Overview
The Apple Energy Saver Policy allows organizations to centrally manage how Mac computers handle sleep and display power-saving features. By applying this policy through your MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution, you can ensure that devices remain available for critical tasks, prevent unwanted sleep during important operations, and help meet compliance or operational requirements.
What Does the Energy Saver Policy Control?
This policy provides granular control over how and when your Mac devices enter sleep mode or turn off their displays. It is especially useful for organizations that need to keep devices awake for remote management, kiosk use, or compliance reasons.
The policy settings can be customized for different device types and power sources:
Desktop AC Power: Settings for desktop Macs when plugged into power.
Portable AC Power: Settings for MacBooks and other portable Macs when plugged into power.
Portable Battery Power: Settings for MacBooks and other portable Macs when running on battery.
Sleep Disabled: A global setting to prevent the device from entering sleep mode entirely.
Explanation of All Settings
For each device type and power source, you can configure the following:
1. Display Sleep Timer
What it does: Controls how long the Mac will wait before turning off the display due to inactivity.
How to use:
Set to 0 to keep the display always on (never turns off automatically).
Set to a positive number (in minutes) to turn off the display after that period of inactivity.
Where it applies:
Desktop Macs on AC power
Portable Macs on AC power
Portable Macs on battery
2. System Sleep Timer
What it does: Controls how long the Mac will wait before entering full system sleep due to inactivity.
How to use:
Set to 0 to prevent the Mac from ever entering system sleep automatically.
Set to a positive number (in minutes) to put the Mac to sleep after that period of inactivity.
Where it applies:
Desktop Macs on AC power
Portable Macs on AC power
Portable Macs on battery
3. Display Off Timer
What it does: Controls how long the Mac will wait before turning off the display (screen) due to inactivity.
How to use:
Set to 0 to keep the display always on.
Set to a positive number (in minutes) to turn off the display after that period of inactivity.
Where it applies:
Desktop Macs on AC power
Portable Macs on AC power
Portable Macs on battery
4. Sleep Disabled
What it does: When enabled, this setting disables the sleep button.
How to use:
Set to ON (enabled) to disable the sleep button.
Set to OFF (disabled) to allow the sleep button.
Typical Use Cases
Kiosk or Shared Devices: Prevents Macs from sleeping or turning off the display, ensuring information or applications remain visible at all times.
Remote Management: Keeps devices awake for remote support, monitoring, or scheduled maintenance.
Compliance: Ensures devices remain accessible as required by organizational or regulatory policies.
How to Apply the Policy
Go to your MDM dashboard (e.g., Swif).
Navigate to Policy Management and select the Apple Energy Saver Policy.
Configure the settings for each device type and power source:
Set the Display Sleep Timer, System Sleep Timer, and Display Off Timer as needed.
Enable or disable Prevent Sleep (Sleep Disabled) as required.
Assign the policy to the relevant device groups or users.
Save and deploy the policy.
Important Notes
The Energy Saver Policy is available for macOS devices enrolled via MDM.
Disabling sleep or keeping the display always on may increase power consumption. Use these settings thoughtfully, especially for battery-powered devices.
Some settings may require the device to be supervised or managed in a specific way. Check your MDM documentation for details.
Setting any timer to 0 means the corresponding feature (sleep or display off) will never activate automatically.
Additional Resources
If you have questions or need help configuring the Apple Energy Saver Policy, please contact your IT administrator or Swif Support.