How to Keep Your MAC Always Awake
May 30, 2025 · 2 min read · Page View:
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Here are some common scenarios: You’re about to step away from your Mac for a period, or you’re downloading large files and want to keep your Mac from going to sleep. (If you use an external display, you likely understand what I mean. Sometimes, after waking from sleep mode, your Mac fails to power on the external display.) That’s why I highly recommend Amphetamine to you. I’ve often heard that macOS boasts excellent power management, but lacking in-depth knowledge myself, I’ve sought out the answer.
Let’s use the command pmset -g to get the system-wide power settings.
The former:
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
standby 1
Sleep On Power Button 1
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
powernap 1
networkoversleep 0
disksleep 10
sleep 1 (sleep prevented by sharingd, bluetoothd, useractivityd, powerd)
hibernatemode 3
ttyskeepawake 1
displaysleep 30
tcpkeepalive 1
lowpowermode 0
womp 1
After using the Amphetamine, the settings will be like this:
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
standby 1 # whether enter the standby mode(power down RAM and save everything to disk)
Sleep On Power Button 1
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage # specify the file to save RAM contents when hibernating
powernap 1 # allow to wake periodically while sleeping to perform background tasks(icloud sync, etc.)
networkoversleep 0 # allows network activity to wake the computer from sleep
disksleep 10 # Time in minutes before hard drives spin down when idle
sleep 1 (sleep prevented by sharingd, Amphetamine, useractivityd, powerd, bluetoothd) # 1 is the system can sleep
hibernatemode 3 # 0: RAM stays powered (fastest wake, uses more battery) 1: Contents saved to disk, RAM powered off (slower wake, saves battery) 3: Contents saved to disk AND RAM stays powered (safest, medium battery usage)
ttyskeepawake 1 # prevents sleep while a remote login session (SSH/telnet) is active
displaysleep 30 (display sleep prevented by Amphetamine) # Time in minutes before the display turns off and Amphetamine process preventing display sleep
tcpkeepalive 1 # Maintains network connections during sleep when possible
lowpowermode 0 # Energy saving mode that reduces performance to extend battery life
womp 1 # "Wake on Magic Packet" - allows the system to wake from sleep when it receives a special network packet(Useful for remote wake-up capabilities)
As we can find that Amphetamine is preventing the system to enter the sleep mode. Also preventing the display to sleep. And I fill the comments into the result, so I will not explain again.
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