Control Sleep Battery Drain with pmset standbydelay
Adjust how long your Mac sleeps normally before hibernating, using pmset standbydelay.
Run sudo pmset -a standbydelay 86400 to keep normal (fast-wake) sleep for 24 hours before the Mac hibernates.
01Command
Command
$ sudo pmset -a standbydelay 8640002What it does
When a Mac sleeps, it first just powers down the display and idles in low-power 'standby-eligible' sleep; after standbydelay seconds it hibernates, writing RAM to disk and cutting power more deeply. Raising standbydelay keeps the instant wake you are used to but uses slightly more overnight battery; lowering it (as Apple does by default after a few hours) drains far less but wakes more slowly. Check the current value with pmset -g | grep standbydelay.
03Risk
!Warning: A very high standbydelay on a laptop left asleep for days can end with a fully drained battery, and unsaved work lives only in RAM until hibernation happens. Values are in seconds and settings apply to battery and charger with -a.
04Undo
Undo
$ sudo pmset -a standbydelay 1080005Sources
- pmset - Power Management SettingsEvidence: Documents standbydelay, standby and hibernatemode — how long macOS waits in regular sleep before writing RAM to disk and powering down.
- Power Management - Apple DeveloperEvidence: Apple's documentation of sleep states and power management on macOS, the mechanism pmset controls.
Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: System & Settings