AlDente on Mac: how to set it up

The app is installed, a number has been dragged onto a slider, and the settings window has roughly forty switches in it. Some of them conflict with macOS settings that are still turned on. Others do nothing at all on the free tier. And the most common complaint about this category of app, that the limit is ignored overnight, is not a bug in any of them.

This walks through AlDente setup in dependency order. What the installer needs, what to decide first, what to turn off in macOS before anything else, and what to leave until a specific need appears. Everything below was checked against the vendor's published documentation on 10 September 2026.

The installer needs an administrator password, and that is expected

The vendor's installation guide describes a package installer rather than a drag to Applications. Download the file, double click it, click through Continue and Install, enter the Mac password when prompted, and finish. The guide states plainly that the password prompt is there so the installer can place files in system locations. After installation the app is launched from the Applications folder, and an onboarding sequence handles the rest.

The reason for the system level install is worth understanding, because it explains later behaviour. Starting and stopping charging is not something a normal sandboxed application can do. The app installs a privileged helper that runs with elevated rights, which is why the password appears at install time and appears again at removal time. Release notes from the 1.37 series mention fixes for a bug that re-prompted for helper installation after every restart, and another that changed whether the app closed itself after the helper was removed. If repeated helper prompts appear on a fresh install, checking the app version is the first move rather than reinstalling repeatedly.

The vendor states on the pricing page that builds are notarized by Apple, and the install guide notes that a warning may appear on first launch, in which case the answer is to click open. Supported systems run from macOS 12 Monterey through macOS 26 Tahoe, with macOS 11 Big Sur covered only up to version 1.37.3. Confirm the machine is inside that window before starting.

Pick one number, then stop configuring

The only setting that has to be decided on day one is the charge limit. The vendor documents two ways to set it: drag the slider, or click the percentage readout and type a value.

Behaviour depends on which side of the limit the battery is currently on. If the current level is above the limit, charging stops immediately and the battery stays where it is, because a limit does not drain anything by itself. If the current level is below the limit, charging continues up to the limit and then stops, with the machine drawing power from the adapter after that.

On the question of which number to pick, the vendor deliberately does not give a single answer. Its explanation notes that published studies disagree, that lithium ion cells differ, and that MacBook batteries change between generations. What it does commit to is a range: 50 percent is described as an established figure for a very gentle charge level, 80 percent as good to very good for longevity, and the summary given is that anywhere between 50 and 80 percent is a reasonable target.

One recent change affects the low end. Version 1.39, published on 8 September 2026, states that charge limits below 80 percent now require enabling a separate toggle in Charge Settings, described as producing the best results alongside Apple's newer charge control systems. Anyone who previously ran at 50 percent and finds the limit ignored after updating should look there before assuming a fault.

Turn off the macOS features that do the same job

This is the step most setups skip, and it produces the most confusing symptoms. Two Apple features overlap with what this app does, and the vendor's guidance is to disable both rather than to run them together.

The first is Optimized Battery Charging. The vendor describes it as macOS learning a charging and working schedule and holding the battery below 80 percent for part of the night, which fails when the schedule is irregular because the machine simply charges to full a little later. The FAQ recommends turning it off so the two systems do not interfere.

The second is the macOS 26.4 charge limit itself. Apple added a manual limiter, and the vendor's recommendation is specific: set the macOS limit to 100 percent and leave the limiting to the app. Two reasons are given. Interference between the two produces unexpected behaviour, and the macOS limit does not persist when the Mac is powered off.

A third setting, Apple's Manage Battery Longevity, is also flagged. The vendor states that enabling it permanently reduces maximum capacity by about 5 percent, and recommends disabling it so full capacity remains available when it is actually needed.

The sequence, then, is to clear the macOS side first and set the app's limit second. Doing it the other way around leaves nobody able to say which system caused any given behaviour.

The lid closed case is where free and paid diverge

The single most common complaint about charge limiters is that the limit holds all day and then the machine is at 100 percent in the morning. The vendor explains why directly: third party apps cannot run while a Mac sleeps or is powered off, so the app cannot influence charging during those periods. Left plugged in with the lid shut, the machine charges to full regardless of the limit that was set.

Three settings address different parts of this, and all three are paid features.

Setting	What it does
Stop charging when sleeping	Pauses charging immediately before sleep, holding whatever level the battery had at that moment
Stop charging when app closed	Keeps the limit active after the app quits, on Apple silicon only, though the limit resets to 100 percent if the Mac is powered off
Disable Sleep until Charge Limit	Prevents sleep until the limit is reached, then allows it again

The third one has a side effect worth knowing about. While it is active the Mac genuinely does not sleep, so the sleep option can appear greyed out and other apps that manage sleep behaviour may act oddly. The vendor documents this and also notes that closing the lid turns the display off even though the machine stays awake.

Multi user setups need one more step. Fast user switching is supported, but the app has to be installed in every account that gets used. Switching to an account without it means charging proceeds to full for as long as that account is in front, unless the paid setting that holds the limit after the app closes is enabled.

Add the rest only when a need appears

Everything past the limit is optional and can wait. Grouped by the problem each one solves:

Heat. Charging stops when battery temperature passes a threshold. The vendor points to Apple advising against operating a Mac in ambient temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius and suggests that figure as the trigger. A five minute hysteresis window keeps it from toggling constantly.

Constant topping up. Sailing Mode sets a lower bound so the battery is not recharged every time it drops a percent. The vendor suggests an interval of 5 to 10 percent and notes there is no scientific study it can point to for a precise figure.

Travel days. Top Up charges to 100 percent once and then reverts to the previous limit automatically after the machine is unplugged.

A drifted percentage reading. Calibration Mode runs a controlled cycle: up to 100 percent, down to 10, back to 100, held for an hour, then back to the configured limit.

Repetition. The Schedule feature runs five actions on a timetable, covering setting a limit, starting calibration, topping up, pausing charging, and discharging to a value.

Existing automations. Shortcuts actions expose the limit, the current state, the temperature, and the percentage to the Shortcuts app.

Every item on that list sits on the paid tier. The free tier covers the limit and manual discharge only, which is worth checking against this list before deciding anything.

When it stops working after a macOS update

The vendor acknowledges that after a macOS update the app temporarily stops working for a small number of users, and publishes a recovery sequence: unplug and discharge below the current limit, shut down and close the lid for a few minutes, unplug the power brick from the wall for a few minutes, then power on and plug in again.

A different symptom, the machine refusing to charge at all, has its own procedure. On Apple silicon: leave it plugged in, shut down, close the lid, wait two minutes, power on. On Intel, reset the SMC following Apple's own instructions. The vendor notes this tends to follow an install or uninstall that did not complete cleanly.

One hardware note appears in the FAQ as well. Some third party Thunderbolt docks are reported as incompatible with certain features, with disconnects during discharge being the common report. Testing on a direct connection to the charger is the fastest way to rule that out.

Decide what the menu bar shows before you forget about it

Setup ends with a decision that is easy to postpone and then never revisit: what this app leaves permanently in the menu bar. The Appearance settings include a switch to hide the menu bar icon and a switch for the Dock icon, and on the paid tier the menu bar items themselves are configurable.

Hiding the icon outright has a cost. That icon is both the readout for the current level and the way in to change the limit, so hiding it suits a set once and forget setup and nothing else. Release notes from 1.38.1 also mention a fix for menu bar items disappearing entirely when the main battery icon was set not to show, which is a reminder that the display options interact in ways that are not always obvious.

The alternative is to leave the icon in place and collapse the row instead. A menu bar organizer keeps every icon reachable while removing the visual noise, which is a better fit here than hiding a control that gets used. The Features page covers how a collapsed row behaves, and the FAQ covers the permissions that kind of tool needs on recent macOS.

What to change first

Turn off Optimized Battery Charging and set the macOS charge limit to 100 percent before touching the app, then set one limit between 50 and 80 percent and leave everything else alone for a week. Once that is stable, deal with the row of icons rather than hiding any single one of them, and Koffret is one option for collapsing it without losing access.