How to Schedule Your Mac to Turn Off and On: 3 Ways
Wondering how to schedule your Mac to shut down and start up? This feature is pretty efficient for a few reasons. You can set it up to turn on when you start working, so you don’t have to do it yourself. You can also program your device to turn off or restart periodically, clearing cached files and making it run more smoothly.
Here are three simple methods you can try – let’s get started.
How to schedule your Mac to shut down and start up
1. Set up commands on the terminal
If you are using macOS Ventura or Sonoma on your Mac, you can pmset command on Terminal. It allows you to control your device’s power management settings. Not only can you set a fixed time and day to turn on your Mac, but you can also program your device to go to sleep, restart, etc.
Time required: 1 minute
Setting up a custom power plan on your Mac is easy. Follow these steps:
- Open Launchpad > Otherand then select Terminal.
- Set up a new schedule by pmset -g schedand then press Return.
- Schedule your Mac to turn on every Monday at 7am by typing:
sudo pmset repeat poweron M 7:00:00.
- Press Return again.
- Enter your device password and press Return.
You can set your Mac to turn on at a different time, as long as it is hh:mm:ss Format. If you want to add schedules for other days, simply replace M with the following letters:
- T: Tuesday
- B: Wednesday
- R: Thursday
- F: Friday
- S: Saturday
- U: Sunday
To shut down your computer every Monday at 5pm, enter sudo pmset repeat shutdown M 17:00:00If you want to cancel the schedules you have set up, enter a sudo pmset repeat cancel.
NOTE
Your Mac won’t shut down automatically if your device is in sleep mode or if you have documents open with unsaved changes. See the full list of pmset Commands here.
2. Install third-party software
macOS Ventura or Sonoma users can also download third-party apps to schedule power on and off more seamlessly. OnyX is a free app that helps you maintain and optimize your Mac through a simpler and easier-to-use interface. Features include a power on/off function.
Photo credit: Apple Communities
All you have to do is navigate to the app Tools switch the fixed days and set a specific time for startup and shutdown.
3. Use the system settings
This particular step applies to those using macOS Monterey or earlier. Earlier macOS versions were able to set up an automatic timer for powering on and off under System settings. Here’s how:
- Click on the battery Symbol under System settings.
- Choose schedule.
- From here you can either Schedule a startup or activation time for your Mac or Schedule a time to sleep, restart, or shut down your Mac. Check the appropriate box.
- Select the desired day or group of days and enter your preferred time.
- Click Apply.
Contact Apple Support for more help scheduling your Mac to shut down or start up. In the meantime, here are some ways to fix low microphone volume on macOS Sonoma.
