I’ve been using my M2 MacBook Air for about two years now, and like most MacBook users, I occasionally wonder about battery degradation. Apple hides the battery health percentage several clicks deep in System Settings, which means I rarely check it. I recently discovered Battery Vitals, a small menu bar utility that keeps this information visible without the constant clicking.
The app displays your current battery percentage in the menu bar, and clicking it reveals detailed health metrics. I can see my battery’s maximum capacity compared to its original state, the exact cycle count (mine’s at 287 cycles after two years), current temperature, and whether I’m plugged into power. This information used to require opening System Settings, navigating to Battery, clicking the info button, and finding the health details. Now it’s one click away.
Battery Vitals runs remarkably light on system resources. At just 2.1 MB, it’s one of the smallest utilities I have installed, and it uses minimal memory while idling in the menu bar. The interface follows native macOS design patterns, so it feels like an extension of the system rather than a third-party addition. I appreciate that the developer kept the UI clean and focused on the essential metrics rather than cluttering it with unnecessary features.
The app supports launching at login, which I’ve enabled so the information is always available. For MacBook users who want to track battery degradation over time or simply keep an eye on cycle counts without diving into System Settings, this provides exactly what’s needed. The temperature monitoring has been useful during intensive tasks, as I can quickly check if my MacBook is running hot without installing heavyweight system monitors.
Battery Vitals requires macOS 14.0 or later and costs $2.99 on the Mac App Store. The developer, Anh Phong, has kept the app updated regularly and includes a clear privacy policy stating no data collection or network access. For a small, focused utility that does one thing well, the price seems reasonable. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now, and it’s become part of my daily menu bar toolkit alongside my other monitoring utilities.
The app doesn’t include historical tracking or notifications when battery health drops below certain thresholds, which would be nice additions. For now, it’s purely an information display tool rather than an active monitoring system. But for quickly checking battery health without navigating through System Settings, it delivers exactly what it promises.
