This new MacBook feature could extend your battery massively

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro is crammed with powerful features, while new models are expected at the start of March, but there's also something rolling out for its existing MacBook range.

The new update, which currently comes in the form of the macOS Tahoe 26.4 beta, sports a new feature called Charge Limit. This appears in the form of a new slider bar in the battery options menu. You are able to slide this between 100% and 80% to select how full you want the battery to get when charging.

As with electric vehicles that offer this option, the idea is to help you preserve the life of your battery for as long as possible. Not fully charging the battery can allow it to live for many more charge cycles, elongating life for that battery.

Apple's iPhones have had a charge limit feature since the iPhone 15 launched back in 2023. Now it's the MacBook's turn.

Apple currently offers an Optimised Battery Charging feature, which keeps a MacBook from charging to 100% until it's needed for use. But this is worked out from your daily charging routine, so isn't fool proof and can still charge your battery to 100% at times.

The new Charge Limit feature appears to be a more robust restriction that will ensure if you want to max out charge at 80% only, that can be set and stuck to no matter what.

If you are signed up to the beta updates of macOS then you can access this feature right away upon updating to Tahoe 26.4.

To access Charge Limit, navigate to the Settings menu. Then go to the Battery section and select the "i" option next to Charging.

This will allow you to use the slider to limit charging to 80, 85, 90, 95 or 100% charge levels.