How to read and change your Mac's sleep settings with pmset
pmset shows every power setting, including ones System Settings hides. Ours slept the display after 2 minutes on battery with hibernatemode 3. What each one means.
How do I see my Mac's power settings?
pmset -g # what is in use now
pmset -g custom # battery and power adapter side by side| Setting | Ours | What it does |
|---|---|---|
displaysleep | 2 (battery), 10 (adapter) | Minutes before the display sleeps |
sleep | 1 | Minutes of idle before the system sleeps |
disksleep | 10 | Minutes before disks spin down |
hibernatemode | 3 | Keep memory powered in sleep and also save it to disk |
standby | 1 | Move to deeper sleep after a while |
powernap | 1 | Wake briefly for mail, sync and backups |
tcpkeepalive | 1 | Keep network connections alive in sleep |
lowpowermode | 0 | Low Power Mode off |
womp | 0 battery, 1 adapter | Wake for network access |
How do I change one?
sudo pmset -b displaysleep 5 # battery only
sudo pmset -c sleep 30 # power adapter only
sudo pmset -a powernap 0 # both-b is battery, -c charger, -a all. sudo pmset restoredefaults puts everything back.
What is hibernatemode 3?
Memory stays powered while asleep for a fast wake, and a copy is also written to /var/vm/sleepimage in case the battery runs out. That file is as large as your memory; see sleepimage and swap.
See it live
Free Mac's System tab shows what the Mac is drawing from the adapter and the battery, and ranks what is draining it by energy impact, every second. See also Power Nap and overnight drain.
Related: Does Power Nap drain a Mac's battery and preventing my Mac from sleeping.
Common questions
How do I see sleep settings in Terminal on a Mac?
Run pmset -g, or pmset -g custom to see battery and adapter settings side by side.
How do I change display sleep with pmset?
sudo pmset -b displaysleep 5 for battery, -c for the adapter, -a for both. The number is minutes.
How do I reset pmset settings?
Run sudo pmset restoredefaults.