Ashwin Lewis
Sleep mode is a practical and valuable feature that promotes and protects the health of your MacBook. However, there are times when it can be inconvenient, such as when you're downloading large files, or trying to watch a long movie. Thankfully, it's not too difficult to adjust your MacBook's settings to prevent it from sleeping. You can do this by scheduling sleep and wake-up times, using third-party apps, or changing your MacBook's sleep and wake settings.
Characteristics and Values
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Prevent MacBook from sleeping when the lid is closed | Use macOS Ventura or older versions to set your Mac to never go to sleep in System Preferences |
| Use macOS Terminal to schedule sleep/wake times | |
| Use third-party apps like Amphetamine, Caffeinated, or Lungo | |
| Prevent MacBook from sleeping while downloading | Use the Lungo app to prevent sleep mode |
| Prevent MacBook from sleeping while playing music | Use the Amphetamine app to keep MacBook awake while the display is closed |
| Prevent MacBook from sleeping while plugged into an external display | Use macOS Ventura or older versions to set your Mac to never go to sleep in System Preferences |
| Wake MacBook from sleep without opening the lid | Click or move the mouse, or tap on the keyboard |
| Keyboard shortcuts to sleep/shut down/restart MacBook | Keyboard shortcuts are available but not obvious; they take time to learn |
Explore related products
What You'll Learn
Use Terminal to schedule sleep/wake timings
If you want to schedule sleep and wake timings on your Mac, you can do so using the Terminal. This method is especially useful if you want to adjust your Mac's sleep and wake behaviour remotely. Here's how you can do it:
- Open Terminal.
- Enter one of the following pmset commands:
- Pmset -g sched (to see the current schedule)
- Sudo pmset repeat wake M 8:00:00 (to schedule your Mac to wake up at 8:00 a.m. every Monday)
- Sudo pmset repeat sleep MTWRFSU 22:00:00 (to make your Mac go to sleep mode every day at 10 PM)
- Sudo pmset repeat cancel (to cancel the current schedule)
- Press Return.
- Type your admin password and press Enter.
You can customise these commands according to your preferences. For example, you can replace "sleep" with "wake", "shutdown", or "wakeorpoweron", and adjust the time and days as needed. Additionally, you can exclude certain days of the week from the schedule by removing them from the command.
Note that you can also schedule sleep and wake timings through the Energy Saver/Battery system preference GUI, but this option may not be available depending on your Mac model and macOS version.
The Ultimate Choice: Life Without Sleep or...?
You may want to see also
Explore related products
$254.95 $279
Use third-party apps like Amphetamine or Caffeinated
If you want to keep your MacBook awake without having to keep the lid open, you can use third-party apps like Amphetamine or Caffeinated. These apps are designed to prevent your MacBook from automatically going into sleep mode, which can be useful if you're downloading large files, playing music, or performing other tasks that require uninterrupted operation.
Let's start with Amphetamine, a highly customizable and powerful keep-awake app designed specifically for macOS. Amphetamine offers a simple on/off switch to keep your MacBook awake, along with advanced features like system-wide hotkey support, scheduled activation and deactivation, and AppleScript support. It can even keep your MacBook awake while the display or lid is closed, making it a versatile tool for various scenarios. Amphetamine is a free download from the Mac App Store and has been well-received by users, earning the coveted Mac Gem status at Macworld.
Now, moving on to Caffeinated, another popular option available on the Mac App Store for a small fee of $3.99/£3.99. Caffeinated also overrides the Energy Saver settings to prevent your MacBook from going to sleep, similar to Amphetamine. It offers a straightforward solution to keep your MacBook awake, and users can activate it with a single click on the menu bar icon.
In addition to these two apps, there are other alternatives available, such as Lungo, which prevents your MacBook from sleeping or dimming according to your preferences. Lungo is available on Setapp and offers a simple interface with a cup of coffee as its icon. With Lungo, you can set the wake-up time for your MacBook, ranging from 10 minutes to an indefinite period.
By utilizing these third-party apps, you can effectively keep your MacBook awake and bypass the sleep mode, ensuring uninterrupted operation even when the lid is closed.
The Comfort of Blankets: Why We Need Them to Sleep
You may want to see also
Explore related products
$349
Adjust settings in System Preferences
To prevent your MacBook from sleeping when the lid is closed, you can adjust the settings in System Preferences. Here's how:
Go to System Preferences by clicking on the Apple logo in the upper-left corner of the screen. Then, click on "Battery" or "Energy Saver" in the sidebar menu. In macOS Catalina and older versions, you will find this under "Setting Preferences".
In the Battery or Energy Saver settings, you will see options to adjust the sleep behaviour of your MacBook. Move the slider at the top of the screen to "Never" if you want to prevent your MacBook from sleeping when running on battery power. You can also choose "Power Adapter" from the sidebar menu and adjust the display-off time.
Additionally, you can enable the "Prevent the computer from automatically going to sleep when the display is off" option. This will keep your MacBook from sleeping even when the lid is closed. You can find this option by clicking on "Options" in the Battery settings or by selecting "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off" in the Energy Saver settings.
If you are using macOS Ventura or later, you can also use Terminal to schedule specific sleep and wake times for your MacBook. Open Terminal and enter the following command to prevent your MacBook from sleeping:
> sudo pmset repeat sleep MTWRFSU 22:00:00
You can customise this command by replacing "sleep" with "wake", "shutdown", or "wakeorpoweron", and adjust the time and days as needed. Press Enter, type your admin password, and press Enter again.
By adjusting these settings in System Preferences and Terminal, you can prevent your MacBook from sleeping and have more control over its sleep behaviour.
The Pain of Being Ignored by Your Loved One
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Use keyboard shortcuts to shut down or sleep
Keyboard shortcuts can be used to put your Mac to sleep, shut it down, or restart it. These shortcuts work on all versions of macOS.
To put your Mac to sleep, you can use the keyboard shortcut Control–Power button or Control–Media Eject. This will display a dialog asking whether you want to restart, sleep, or shut down. You can then select sleep.
To shut down your Mac, use the keyboard shortcut Control–Option–Command–Power button or Control–Option–Command–Media Eject. This will quit all apps and then shut down your Mac. If any open documents have unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save them.
In addition to the above, there are a few other keyboard shortcuts you can use to shut down or sleep your Mac:
- Control–Command–Power button: Forces your Mac to restart without prompting to save any open and unsaved documents.
- Control–Command–Media Eject: Quits all apps, then restarts your Mac. If any open documents have unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save them.
- Control–Media Eject: Displays a dialog asking whether you want to restart, sleep, or shut down.
Note that there are also third-party apps available, such as Amphetamine, Caffeinated, and Lungo, which can be used to prevent your Mac from sleeping for a specified period of time or when the lid is closed.
Effective Sleep Apnea Treatment Options Beyond CPAP Machines
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Use an external display to prevent sleep mode
Using an external display is a great way to prevent your MacBook from going to sleep mode. This is especially useful if you want to free up space on your desk or if you're downloading something and need to carry your MacBook somewhere.
To use an external display with your MacBook, you'll need to follow a few simple steps. First, make sure you have an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. These can be wired or wireless. If you're using Bluetooth peripherals, ensure that Bluetooth is turned on and that they're paired with your MacBook.
Once you have your external display set up, connect your MacBook to the external monitor. Depending on your setup, you may need to use a power adapter to get the screen to appear on the external monitor. After connecting, you should see your MacBook's Desktop appear on the external display. At this point, you can close the lid on your MacBook. The external monitor may flash off briefly, but it should then display your Desktop. If it doesn't, simply wake your MacBook by pressing a key on the keyboard or moving the mouse.
It's important to note that even with an external display, closing the lid on your MacBook will cause it to sleep unless you change the settings. To do this, go to System Preferences, click on Battery (or Energy Saver), and select "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off."
Additionally, you can use third-party apps like Amphetamine or Caffeinated to keep your MacBook awake by overriding the Energy Saver settings. These apps can be downloaded from the Mac App Store, with Amphetamine being a free option.
Tahajud Namaz: Can You Pray Without Sleep?
You may want to see also
Frequently asked questions
Go to System Preferences, click Battery in the sidebar, click Options, and enable the "Prevent the computer from automatically going to sleep when the display is off" option.
Click the Apple logo in the upper-left corner, go to System Preferences, click Battery, and move the slider at the top of the screen to Never.
Open Terminal and enter the following command: pmset -g sched. Then, to schedule a shutdown, enter: sudo pmset repeat shutdown [days of the week] [time].
Yes, there are apps like Amphetamine, Caffeinated, and Lungo that can prevent your MacBook from sleeping by overriding the Energy Saver settings.
You can simply click or move the mouse or tap on the keyboard to wake up your MacBook from sleep without opening the lid.
