Everything You Need to Know About the Sleep Timer on Your Mac

Automatically put your Mac to sleep when it’s been idle for a set amount of time

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido and Megaera Lorenz, PhD

Last Updated: December 11, 2024 Fact Checked

Putting your Mac in Sleep mode will save power while allowing you to resume your work quickly. You can set your Mac to enter Sleep mode automatically after a set amount of inactivity. We’ll also explain how to set your Mac to do background operations, such as updating your apps, while it’s asleep. Read on to learn more, plus tips from Tech Specialist Luigi Oppido.

Quick Steps

Open System Settings .
Click Lock Screen in the left-hand menu bar.
Use the drop-down menus at the top of the window to select when your display turns off and when the Screen Saver turns on.

Steps

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In some earlier macOS versions, this will be called System Preferences instead.

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Click Lock Screen . You’ll find this option in the left-hand menu bar. Scroll down if you don’t see it right away. ^{[1]
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Research source}
- According to Tech Specialist Luigi Oppido, the sleep/wake and energy-saving settings on Mac vary a lot from one version of macOS to another. ^{[2]
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  Expert Source
  
  Luigi Oppido
  Computer & Tech Specialist
  
  Expert Interview. 24 February 2021.} In earlier versions of macOS, you might need to adjust these settings under Battery or Energy Saver instead.
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Use the drop-down menus to adjust when your display turns off. At the top of the Lock Screen window, you’ll see several options with drop-down menus next to them. For each option, you can set a time between Never and For 3 hours .
- Start Screen Saver when inactive : Use the menu next to this option to set how long it takes for your Screen Saver to turn on.
  - Note that your screen will fall asleep before the display turns on.
- Turn display off on battery when inactive : This option lets you set how long it takes for your display to fall asleep when your computer is unplugged.
- Turn display off on power adapter when inactive : Use this option to select how long it takes for your screen to go to sleep when your computer is plugged in.
- Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off : This allows you to set how long it takes for your computer to require a login on wakeup.
  - Options include Never , Immediately , and various lengths of time up to 8 hours.
EXPERT TIP

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist

In earlier versions of macOS, users had more control over their computer’s sleep settings. For instance, if you’re still running macOS 11 (Big Sur) or earlier, there are separate sliders for display sleep time versus computer sleep time. You can find these settings in Apple menu > System Preferences > Energy Saver .
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Adjust other sleep settings in the Battery menu (laptops only). If you have a Mac laptop, you can make further adjustments by going to Apple > System Settings > Battery . Click Options to adjust the following settings:
- Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off : Toggling this option on will keep your computer awake even if the display is turned off.
- Wake for network access : If you turn this setting on, your Mac will be able to do background tasks like updating or apps or receiving iMessages even while it’s asleep.
  - Choose between Always , Never , or Only on Power Adapter .
  - Depending on your computer and macOS version, this option may be called “Power Nap” instead.
  - You can also turn Power Nap on or off in Apple > System Settings > Energy Saver if you have a desktop Mac with an Intel processor. ^{[3]
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