Every so often, I'll go to unlock my iMac, only to find either the mouse or the keyboard unresponsive. Sometimes, I'll click or type until the machine finally wakes up. Sometimes, however, clicking and typing has no effect. 

What gives?

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As you know, the Magic Keyboard and Mouse depend on internal batteries to function, but neither device offers any indication as to how much charge they have remaining. For the longest time, it's been guesswork for me. I just assume that, after a few weeks, they need charging.

That's not an effective method of keeping a battery either well-charged or long-lasting. Unfortunately, MacOS doesn't have a built-in battery indicator for either the keyboard or mouse. You could always open Control Center, go to Bluetooth, and view the status of your keyboard and mouse batteries.

Fortunately, there's a much better way of doing this. Yes, you still have to do this through Bluetooth, but with a simple configuration, you can bypass the System Settings tool and have quick access to the information from your Menu Bar.

Let me show you how.

How to check the battery level in your Magic Keyboard and Mouse

What you'll need:To do this, you'll need a MacOS device that uses either a Magic Keyboard or Mouse. One thing to keep in mind is that the option was moved from its original position when MacOS was upgraded to Sonoma. Since all of my devices were upgraded to the latest version of MacOS, I'll be demonstrating with Sonoma. If you have an older version of MacOS, you'll find the option directly in System Settings > Bluetooth. With Sonoma, that option is no longer there.

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And that's the easiest method of keeping tabs on the battery life for your Apple Magic Keyboard and/or Mouse on MacOS Sonoma. If you regularly find yourself guessing about how much battery remains, this is a great way to alleviate that guesswork.

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