Power Nap: Control Power Settings On Sleeping Macs

how to turn off use power when mac is sleep

If you want to keep your Mac awake, you can change the Energy Saver settings in System Preferences. You can also disable sleep mode temporarily by running the caffeinate command in Terminal. If you want to make temporary changes to the sleep settings, you can do this through the Terminal. The changes will be active as long as the Terminal window is open. To keep your Mac from sleeping, select 'Never' on both the Power Adapter and Battery tabs. You can also manually put your Mac into sleep mode by pressing the power button.

Characteristics Values
How to turn off sleep mode Click the Apple logo > System Preferences > Lock Screen > "Turn display off on power adapter when inactive" > Set the sleep time > "Turn display off on battery when inactive" > Repeat
How to adjust sleep settings Change the Energy Saver settings in System Preferences
How to disable sleep mode temporarily Run the "caffeinate" command in Terminal
How to schedule sleep/wake times Click the Apple logo > System Preferences > Energy Saver > Schedule > Checkboxes > Set wake-up time
How to prevent automatic sleeping Go to System Settings > Battery > Options > Turn on "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off"
How to use third-party apps to keep the Mac awake Lungo, OneSwitch, and Amphetamine
Power usage comparison between sleep and shut down Sleep uses more power than shut down, but shut down uses much more power during boot up and shut down stages

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Using third-party apps to keep your Mac awake

There are several third-party apps available that can help you keep your Mac awake and customize your sleep settings. Here are some options:

Lungo

Lungo is a popular app that prevents your Mac from sleeping for as long as you want. It offers flexible customization, allowing you to keep your Mac awake for 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 hours, or indefinitely. Lungo is available on Setapp, where you can try it for free during a seven-day trial.

OneSwitch

OneSwitch is another app available on Setapp that lets you keep your Mac awake for specific durations. With OneSwitch, you can set your Mac to stay awake for 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, or 8 hours. Like Lungo, it is also available during the seven-day free trial on Setapp.

Amphetamine

Amphetamine is an app that keeps your Mac awake by using triggers. You can set up triggers to keep your Mac awake when an external display is plugged in, a specific app is running, or based on other conditions. It offers full control over how your computer behaves when you're away, such as whether it goes to sleep or activates the screensaver.

Owly

If you're looking for a simple and intuitive interface to control your Mac's sleeping preferences, Owly is a great choice. It provides a straightforward way to manage your Mac's sleep settings and keep it awake when needed.

Caffeinate

While not a third-party app, Caffeinate is worth mentioning as it is a built-in tool in macOS. By running Caffeinate in a Terminal window, you can prevent your Mac from sleeping for a specific period. You can also use the "caffeinate -t X" command, where X is the number of seconds you want to keep the system awake.

These third-party apps and built-in tools offer various ways to keep your Mac awake and customize its sleep behaviour according to your preferences.

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Preventing automatic sleep when the display is off

To prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep when the display is off, you can adjust your system settings. Here is a step-by-step guide:

  • Go to the Apple menu by clicking on the Apple logo in the upper-left corner of your screen.
  • Select "System Settings" or "System Preferences."
  • Choose "Battery" from the sidebar menu.
  • Click on "Options."
  • Enable the "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off" option.
  • Confirm your selection and click "Done" to save the changes.

By following these steps, you can prevent your Mac from entering a low-power state and pausing most system functions when the display is off.

It is important to note that different versions of macOS may have slightly different paths to reach these settings. For example, in macOS Ventura, you would go to "System Settings," choose "Displays" in the sidebar, click "Advanced," and then check "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off."

Additionally, if you want to make temporary changes without digging into the system settings, you can use third-party apps like Lungo and OneSwitch, or enter specific commands in the Terminal.

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Changing sleep settings through the Terminal

To change your Mac's sleep settings through the Terminal, follow these steps:

First, open the Terminal app on your Mac. You can do this by opening the "Utilities" folder and double-clicking on the Terminal icon, or by typing "Terminal" in the search bar in Launchpad.

If you want to temporarily disable sleep mode, you can use the "caffeinate" command. Type "caffeinate" in the Terminal window and hit Return or Enter. Your Mac will remain awake as long as you don't close the Terminal window. You can also specify a time duration by typing "caffeinate -t X", where X is the number of seconds you want your Mac to stay awake for.

To schedule specific sleep and wake times for your Mac, you can use the "pmset" command line utility. For example, to make your Mac switch to sleep mode every day at 10 PM, you can use the command "sudo pmset repeat sleep MTWRFSU 22:00:00". You can customize this command by replacing "sleep" with "wake", "shutdown", or "wakeorpoweron", and adjusting the time and days as needed. Press Enter, type your admin password, and press Enter again.

You can also view the sleep event log using Terminal commands. The specific command may vary depending on your Mac model and macOS version, but it typically involves navigating to Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal and entering the appropriate command.

Keep in mind that these Terminal commands only make temporary changes to your Mac's sleep settings. If you want to make permanent changes, you may need to adjust the settings in System Preferences or Energy Saver.

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Scheduling your Mac's sleep cycle

  • Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen and select System Preferences.
  • Go to System Settings. Depending on your macOS version, this may be called Lock Screen, Battery, or Energy Saver.
  • Find the "Turn display off on power adapter when inactive" setting. This may be under the Lock Screen or Battery section.
  • Set the sleep time by selecting the desired option, usually ranging from one minute to three hours or "Never".
  • Repeat the same process for "Turn display off on battery when inactive".
  • Adjust the sleep settings in the Battery menu if you have a Mac laptop. Go to Apple > System Settings > Battery > Options.
  • Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off by toggling on the appropriate setting. This will keep your Mac awake even if the display is turned off.
  • Enable "Wake for network access" if you want your Mac to perform background tasks like updating apps or receiving messages while it's asleep.
  • Set a schedule for your Mac's sleep and wake times. Click Schedule in the left-side menu of the Battery settings and select your desired options.
  • Choose the frequency at which your Mac follows the sleep/wake schedule, such as specific days, every day, or just on weekends.

Note that the sleep/wake and energy-saving settings on Mac vary across different versions of macOS. Third-party apps like Lungo and OneSwitch can also help you customise your Mac's sleep mode.

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Using Power Nap to enable brief wake periods

Power Nap is a feature that allows your Mac to automatically wake up from sleep to run administrative tasks in the background. This feature is only available on Mac computers with SSD flash storage. Power Nap can be used to update software, perform Time Machine backups, index files in Spotlight, and update Help Center content. It can also be used to install updates and clean up system files.

To enable Power Nap on your Mac, go to the Apple menu, then System Preferences, and select Battery. Tick the box next to "Enable Power Nap while on battery power". Then, click the Power Adapter tab on the sidebar and tick the box next to "Enable Power Nap while plugged into a power adapter".

It is important to note that Power Nap is not available on Macs with Apple silicon chips like the M1 or M1 Pro. This is because these Macs use “always-on” processor technology, which integrates Power Nap functionality into the system.

If you want to make temporary changes to the sleep settings, you can do so through the Terminal. Open Terminal and enter the following command: caffeinate -d. If you want to keep your laptop awake for a certain amount of time, type caffeinate -t X, where X is the number of seconds.

Additionally, you can set your Mac to stop automatic sleeping when the display is off. To do this, go to System Settings > Battery and scroll down to Options. Turn on "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off".

Frequently asked questions

You can stop your Mac from going to sleep mode by changing the Energy Saver settings in System Preferences. You can also use third-party apps such as Lungo and OneSwitch.

To change your Mac's sleep settings, go to System Settings > Lock Screen. Find the line "Turn display off on power adapter when inactive" in the right panel and click on the drop-down next to it. Set the sleep time by selecting the desired option in the drop-down window (from 1 minute to never).

Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen and select System Preferences. Switch between the Battery and Power Adapter settings on the left side menu and slide the "Turn display off after" bar to your desired setting.

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