WarashiBattery life depends on what runs, how often it wakes the chip, and how hard the GPU works. Some apps cost a lot only while you use them; others drain in the background all day.
Check Energy in Activity Monitor
Open Activity Monitor's Energy tab. “Energy Impact” is a relative score for right now; “12 hr Power” shows the average over the last 12 hours. Look for apps with high numbers that you weren't actively using.
Common battery drains
- Browser tabs with video, ads or live dashboards, even in the background.
- Apps that keep the GPU busy: external displays with high refresh rates, animated wallpapers, video calls.
- Sync and indexing after updates or big file changes (Photos analysis, Spotlight).
- Electron apps you left open but aren't using.
Separate “in front” from “in the background”
The useful question isn't just “what used energy?” but “what did it cost per hour I actually used it, and what drained while I never even looked at it?”. Warashi's Time × Cost answers exactly that, using macOS's own per-process energy counters.
Keep an eye on battery health
Battery health drops slowly with charge cycles and heat. System Settings › Battery shows it; Warashi can alert you when it falls below 80% or drops faster than usual.