FruitJuice is a Mac application and online service that helps maximize Apple notebook battery life and runtime. FruitJuice makes it possible to follow Apple's recommendations for ensuring longer battery life and accurate "time remaining" estimates when running on battery.
FruitJuice works by tracking the battery's condition and usage in real-time and provides a complete picture of the battery's health in a simple, elegant OS X interface.
According to the "Apple Notebooks" webpage: "The built-in battery of your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air is designed to deliver up to 1000 full charge and discharge cycles before it reaches 80 percent of its original capacity."
Only with FruitJuice can you can find out the current health of your battery and see whether it is performing up to Apple's specifications. All the information you need is in one place in the "Battery Information" screen.
Since laptops are often used as desktop replacements, and since running a laptop battery plugged in all the time will shorten its life and negatively impact on-battery runtimes, FruitJuice does real-time tracking of on-power time. The "Plugged-in Percentage" shows you if you need to switch to battery power to keep it healthy. It has an easy-to-read graph showing 7-day, 14-day, and 30-day trailing averages and a details page if you're curious. It will even guide you through a conditioning cycle to make sure the battery is fully "exercised."
Older machines with swappable batteries require periodic battery calibration (once every month or two) to ensure maximum battery life and accuracy of "time remaining" calculations. Following the procedure without FruitJuice is error-prone, but FruitJuice makes it a snap with clear, simple email and optional SMS text messages at every step to ensure that you follow the required steps exactly.
In addition to the main application, FruitJuice also provides a menu bar application that replaces the built-in battery status menu. At a glance, it shows you much of the same information available in the main FruitJuice application: the current battery information, plugged in percentage for the last 7, 14 and 30 days and calibration (or conditioning) status.
