BatFi is a macOS utility from Micropixels Software that gives you precise, automated control over how your Mac charges its battery — protecting long-term cell health without requiring you to babysit a charging cable.
What is BatFi?
BatFi is a battery charge-management app for Mac that lets you cap charging at a chosen threshold, automate charge limits based on context, and monitor battery health metrics — all from the menu bar. Apple's own optimised charging is clever but opaque; BatFi puts you in the driver's seat.
The core idea is simple: lithium-ion cells degrade fastest when they spend prolonged time at 100 %. If your MacBook sits plugged in at your desk eight hours a day, keeping it pinned at full charge is quietly eroding its long-term capacity. BatFi intercepts that, holding charge at whatever ceiling you set — 80 % is the sweet spot most battery researchers recommend — then lets it top up before you unplug for a long day out.
What does BatFi do best?
BatFi excels at intelligent, set-and-forget charge limiting with just enough manual override controls for power users who know their own schedules.
- Charge-limit enforcement: Set a ceiling (anything from 20 % to 100 %) and BatFi keeps the charger in check at that level, using Apple's SMC interface rather than any fragile injection trick.
- Menu-bar live readout: Cycle time, charge rate in watts, temperature, and remaining time to full are all a glance away — none of the hiding-behind-submenus that makes similar tools frustrating.
- Temporary overrides: Need a full charge before a flight? One click sets a one-time override that auto-reverts when unplugged, so you don't have to remember to re-enable your limit.
- Battery health history: BatFi logs capacity trend data over time, giving you the receipts when you suspect a cell is degrading faster than it should.
- Apple Silicon aware: Runs natively on M-series chips — no Rosetta overhead, no elevated CPU spin from emulation.
Where it quietly shines is in the automation: you can tell it to apply a different limit when connected to a specific charger or location, which means your desktop setup and your travel bag each get the right policy without any manual switching.
How much does BatFi cost?
BatFi is a paid app, available directly from the Micropixels Software website. There is a free trial period so you can verify it works with your specific Mac before committing. The price is one-time, not a subscription — a meaningful point of difference in an era when every utility wants a monthly fee.
Compared to the cost of an out-of-warranty battery replacement, the asking price is frankly negligible. I paid for it without hesitation after watching my previous MacBook's cycle count climb to 800 in under three years from being perpetually plugged in at 100 %.
Who should use BatFi?
BatFi is ideal for anyone whose Mac spends the majority of its time plugged into AC power — desk workers, developers, and writers who rarely let their machines run down between charges.
If you regularly drain your battery to near-zero and then fully recharge it each day, you're already cycling naturally and the benefit is more marginal. But if your MacBook is effectively a desktop replacement, this app belongs in your menu bar alongside the tools you don't think about because they just work. I'd especially recommend it for anyone running a relatively new Apple Silicon MacBook Pro — protecting that factory cell from day one is far cheaper than nursing a degraded one two years from now.
It is not aimed at novices who want a one-click fix and nothing more. The configuration options assume you know what a charge ceiling means and have an opinion about where to set it. If you want something with zero learning curve, Apple's native optimised charging is already on by default — BatFi is for users who find that insufficiently granular.
What are the best BatFi alternatives?
The most direct competitor is AlDente, which offers a broadly similar charge-limiting feature set and has been around longer. AlDente's free tier is generous but caps at 80 % maximum limit; its Pro tier unlocks the full range. Battery Buddy is a lighter-weight option focused purely on menu-bar status display without charge control. Apple's own Optimised Battery Charging (System Settings → Battery) is the zero-cost baseline — it learns your routine and delays charging to 100 % until shortly before you typically unplug, but it can't be tuned to a custom threshold and gives you no readout of charge rates or cell temperature.
BatFi sits between Battery Buddy and AlDente Pro in scope: more control than the former, slightly cleaner UI than the latter in my opinion, with a one-time payment model that suits both.
