Understand your battery. Keep your Mac awake.

A menu bar app that promises nothing macOS doesn’t allow. Free, no account, no tracking.

Coming soon to the Mac App StoreTell me when it launches
What the app can’t do

Requires macOS 26.4 or later

Menu bar and popover, Overview tab. Recreated in code; values are illustrative. Click the tabs to explore the popover.

At a glance

Charge level, health, cycle count, power draw, temperature and thermal state, right in the menu bar. The percentage next to the icon can be turned off.

  1. 1Charge level as an arc gauge, with time remaining beneath it.
  2. 2Maximum capacity relative to the original design capacity.
  3. 3Charge cycles read from the battery controller.
  4. 4Current power draw, updated every few seconds.
  5. 5Battery temperature as reported by the system.
  6. 6Thermal state of the Mac: nominal, fair, serious or critical.
Overview tab, annotated. Recreated in code. Low Power Mode is displayed only, with a link to System Settings.

Stay awake

“Display Awake”, “Mac Awake”, or a mode of your own. Keep Awake runs from 30 minutes to unlimited. The power adapter can switch modes when you plug in or unplug.

⌥⌘P opens the popover from anywhere.

Wake tab. The Keep Awake countdown is running for real in this recreation.
  1. 1The selected wake mode. “Standard” lets macOS sleep as usual.
  2. 2Keep Awake with a countdown, 30 minutes to unlimited.
  3. 3Rules by time, location, battery level or power adapter.

Verifiable on the system

Every wake mode is a regular power assertion. macOS lists it, and so does anyone who asks.

Mode in the terminal
$ pmset -g assertions | grep PowerMate
pid 48213(PowerMate): [0x0000a3b400019c1f] 00:47:12 PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep named: "PowerMate: keep display awake (mode: Display Awake)"
pid 48213(PowerMate): [0x0000a3b500019c20] 00:47:12 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "PowerMate: keep Mac awake (mode: Display Awake)"
$

Two assertions, both named PowerMate.

Terminal output with “Display Awake” active, recreated in code; the PID is illustrative. After switching back to “Standard”, no PowerMate line remains.

Automatically right

Switch modes by time of day, by location, or by battery level. Rules run locally; nothing is scheduled outside your Mac.

  • Weekdays, 9 am – 6 pmDisplay Awake
  • At the officeMac Awake
  • Below 20 %Standard

Location access is requested only when you create a location rule. Coordinates are stored in the Keychain and never synced.

See how your battery ages

Health and cycles for up to 365 days, a linear forecast, and an analysis of your charging habits: sessions, duration, time of day. Export everything as CSV.

Statistics window, recreated in code. Health and forecast are linear; the forecast extends the trend of the recorded days.

Try the forecast

Enter your own values. The tool uses the same linear method as the app: loss so far, spread evenly over the months, extended forward.

%
months

Both values are in System Settings → Battery → Battery Health, or in PowerMate’s Overview tab.

Loss per month
0.3 %
Forecast in 12 months
90 %
Cycles per month
12.1
Reaches 80 % in about
3 years and 6 months

A straight line is a rough guide. Batteries age faster when hot or often fully charged, and slower with gentle use; the app refines its forecast from daily snapshots.

macOS notification at the 80 % threshold. Recreated in code.

Remind, don’t intervene

A notification at a threshold you choose, and a warning when the battery runs low.

It is a reminder, not a limit: stopping the charge would need SMC access, which a sandboxed App Store app does not have. PowerMate tells you. You unplug.

Honestly limited

PowerMate runs in the App Sandbox and needs no helper tools or administrator rights. That sets a clear line, and the line is the product.

Can

  • Read the battery

    Level, health, cycles, power draw, temperature via IOKit, read-only, no special permissions.

  • Prevent sleep

    Display and system sleep via IOPMAssertion. Listed by pmset -g assertions.

  • Remind you to unplug

    A notification at your threshold. The charge itself continues.

  • Show Low Power Mode

    Read from the system and linked to System Settings, where you switch it.

Deliberately can’t

  • Stop charging at 80 %

    That needs SMC access. Only apps outside the sandbox and outside the App Store have it.

  • Switch Low Power Mode

    macOS exposes it read-only to apps. PowerMate shows it and takes you to the switch.

  • Set sleep timers in minutes

    That is pmset with root privileges. PowerMate can only prevent sleep, never schedule it.

  • Run a privileged helper

    No pmset, no SMJobBless, no root. Nothing runs outside the sandbox.

What it can’t do, it doesn’t claim.

Sandbox or not: what it changes

Every Mac App Store app runs in the App Sandbox. Tools that stop charging or set sleep timers need what the sandbox forbids, so they live outside the store. Both are legitimate choices; this table says what each one means.

FeaturePowerMate (sandboxed)Tools outside the sandbox
Read battery dataYesYes
Wake modes, Keep AwakeYes, verifiable with pmsetUsually yes
Charge reminder at a thresholdYesVaries
Stop charging at a thresholdNo, needs SMC accessPossible
Sleep timers in minutesNo, needs pmset with rootPossible
Helper tool or admin rightsNoneOften required
Available in the Mac App StoreYesNo, sandbox is mandatory there
PriceFreeVaries

Your data stays yours

Read the privacy policy
  • No server, no account, no analytics SDK. Nothing is transmitted to the developer or to anyone else.
  • Location rules are evaluated on your Mac. Coordinates live in the Keychain and are excluded from sync.
  • Settings sync uses your own iCloud key-value store between your Macs. It can be turned off.
  • The App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected”.

Free. Every feature. No purchase.

Coming soon to the Mac App StoreTell me when it launches

Requires macOS 26.4 or later

Developed by Atelieras.