MacBook Overheating: What's Normal and How to Fix It

A MacBook that gets hot while you export video, compile code or play games is usually working as designed. Apple silicon chips can run at 90 °C or more under heavy load and slow themselves down before anything is at risk. It's a problem when the MacBook is hot while you do very little, the fans stay loud, or it slows down or shuts off. The usual causes are a runaway app, blocked airflow and background indexing after a macOS update.

What's normal and what isn't

Normal:

• Warm to hot near the hinge and on the bottom during long, heavy work.
• Fans that get louder under load and quiet down a few minutes after.
• Some warmth while charging, especially from a low battery.
• A busy few hours after a macOS update or after setting up a new Mac.

Worth looking into:

• Hot at idle, with nothing or only a browser open.
• Fans loud for long stretches while little is going on.
• Noticeably slower than usual, or apps stuttering.
• The battery draining much faster than usual.
• The Mac shutting down on its own.

To see the actual numbers, use a temperature monitor. macOS doesn't show temperatures itself.

Quick fixes, easiest first

1. Give it airflow

Use your MacBook on a hard, flat surface. Beds, pillows, sofas and blankets block airflow and hold heat in. On a MacBook Pro, keep the vents along the bottom edges and near the hinge clear. A MacBook Air with Apple silicon has no fan and sheds heat through its aluminum case, so a soft surface underneath traps that heat. Keep the Mac out of direct sun.

2. Find a runaway app

One stuck process can keep the processor busy for hours.

1. Open Activity Monitor: press ⌘Space (Command-Space), type "Activity Monitor" and press Return.
2. Click the CPU tab, then the % CPU column, so the busiest process is on top.
3. If an app you aren't using stays near the top for minutes, quit it. If it won't quit, force quit it.

100% means one full core. A few seconds of that is normal. Several minutes of it while you're idle is not.

3. Close browser tabs

Browsers cause most of the heat during "light" use. Video, video calls, web apps and pages full of ads keep working in background tabs. Close what you don't need. In Chrome, Window › Task Manager shows which tab uses the most. Safari's tabs appear in Activity Monitor under the website's name.

4. Let indexing finish after an update

After a macOS update, a migration or a big import, macOS rebuilds its indexes. Spotlight (mds_stores, mdworker_shared, corespotlightd) catalogs your files, Photos (photoanalysisd) analyzes your library, and iCloud (cloudd) syncs. This can take a few hours, or longer with a large photo library. Leave the Mac plugged in and awake and let it finish. It's temporary.

5. Check external displays and charging

Driving external displays, especially at high resolution, adds work for the graphics and for WindowServer. Charging adds heat too. If your MacBook runs hot at a desk setup, try it with one display, or unplugged once it's charged.

6. Restart and update

A restart clears stuck processes. Then install updates from System Settings › General › Software Update, and update your apps. Bugs that cause high CPU use are often fixed in updates.

7. Turn on Low Power Mode

System Settings › Battery › Low Power Mode lowers power use, so the Mac runs cooler and quieter at some cost in speed. You can turn it on always, or only on battery.

8. Clean the vents

MacBooks with fans, especially older Intel models, collect dust over the years. A few short bursts of compressed air into the vents can help. Don't open the case unless you're comfortable doing it.

9. Check battery health

Choose System Settings › Battery, then click the info button next to Battery Health. "Normal" is fine. "Service Recommended" means the battery has worn and should be replaced. A swelling battery is a different matter: if the trackpad stops clicking properly, the bottom case bulges or the lid won't close flat, stop using the MacBook and contact Apple.

10. Reset the SMC, or shut down fully

On Intel MacBooks, resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) can fix fan and heat problems. Apple's support site lists the steps for each model. Apple silicon Macs have no separate SMC reset: shut the Mac down, wait a few seconds, then turn it on again.

MacBook Air overheating

A MacBook Air with Apple silicon has no fan, so it handles heat by slowing down. During long, heavy work, such as a long video export, it gets hot and slower, and that's expected. Work on a hard surface rather than a cushion or blanket. If it's hot while idle, look for a runaway app as described above.

MacBook Pro overheating

A MacBook Pro has fans and more room to shed heat, so it should stay quiet in everyday use. If the fans roar while you're doing little, something is using the processor: check Activity Monitor first. For long, heavy jobs, raising fan speed earlier with fan control can keep temperatures lower. Intel MacBook Pro models run noticeably hotter than Apple silicon ones, so a warm keyboard and loud fans are more common on them.

When to contact Apple

Contact Apple Support, or visit an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider, if:

• The Mac shuts down from heat during light use.
• Fans run at full speed all the time, rattle or grind, or never spin on a model that has them.
• You smell burning, or the battery looks swollen.
• It stays hot at idle after you've worked through the steps above.

You can run Apple Diagnostics first. On Apple silicon, press and hold the power button as the Mac starts up, release it when you see the startup options, then press ⌘D (Command-D). On an Intel Mac, turn it on and immediately press and hold the D key. Note any reference codes it shows.

Keep an eye on heat with SystemWatch

SystemWatch's website edition shows every temperature sensor, grouped by part, with 10-minute graphs, power use in watts and thermal pressure. It sends an alert when the Mac has been throttling or very hot for a minute. The Activity view shows which app is behind the heat and explains each process in plain language. Both editions alert you when an app keeps working hard for minutes; the App Store edition can't read temperatures because of App Store rules.