Instant Alert: Apple laptops won't say how many hours of battery life they have left — here's the secret shortcut

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   Apple laptops won't say how many hours of battery life they have left — here's the secret shortcut by Kif Leswing on Dec 13, 2016, 3:26 PM Advertisement The latest update to the macOS operating system has a lot of new tweaks and improvements, but there's one change that most Mac users will recognize immediately.  Mac users used to be able to get a rough estimate of how much battery life their laptop had left by clicking on the battery icon in the toolbar. Click on it, and it would tell you how much battery your laptop has left. For example, right now, my MacBook Air should get about 4 hours and 49 more minutes before I need to plug in. Like this:  With Tuesday's update, Apple is killing the "remaining" estimated battery life from the toolbar. Going forward, the battery indicator on Macs will only display the percentage remaining, like iPhones or the Apple Watch.  Apple explained in a statement to Business Insider: "With macOS Sierra we have continued to advance our power management, and by design there is now an increased range between high performance and low power states. When combined with the differing ways people use their Mac throughout the day, the calculation of remaining battery life displayed as a measure of time has become less accurate. With the latest update to Sierra, we have removed the remaining time indicator. Macs will continue to present the percentage of battery capacity remaining, which is consistent with other Apple products."   However, Mac users will still be able to get a rough estimate of how much battery life their laptops have left. But instead of the toolbar, users will have to find it in Activity Monitor. Users can find their laptop's battery life remaining through Applications > Activity Monitor > Energy. (Or you could search in spotlight for "Activity Monitor.") It should look like this: But the fact that it's a minor cosmetic tweak and that the remaining charge is still available, just hidden, hasn't stopped tech fans from snarking on Twitter and connecting the change with recent disappointing MacBook Pro battery life: Not gonna lie I laughed out loud when I heard Apple was removing 'battery time remaining' from MacOS' tool bar. https://t.co/itw8zqAZt1 — Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) December 13, 2016   "Battery life on these new MacBook Pros suck" Apple Support: We'll fix that! Apple PR: Just remove the indicatorhttps://t.co/kyuHckeI9n — Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) December 13, 2016   Users complained about bad battery life, so Apple removed the time remaining info from the menubar in macOS 10.12.2; problem solved! — Justin Pot (@jhpot) December 13, 2016   And people say Apple isn't innovating on the Mac anymore. — Justin Pot (@jhpot) December 13, 2016   Today's macOS update rids of the "time remaining" battery life panel of the menu bar. They've solved the battery issues w/ the new laptops! — 5H4NE (@tradedsymmetry) December 13, 2016 SEE ALSO: Apple's new wireless headphones, AirPods, are finally on sale   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to:   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011