Put the battery percentage of your MacBook in the menu bar

If you have a MacBook, regularly check the battery icon in the menu bar. You can see from this how the charge level of the battery is. The icon gives a nice indication, but you can also display the exact percentage.

After the arrival of Big Sur, the percentage has disappeared for many people: you have to click on the icon to see the percentage. But sometimes even the entire icon is gone! This is how you put the battery in the menu bar of your Mac, with the percentage right next to it.

• Open the System Preferences (for example via “Apple> System Preferences”).
• Click on “Dock and menu bar”.
• Click “Battery” in the list on the left.
• Make sure “Show in menu bar” and “Show percentage” are checked. The battery icon now appears with the percentage at the top right of the menu bar.

Via this window in the System Preferences you can also show your battery including the charge level in the new control panel. To do this, put a cross in front of “Show in control panel”. Extra tip: is the battery in the control panel but not in the menu bar? Then you can also drag it into the menu bar from the control panel! If you are new to the control panel, read our workshop How the Control Panel works in macOS Big Sur.