. Cooked will hold anywhere from 20% (on macOS 27, where your Mac accepts it), which matters if your Mac is plugged in for weeks at a time, or if you’re parking a machine you barely use.
Your Mac tops itself up to 100%, on purpose
Apple says so in their own documentation: whether you use Optimized Battery Charging or a Charge Limit, your Mac will occasionally charge to 100% to keep its state-of-charge estimate accurate. That’s the right engineering call, and it’s also why the number in System Settings isn’t the number your battery sits at. On macOS 27, Cooked sets that same limit, so this applies to it there too.
So which one?
Choose Cooked if
- You want to hold below 80%, which macOS won’t do.
- You want the battery to come back down to your number instead of waiting to drain there.
- You want to see health, temperature and history rather than a single word in Settings.
Stay with macOS if
- Your Mac runs macOS 27 and won’t go under 80%. There, Cooked sets the same limit you’d set in System Settings.
- 80% is enough for how you work. It costs nothing and it’s already running.
- You’d rather not install a background service, or type an admin password for one.
- You want zero moving parts. Apple’s limit ships with the system and can’t break on its own.
Where these facts come from
Every box above comes from a public page we read ourselves, not from memory. Here’s the trail, so you can disagree with us.
Compare Cooked with something else
Set your limit once. That’s the whole job.
Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · macOS 13 to 27 · 8.5 MB