Why is my MacBook so hot? Causes and fixes

Is your MacBook too hot? What's normal

Apple says Mac laptops can get warm during normal use, and that they comply with the temperature limits set in national and international safety standards. Sensors inside detect temperature changes, and on models with fans, the fans turn on automatically to cool critical components (Apple).

Apple's guidance for keeping it in range:

• Use it where the room is between 10 and 35 °C (50 and 95 °F), with relative humidity between 0% and 95%, non-condensing.
• Don't leave it in a parked car, which can get hotter than that.
• Use it on a stable surface with good ventilation, not in bed, on a pillow or under bedding, and don't put anything over the keyboard.

So warmth under load, especially on the underside, is expected. What's worth looking into is a Mac that's warm when it isn't doing anything demanding, or fans that run for a long time. That's Apple's own trigger for checking Activity Monitor.

The usual causes

One app using a lot of CPU or GPU

Often it's a single app: a browser tab running video or a heavy web app, an export or build, a game, or an app stuck in a loop. You'll find it in a minute in Activity Monitor; the next section shows how.

Background work after an update or migration

After a macOS update, a migration to a new Mac, or a big photo import, macOS has work to catch up on. Apple names Spotlight indexing after migrating data as a reason fans run faster. You'll often see processes such as mds_stores or mediaanalysisd near the top of Activity Monitor. This settles on its own; leaving the Mac awake and plugged in for a while lets it finish.

Charging while working hard

Charging adds heat of its own. Combine it with a heavy workload, a case and a soft surface, and the temperature climbs. Apple suggests taking devices out of some cases while charging, because cases can trap heat, and says charging may stop at 80% if the battery gets warmer than recommended (Apple). If you see "Not Charging" on a hot Mac, that's why; see plugged in but not charging.

Where you're using it

Apple says that on a soft surface like a couch, pillow, bed or your lap, fans may run more, and that in a hot room they turn on sooner and run faster (Apple). Direct sun on the case, or a car on a summer day, adds heat from outside before your Mac has done any work.

External displays, video calls and games

These lean on the graphics processor as well as the CPU. Apple's Activity Monitor guide suggests checking GPU activity when your Mac feels hot or the battery drains quickly.

How to find what's heating it

1. Open Activity Monitor from Applications › Utilities and click CPU.
2. Click the % CPU column to sort, highest first. An app you aren't actively using near the top is your suspect.
3. Check the graphics processor. Choose Window › GPU History to see how hard the GPU has been working. Many tall bars packed tightly together mean the GPU is busy. You can also add a % GPU column with View › Columns.
4. Click Energy and sort by Energy Impact. Apple describes it as a relative measure of each app's current energy use; heat and energy use usually go together.
5. Quit the culprit if you don't need it, or look for a setting that reduces its background work.

If kernel_task is near the top, it isn't the cause. Apple says one of its jobs is to manage CPU temperature by making the CPU less available to processes using it intensely; it responds to heat, it doesn't create it (Apple). Look at what's below it. What is kernel_task? explains more.

What your Mac does when it's hot

macOS doesn't show a temperature in degrees. What it tracks, and what apps can read, is a thermal state. Apple's developer documentation describes four levels and what the system does at each:

So the sign that heat is costing you something is slowing down, not a number. If your Mac slows down only when it's hot, heat is the likely reason. A MacBook Air with Apple silicon has no fans, so macOS relies on the other steps there. How to check your Mac's temperature shows how to see the thermal state yourself.

How to cool down an overheating MacBook

1. Put it on a hard, flat surface, with nothing covering the keyboard or the vents.
2. Get it out of the heat: out of direct sun and into a cooler room if you can.
3. Quit the busy app you found in Activity Monitor.
4. If it's hot while charging, take it out of its case, or unplug until it cools.
5. Try Low Power Mode. In System Settings › Battery, choose Low Power Mode from the "On battery" or "On power adapter" menu under Energy Mode. Apple says it reduces energy use and, on macOS 15.1 or later, helps reduce fan noise on supported models with fans (Apple).
6. If the fans keep running with nothing busy, close and open the lid, or restart. On Intel Macs, Apple suggests resetting the SMC.
7. Install macOS updates. It's first on Apple's list for managing operating temperature.

Quick reference

Does heat hurt the battery?

Yes, and it's the one heat effect that lasts. Apple says ambient temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F) can permanently damage battery capacity, and that 16 to 22 °C (62 to 72 °F) is the ideal comfort zone for its devices (Apple). Apple also says a battery's chemical age depends on its temperature history and charging pattern, which is why a charge limit helps most on a Mac that's plugged in and warm all day. To see how your battery has held up so far, check its health.

The same busy app that heats your Mac also drains its battery, so why your battery drains fast covers much of the same ground from the other side.

When to get it checked

If your MacBook still gets hot when nothing demanding is running, after you've checked Activity Monitor, moved it somewhere cool and restarted it, Apple suggests contacting Apple, an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Before you do, run Apple Diagnostics: on Apple silicon, shut down, press and hold the power button until you see the startup options, then press and hold Command-D (Apple). Bring any reference codes it shows.

How Tend helps

Tend's free Energy & Apps page names the app using the most power, in estimated watts, which is usually your heat source. Tend Pro's Thermals page shows every temperature sensor with its average and peak, fan speeds, and the thermal state macOS reports, in plain words. Pro can also notify you when the CPU stays above a temperature you choose for a minute, or when the battery is warm while charging. Tend only reads the fans; it never sets their speed.

Questions

Related guides

Sources

• Apple, Keep your Mac laptop within acceptable operating temperatures
• Apple, About fans and fan noise in your Apple product
• Apple, If kernel_task is using a large percentage of your Mac CPU
• Apple Developer, ProcessInfo.ThermalState
• Apple, View GPU activity in Activity Monitor on Mac and View energy consumption
• Apple, If your Mac battery won't charge
• Apple, About Power Modes on your Mac
• Apple, Batteries – Maximizing Performance
• Apple, Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac

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