How to Change Sleep Settings on a Mac (Ventura to Tahoe)

To change when your Mac sleeps, open Apple menu > System Settings > Lock Screen and set Turn display off on battery when inactive and Turn display off on power adapter when inactive. On macOS Ventura and newer there is no separate "computer sleep" slider: the Mac goes to sleep shortly after its display turns off. To keep a Mac awake with the display off, open System Settings > Battery > Options on a MacBook, or System Settings > Energy on an iMac, Mac mini or Mac Studio, and turn on Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off. On macOS Monterey and older, the same timers are sliders in System Preferences > Battery or Energy Saver. If the goal is a green Slack dot, Slack Green keeps it green from a server even while the Mac sleeps, free for 7 days with no card.

The setting names here are from Apple's Mac User Guide, "Set sleep and wake settings for your Mac" and "Change Lock Screen settings on Mac", checked on 27 September, and the Terminal output is from a MacBook Pro (M2 Max) on macOS Tahoe 26.5.

If you change sleep settings so that Slack stays green, note that it will not: an awake Mac with nobody touching it still shows you away after 10 minutes.

Where each Mac sleep setting lives

How to change the Mac sleep time

• Choose Apple menu > System Settings.
• Click Lock Screen in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
• Click the menu next to Turn display off on battery when inactive and pick a time.
• Click the menu next to Turn display off on power adapter when inactive and pick a time, or Never.

The Mac sleeps about a minute after the display turns off. Apple notes that some options may not be available on every Mac, and on a work Mac a management profile can lock them.

New sleep settings keep the Mac awake, but Slack still sets you away 10 minutes after your last keyboard or mouse input. A server-side tool keeps your Slack dot green with no input, even while the laptop sleeps or the lid is closed.

Separate the lock from sleep. On the same page, Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off sets how soon you need your password. A long display timer with a short password delay keeps the Mac awake and still locks it quickly once the display turns off. The lock side is covered in keep your Mac screen from locking.

How to set a Mac to never sleep


• Lock Screen: set Turn display off on power adapter when inactive to Never, or to a long time if you want the screen to turn off.
• Battery > Options (MacBook) or Energy (desktop): turn on Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off. The display can then turn off while the Mac keeps running downloads, backups or a server.
• Keep the lid open. Closing a MacBook's lid always sleeps it unless it is in closed-lid mode, with power, an external display and an external keyboard or mouse connected; see keep a laptop awake with the lid closed.

On battery there is no "never sleep" option in Settings, by design. For one long task, use caffeinate or a keep-awake app instead, below.

Check and change sleep settings in Terminal

pmset reads and changes the same timers. These lines are from our MacBook Pro's output (other settings left out):

pmset -g custom

Battery Power:
 displaysleep         2
 sleep                1
 disksleep            10
 powernap             1
AC Power:
 displaysleep         10
 sleep                1
 disksleep            10
 powernap             1

The numbers are minutes. displaysleep 2 on battery means the display turns off after 2 minutes, and sleep 1 means the Mac sleeps about a minute later. To change them, use -b for battery, -c for the charger, or -a for both:

# display off after 15 minutes on battery (-b) and 30 on the charger (-c)
sudo pmset -b displaysleep 15
sudo pmset -c displaysleep 30

# never sleep the Mac itself on the charger (desktop use only)
sudo pmset -c sleep 0

# check the result
pmset -g

sleep 0 stops system sleep. Use it on a desktop Mac that runs as a server, not on a laptop you carry, because a laptop that never sleeps drains its battery in a bag.

Keep the Mac awake for one task

Changing timers is permanent until you change them back. For a single download, render or presentation, caffeinate -d in Terminal keeps the display and the Mac awake until you press Control-C, and apps like Amphetamine and KeepingYouAwake add a menu bar switch; they are compared in KeepingYouAwake vs Amphetamine.

If the Mac sleeps even after these changes, Mac keeps going to sleep shows how to read the reason for every sleep in pmset -g log. If it will not sleep at all, see why is my Mac not going to sleep.

FAQ

Where is Energy Saver on a Mac? On macOS Ventura and newer it is gone. Laptops use Battery, desktop Macs use Energy, and the display timer is in Lock Screen.

How do I stop my MacBook from sleeping when the lid is closed? Connect power, an external display and an external keyboard or mouse. Without those, closing the lid always sleeps it.

How do I make my Mac screen stay on longer? Set Turn display off on power adapter when inactive in Lock Screen to a longer time.

Why are my Mac sleep settings greyed out? A configuration profile from your company or school controls them. Check System Settings > General > Device Management.