Managing sleep settings on macOS is essential for optimizing power usage, maintaining system performance, and ensuring the longevity of your Apple device. Sleep settings control how your Mac behaves when it is idle, including when the display turns off and when the system enters a low-power state. This article will guide you through the steps to configure sleep settings on macOS using both the graphical user interface (GUI) and the command line interface (CLI).

Examples:

Using System Preferences (GUI)

1. Open System Preferences:

   • Click on the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen.
   • Select "System Preferences" from the dropdown menu.

2. Navigate to Energy Saver:

   • In System Preferences, click on "Energy Saver" (on macOS Catalina and earlier) or "Battery" (on macOS Big Sur and later).

3. Adjust Sleep Settings:

   • For desktops (iMac, Mac Mini):
     • Use the sliders to set the time for "Turn display off after" and "Put hard disks to sleep when possible."
   • For laptops (MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air):
     • Adjust the sliders for "Turn display off after" on both the "Battery" and "Power Adapter" tabs.
     • Check or uncheck options like "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" and "Enable Power Nap."

Using Terminal (CLI)

1. Open Terminal:

   • Open Finder, navigate to Applications > Utilities, and double-click on Terminal.

2. View Current Sleep Settings:

   • Run the following command to view the current power management settings:

     pmset -g

3. Set Sleep Timers:

   • To set the display sleep timer to 10 minutes and the system sleep timer to 30 minutes, use the following commands:

     sudo pmset displaysleep 10
     sudo pmset sleep 30

4. Prevent System Sleep:

   • If you want to prevent your Mac from sleeping, you can set the sleep timer to 0:

     sudo pmset sleep 0

5. Enable Power Nap:

   • To enable Power Nap while on battery power and when connected to a power adapter, use:

     sudo pmset -b powernap 1
     sudo pmset -c powernap 1

6. Restore Default Settings:

   • To restore the default sleep settings, use:

     sudo pmset restoredefaults