AlDente 🍝

MacOS menu bar tool to limit maximum charging percentage

Don't overcook your battery! Keep it fresh and chewy with AlDente.

Why do I need this?

Li-Ion batteries (like the one in your MacBook) last the longest when operating between 20 and 80 percent. Keeping your battery at 100% at all times can shorten the lifespan of your MacBook significantly. More information can be found here: https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-415-how-to-charge-and-when-to-charge

What’s AlDente Pro?

AlDente Pro is our paid version of AlDente. It has many more features such as Heat Protection, Sailing Mode, Top Up, Calibration Mode,... It offers a better design and has live status icons. If you are interested in getting the most out of your battery, check out our website: https://apphousekitchen.com/

AlDente Pro is now available in Setapp too: https://apphousekitchen.com/pricing/

Features of AlDente Free

• Charge Limiter allows you to set your maximum charging percentage between 20 and 100 percent. You can either set it by using the slide bar or by typing in the desired percentage in the field above and pressing enter afterwards. Read more about the Charge Limiter feature here: https://apphousekitchen.com/feature-explanation-charge-limiter/
• Discharge - This feature allows your MacBook to run completely on Battery even if it is plugged in. Therefore, you can actively discharge your MacBook to a more healthy percentage. Unfortunately, while Discharge is activated, clamshell mode is not supported due to technical limitations. Read more about the Discharge feature here: https://apphousekitchen.com/feature-explanation-discharge/

Supported MacBook Models (macOS 11 Big Sur or later required)

Click here for supported MacBook Models

MacBook Pro

• MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022)
• MacBook Pro (16-inch, M1 Pro/Max, 2021)
• MacBook Pro (14-inch, M1 Pro/Max, 2021)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)

MacBook Air

• MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
• MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
• MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020)
• MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2019)
• MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018)
• MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017)
• MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)
• MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)
• MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014)
• MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2014)
• MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013)
• MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013)

MacBook 12"

• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)
• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016)
• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)

Download

You can download the app from GitHub: https://github.com/davidwernhart/AlDente/releases

Installation Guide

An installation guide can be found on our website: https://apphousekitchen.com/installation-guide/

How to use

When the installation is finished, enter your desired max. charging percentage by clicking on the 🍝 icon on your menu bar. Usually, the operating system will take a minute or two registering the changes, so be patient. You can check if it's working by setting the max. percentage to e.g.: 80%. After a while, clicking on your battery icon will report "Battery is not charging" if you have more than ≈73% left, even though your charger is connected. Notice that in this state, your MacBook is still powered by the charger, but the battery is not charging anymore.

For some reason, macOS will always try to squeeze in a few more percent than specified. For example, if you set yours to 80% it will stop charging at around 83%, so be patient.

IMPORTANT: Keeping your battery at a lower percentage, such as under 80%, over weeks without doing full cycles (100%-0%) can result in a disturbed battery calibration. When this happens, your Macbook might turn off with 40-50% left or your battery capacity will drop significantly. However, this is only due to a disturbed battery calibration and not because of a faulty or degraded battery. To avoid this issue, we recommend doing at least one full cycle (0%-100%) every two weeks. Even if your battery calibration gets disturbed, doing 4+ full cycles will recalibrate your battery and the capacity will go up again.

FAQ's

Check out our FAQ's on our website here: https://apphousekitchen.com/faq/

Other tools used in this project:

• https://github.com/beltex/SMCKit
• https://github.com/sindresorhus/LaunchAtLogin
• https://github.com/andreyvit/create-dmg

Disclaimer:

I do not take any responsibility for any sort of damage in result of using this tool! Although this had no negative side effects for me and thousands of others, AlDente still taps in some very low level system functions that are not meant to be tampered with. Use it at your own risk!

Copyright(c) 2021 AppHouseKitchen

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.