How To Show Battery Percentage on Mac [Video]

The battery icon in your Mac's menu bar shows roughly how much charge is left, but not the exact figure. Turn on Show Percentage in System Settings and the number appears in the menu bar. The option is only on Mac laptops, since a desktop Mac has no battery.

We checked this on a MacBook Pro running macOS 27, where the percentage appears inside the battery icon itself.

Show Battery Percentage in the MacBook Menu Bar

Step One: Open System Settings

Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen and choose System Settings….

Step Two: Open Menu Bar Settings

Click Menu Bar in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down to find it.

Step Three: Open Battery Options

Make sure Battery is selected, then click Battery Options… beside it.

Step Four: Turn On Show Percentage

Turn on Show Percentage, then click Done.

Your battery percentage now shows inside the battery icon in the menu bar. To hide it again, come back here and turn Show Percentage off.

You can show the battery percentage on your iPhone too. See How to Show Battery Percentage on iPhone.