What macOS shows on its own
The system battery icon shows the percentage and a charging bolt. Click it for the time to full charge while charging, and which apps are using significant energy. It does not show time remaining on battery in the menu bar, and it has one look.
How Multimeter shows it
- Multimeter follows the battery as macOS reports it: percent, charging, plugged in, time left and time until full.
- Pick how it looks: Percent Full counts up while charging and down on battery, Time Until shows hours and minutes instead of percent, and Hearts turns it into a health bar.
- The meter’s menu starts with the reading in words, such as “82%, Charging, 1:05 until full”.
- Low-battery alerts default to a warning below 20% and critical below 10%. Turn on the notification and you’ll hear about it once it goes critical.
- A battery meter on its own used about 0.03% CPU in our tests.
Set it up
- Open Multimeter. A battery meter is there on first launch.
- Choose Customize This Meter… from its menu and pick a face. Time Until shows time left instead of percent.
- Change the label, color and alert levels if you like, and turn on the notification for critical.
- Want both? Add a second battery meter with Add Meter… and give it a different face.
Every face works with every source it lists. See all 13 faces running live.
Limits
Desktop Macs have no battery. Multimeter shows “No battery” there; try a Bluetooth accessory meter instead.
Questions
Why doesn’t my Mac show the battery percentage?
It’s turned off by default. On macOS 26 Tahoe: System Settings, Menu Bar, Battery, Battery Options, Show Percentage. On Sequoia and earlier: System Settings, Control Center, Battery, Show Percentage.
Can the menu bar show time remaining instead of percent?
Not with the system icon since macOS stopped showing it there. Multimeter’s Time Until face shows time left on battery and time until full while charging.