Macbook Pro M1 battery draining fast after Golden Gate OS Update

It is possible there are processes running in the background that are using significant resources. Check Activity Monitor, CPU tab (sort by % CPU) and Memory tab (sort by Memory) to see what's running hard.

Activity Monitor User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode. That process performs some system cleanup and clears caches, and also disables 3rd party extensions that may cause problems.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

If that does not correct the issue, test in a new user account. A newly-created user account will have all settings at default, and if the issue does not occur in that new account then it provides guidance on what may need to be changed to correct the issue.

Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

Once the testing is complete, the new account can easily be deleted.

Delete a user or group on Mac – Apple Support

If you have 3rd party ‘protection’ software installed, that may be the problem. That includes:

• Cleaners (software claiming to automatically free up space)
• Optimizers (software claiming to make your Mac run faster)
• Antivirus software
• VPN software (unless provided by a school/employer to enable access to internal resources from a remote location)

Such 3rd party system ‘helpers’, ‘cleaners’ and ‘protectors’ do more harm than good. In fact, such products are completely unnecessary for macOS and the only ‘good’ (if you want to call it that) they do is to put money in the developers’ pockets. Cleaners and protectors cause compatibility issues, often after macOS updates. Commercial VPNs claim to hide your browsing activity from websites, and while that may be true those VPN providers just sell your browsing data to others. For the user, all of these types of software offer only harm…and if that is limited to harm to your bank account, then count yourself lucky. If you have installed such software, follow the developer’s instructions to completely uninstall it (note that some developers fail to provide instructions and their software installs can be pervasive, meaning the only way to truly remove it is to erase your Mac, reinstall macOS then restore your user files from a backup).

It might help to download and run EtreCheck, written by a long-time forum member. The free version is fine. Post the full report using the Additional Text button. No personal information is revealed. 

KartMac wrote:

• Just an update,

Installed the bug fix update 27.0.1

• As suggested in some forums for indexing, let my laptop run overnight without sleep plugged in.

• Increased my free space in HDD.

Did all the above, no change in battery draining out.

It happens overnight as well (100% when I shut down at night, morning when switched on - it is 0%)

I'm now running my MacBook bro like a desktop computer with power always on, despite having a good normal battery.

I regret upgrading to the much-hyped Golden Gate OS. Hope Apple fixes this soon.

Part 1 of 2

What you are experiencing is definitely worth investigating. 

A battery dropping from 70–75% to shutdown within minutes is not normal, and the fact that it can reportedly go from 100% when shut down to 0% the next morning is particularly useful information.

You are already installed macOS 27.0.1, left the Mac running overnight while plugged in, and freed up additional storage, with no improvement. 

At this point, I would not spend more time on storage space or indexing.

The timing is certainly interesting because the problem started after upgrading to macOS 27, but that alone does not prove the update is responsible. 

Your M1 MacBook Pro is also several years old, so the battery’s age and charge-cycle count need to be considered too. 

Apple notes that rechargeable batteries gradually become less effective as they chemically age. (support.apple.com)

I would first check System Settings >> Battery >> Battery Health for the Maximum Capacity, and System Information >> Power for the Cycle Count. 

The Battery Health showing Normal is reassuring, but it does not  by itself explain such a dramatic loss of charge. (support.apple.com)

For the overnight test, make sure the Mac is actually shut down, rather than simply put to sleep. 

If it is genuinely shut down at 100% and reports 0% the next morning, that is an important clue and makes ordinary background activity, such as indexing, much less relevant to that particular test.

While the Mac is running normally, check Activity Monitor  >> Energy to see whether a particular application or process is using unusually large amounts of energy. (support.apple.com) 

You could also try Safe Mode to see whether the battery behaviour changes when software that normally loads at startup is excluded

I would also run Apple Diagnostics. 

On an Apple-silicon Mac, shut it down, then press and hold the power button until the startup options appear and follow the Diagnostics instructions. 

Keep any reference code it gives you. (support.apple.com)

If the Mac continues shutting down while showing a substantial battery percentage, or again goes from 100% when completely shut down to 0% overnight, I’would  have Apple take a look at it. 

At that point, you have several useful facts to give them: the extreme charge loss, unexpected shutdowns, the age of the M1 battery, and the fact that the problem began after the macOS 27 upgrade. Apple’s Mac repair and service information is available here.

Part 2 of 2 

If the user believes these current issues stem specifically from macOS 27 Golden Gate 

For a thorough test of both Golden Gate / Hardware and to determine the possible root cause of all the computer issues.

Use the “Atomic” option and select “Erase All Content and Settings.” Apple Silicon computer

Use the Erase All Content and Settings feature to quickly and securely erase all settings, data, and apps, while maintaining the operating system currently installed.

Always make a Time Machine backup before proceeding.

Run the computer without installing any additional software and without restoring from your Time Machine backups.

Run the computer in this mode for approximately 2 - 3 and report back if the previous issues reoccur.

These drive scores are bad:

Performance:

System Load: 3.32 (1 min ago) 2.31 (5 min ago) 2.12 (15 min ago)

Nominal I/O usage: 0.50 MB/s

File system: 9.92 seconds

Write speed: 592 MB/s ⚠️

Read speed: 3048 MB/s

When I tested an 2020 M1 Macbook Pro's drive scores with EtreCheck, it returned both Writes and Reads as being in the 3000-3200 MB/sec range. Your Writes are one-fifth of that. The fact that the File System score is low (low = good) suggests you do not have a sick or failing drive, but rather are seeing the performance penalty of a too-full drive.

If that Write score remains low after you off-load about 100GB of stuff, a Safe Mode boot may restore full drive speeds:

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

For slow drive issues like this, I find that I need to let the computer "soak" in Safe Mode for 15-20 minutes before doing a normal restart.

Building on my previous posting in regards to Battery and Battery Health

coconutBattery is a perfectly reasonable way to check the health of your MacBook Pro’s battery. 

In fact, it can make the battery information easier to understand than the figures shown in macOS.

The application can show you things like the battery’s current full-charge capacity, original/design capacity, battery health percentage, cycle count, voltage, temperature, and current charge level.

The figure I would pay the most attention to is the current full-charge capacity compared with the original/design capacity.

For example, if coconutBattery reports:

Original capacity: 5,100 mAh

Current maximum capacity: 4,300 mAh

then:

4,300 ÷ 5,100 × 100 ≈ 84%

So the battery is currently capable of holding approximately 84% of the charge it could hold when new.

One thing worth keeping in mind is that coconutBattery is not  independently testing the physical capacity of the battery. 

It is reading the battery information provided by the Mac's battery-management system and using those figures to calculate the health percentage. 

So I would regard the percentage as a useful estimate rather than a laboratory measurement.

For normal battery-health checking, though, coconutBattery and macOS's own System Information should give you more than enough information to assess the condition of the battery.

You can find coconutBattery here:

coconutBattery — official website

KartMac wrote:

1. Tried all the suggestions:

Did you also try the recommended backup, Erase All Content and Settings, and then test with no 3rd party apps or add-ons or peripherals, also don't restore any user data files just yet?

Your internal storage is essentially full. When that happens, expect all sorts of problems. You need to free up space.

Some steps to take to safely free up space:

Free up storage space on Mac - Apple Support

Optimize storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

How to free up ‘System Data’ and other st… - Apple Community

You now have 12 GB free instead of 8 GB. Sorry, that is not a meaningful difference. The problem is that just deleting files and emptying the trash doesn't immediately free up the space. The bottom line is that once you fill your internal storage (having only 8 or 12 GB free, ~2% of your capacity, is effectively full), the Mac is going to have major issues and require drastic measures to recover. The lesson from this is buy as much internal storage as you can afford, and keep an eye on it so you don't go over that 80-85% full point.

Booting in Safe Mode may help a bit.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

In your position, I would erase my Mac then restore only the user files (not the applications) from my Time Machine backup. I'd then clean up my user files (move photos, videos, etc. to external storage), run for a couple of days, then re-install 3rd party apps.

KartMac wrote:

1. Tried all the suggestions:

Free Space is now 105 GB.

2. Did the troubleshooting as mentioned in the links.

3. Coconut Battery is showing 99.4 Battery Health (so nothing wrong with my battery)

Update: NO CHANGE, 100% to 0% in 2 mins. (Attached Etrecheck Report)

<Latest Etrecheck Report.log>

Hope someone from Apple sees this and provides a fix. Don't see any other way.

It is important to distinguish the battery issue from the available-storage issue, while recognizing that they may be interrelated.

The original reported problem is a very rapid battery discharge following the Golden Gate OS 27 update, with the MacBook Pro M1 dropping from approximately 70% to 10% within 10 minutes and then shutting down.

That degree of battery loss is not adequately explained by limited internal storage alone.

Insufficient free storage can contribute to system performance and operational problems, particularly when macOS needs space for temporary files, caches, updates, or other system operations.

However, the battery's age and condition are also important factors. If the original battery dates from 2020–2021, its age and current battery health should be checked.

Therefore, the storage problem and the battery problem should be investigated separately rather than assuming that one directly causes the other. The timing of the battery deterioration after the OS 27 update also makes it reasonable to investigate whether the update is contributing to unusually high power consumption, while not assuming that the update is necessarily the cause.

KartMac wrote: "...Hope Apple fixes this soon."

Let them know here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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I had over 30 GB free space for the GG OS update, it is now showing 7 GB free and started to have battery issues as well.

Don't think having 20 GB free space will make any difference, will try anyway.

So much for the new OS update.

Just an update,

• Installed the bug fix update 27.0.1
• As suggested in some forums for indexing, let my laptop run overnight without sleep plugged in.
• Increased my free space in HDD.

Did all the above, no change in battery draining out.

It happens overnight as well (100% when I shut down at night, morning when switched on - it is 0%)

I'm now running my MacBook bro like a desktop computer with power always on, despite having a good normal battery.

I regret upgrading to the much-hyped Golden Gate OS. Hope Apple fixes this soon.

KartMac wrote:

I had over 30 GB free space for the GG OS update, it is now showing 7 GB free and started to have battery issues as well.

This was an unexpected change in macOS 27. macOS 27 is no longer reporting the invalid "available" storage that it has for the past several years. It is now reporting actual "free" storage. So you never had any free storage. It's just being reported more accurately now.

Don't think having 20 GB free space will make any difference, will try anyway.

Correct. 20 GB of free space will not make a difference. Ideally, you need 100 GB of free storage. In extreme conditions, you might be able to get away with only 50 GB of free storage with only a minor performance hit.

But your computer doesn't even qualify for that because you have a 500 GB hard drive. It's those people with 250 GB hard drives that have the real problem. You should be able to free up 100 GB of storage. That will fix these problems.

Tried all the suggestions:

1. Free Space is now 105 GB.
2. Did the troubleshooting as mentioned in the links.
3. Coconut Battery is showing 99.4 Battery Health (so nothing wrong with my battery)

Update: NO CHANGE, 100% to 0% in 2 mins. (Attached Etrecheck Report)

Hope someone from Apple sees this and provides a fix. Don't see any other way.

Tried as you suggested by freeing up more space, now switching off at 75% battery, Lol.

Don't know how to solve this.

Here is the solution. Works perfectly for me. I hope Apple can fix the bug based on this article.

https://www.xda-developers.com/used-gpt-5-5-figure-out-laptop-battery-drain-found-bug/