PSA: MacBook overnight battery drain on macOS 12.2? Here’s a workaround…

Some of those who’ve updated to macOS 12.2 are experiencing severe MacBook overnight battery drain – in the worst cases, their machine are going from fully-charged to almost empty …

Macworld reports.

Users of macOS Monterey are turning to social media to find help with an apparent bug that causes MacBook running macOS Monterey 12.2 to completely lose battery power overnight. Based on several Twitter reports, users are finding that their MacBooks are waking up from sleep countless times a night and causing the battery to drain. The problem seems to affect both Intel and M1 Macs.

The good news is that the culprit has been identified: what 12.2 has broken is something Bluetooth related. We have developer João Pavão to thank for this.

He notes that he’s filed a RADAR report for the bug.

So while Apple hasn’t yet issued a fix, there is at least a clunky workaround: Switch off Bluetooth before you put the machine to sleep, and re-enable it when you wake the machine.

Of course, if you use the machine in clamshell mode with Magic Keyboard/Trackpad/Mouse, you’ll need to open it first to re-enable Bluetooth using the built-in trackpad.

If you haven’t yet updated, don’t let this delay you: 12.2 patches 13 major security flaws.

Inside of Apple’s latest update for Mac are fixes for a wide range of security flaws. macOS 12.2 patches 13 serious security bugs ranging from the Safari web browsing leak to a flaw that can give malicious apps access to root privileges, kernel privileges, iCloud data, and more.

We already knew about the web browsing and Google account ID flaw being patched ahead of time as it arrived with the RC versions of iOS 15.3 and macOS 12.2 However, Apple has now detailed the full list of security patches with documentation available for macOS 12.2.

Photo: João Pavão