Macs, especially portable models like the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, have very sophisticated cooling systems designed to ensure that they don’t overheat. However, most of us have at some point experienced the symptoms of an overheating Mac, from fans spinning up to performance slowing down. Most of the time, those are the only symptoms. However, in rare cases, overheating can cause physical damage to components. Here’s what to do if your Mac is overheating and how to avoid it from happening in the first place.

Why does my MacBook get so hot?

There are a number of reasons for MacBook heating up. Here are some of the most common. 

1. Too much stress on the CPU

The harder your Mac’s processor cores are working, the more likely they will heat up and contribute to overheating. Maybe you’ve noticed that your Mac’s getting slower when you open both a browser and, let’s say, a video editing app. That’s because these types of apps are usually running many processes, using up your Mac’s processing capability and making your Mac struggle, which causes overheating.

Check how hot is the CPU

There’s a popular free tool in CleanMyMac that analyzes the CPU load on a Mac. In our case, we are looking for the CPU temperature of your Mac. Is it still within the green range?

The normal CPU temperature is anywhere between 45-66 degrees Celsius.

So, to quickly check your Mac:

Here, you can find which of your apps are the most CPU-hungry. It could be surprising.

CPU

2. High ambient temperature

Macs are designed to comply with various temperature limits. But extreme heat can harm your computer; that’s why Apple recommends using your Mac where the ambient temperature is between 50°and 95°F (10°and 35°C). Placing your MacBook under direct sunlight can significantly shorten the life of your computer and be dangerous.

3. Clogged or blocked fans

We all love using our Macs in bed, but your cozy, warm blanket can be the reason for your MacBook Pro running hot. The vents at the back of your Mac, at least on those Macs with fans, are used to blow warm air away from the components inside the chassis. If the vents are clogged or blocked, there will be nowhere for the warm air to go when the fans kick in.

4. Malware

Malware is difficult to spot on a Mac, but it can run a ton of intensive processes hiddenly, making your Mac heat up. Browser hijackers, adware, and backdoors are common threats on a Mac, so check your Mac for those if you feel like it’s been heating up for no obvious reason.

5. Frozen or unresponsive apps

All apps sometimes freeze and misbehave, making those spinning wheels appear on a Mac. But even if an app is unresponsive, it is still consuming Mac’s memory. Whenever there’s a laggy app, your Mac allocates lots of CPU resources to fix it, which, in turn, heats the processor.

Of these reasons, the first is by far the most common. However, you shouldn’t ignore the other four. Something as simple as moving your MacBook from your lap to a hard surface can keep it cooler and reduce the chance of it overheating. Similarly, if your Mac is several years old, dust inside the case can interfere with the fans and prevent them from cooling properly. If your Mac is a few years old, you may be shocked by how much dust can get in through the ventilation holes.

How to stop MacBook from overheating

If your MacBook is getting hot, the action you take will depend on what’s causing it to overheat. However, given that the most common cause of overheating is an overworked CPU, we’ll start there.

1. Check CPU usage and quit resource-intensive apps

If your Mac’s overheating, the first and foremost thing you do is check the CPU usage. You don’t need any third-party apps to do that; we’ll show you how to check the CPU load using Activity Monitor:

  1. Open Activity Monitor (Finder > Applications > Utilities).
  2. Click the CPU tab. 

You’ll see all your apps and processes listed, from the most intensive to the least CPU-heavy.

It’s easy to quit those intensive apps: select the process or an app and click the X button. Confirm to quit the app. 

2. Close browser tabs you’re not using

Having lots of open browser tabs is one of the most common causes of an overworked Mac, especially if you use Chrome. Each open tab uses memory and consumes CPU cycles. So, the more you have open, the more CPU cycles and energy you’re using. Close down those you don’t need and bookmark the web pages instead.

3. Check your login items & launch agents

Login items are apps that open right at your Mac’s startup. Usually, we’re so busy doing things on our Macs that we don’t notice these login items. But your Mac sure does — it starts running hot, unable to handle all programs simultaneously. Let’s take a look at what login items you have enabled:

  1. Click Apple menu > System Settings.
  2. Select General.
  3. Go to the Login Items tab.

Here, you’ll find apps that launch at your Mac’s startup. Select the app and click the “—”  button to remove it. Done!

System Preferences - Login Items

You can also investigate launch agents. This category of apps refers to small programs that always work in the background and perform routine tasks. For example, Chrome has a few launch agents constantly running on your Mac to make sure Google services run properly. But they as well may be taxing on the processor. How to check what launch agents you have running?

  • Open Finder and choose Go in the top menu.
  • Click on Go > Go to Folder…
  • Now paste in: /Library/LaunchAgents

You’ll see the folder with the list of launch agents inside it.

Since we’re now in the Library, it’s risky to try and delete anything here on your own. We prefer using CleanMyMac to find and remove login items and launch agents quickly. This app also helps clear system junk and declutter my storage, which is helpful if you’re running out of free space on your Mac.

  1. Download the free edition of the app here.
  2. Open the app and go to the Performance tab.
  3. Run a quick scan and click View All Tasks.
  4. Now, click Login Items and select the items you want to disable.
  5. Click Remove.
  6. Repeat for Background Items.

Voila, you can now let go of some burden on your CPU. The app is notarized by Apple, which means it passed the safety check.

4. Quit unused apps

Even if some apps don’t look like they’re doing very much, they still use some processing power. They’re probably using CPU cycles and carrying out background tasks that could slow things down. Here’s a quick trick that will help identify and close active apps on your Mac:

  1. Press Option-Command-Escape. 
  2. In the window that appears, you’ll see the list of all active apps on your Mac. Select the app you want to close and click Force Quit.

Use this little trick when your Mac starts overheating — quitting unused active apps will lighten the load on your Mac’s CPU.

5. Reset the SMC

System Management Controller is in charge of Mac’s ventilation system, among other things. If your Mac seems to be too hot without reason, maybe resetting the SMC will work for you.

Note

You can’t reset SMC on Macs with Apple Silicon — all settings stored in SMC are embedded in their processor.


Macs with a removable battery:

  1. Turn off your Mac and remove the battery.
  2. Press the power button and hold it for 5 seconds.
  3. Put the battery back in.
  4. Start up your Mac.

Macs with a non-removable battery:

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Press Shift-Control-Alt (Option), and while holding these 3 keys down, press the power button.
  3. Hold all 4 buttons down for 10 seconds, then release them.
  4. Start up your Mac by pressing the power button.

Desktop Macs:

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Pull out the power cord and wait for 15 seconds.
  3. Put the power cord back in.
  4. Wait 5 seconds, and then turn on your Mac.

6. Avoid direct sunlight

If your MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro is heating up, move to somewhere cooler or out of direct sunlight. The temperature of the room you’re in or the sunlight hitting your Mac contributes to overheating. Place it on a hard, cool surface instead of in your lap to keep the air vents unobstructed.

7. Physically clean your Mac

Dust and debris can really mess up with your Mac’s fans; that’s why if your Mac keeps overheating, it’s time to give it a thorough cleanup. A can of compressed air can help clear those hard-to-reach corners of your Mac: you just need to remove the bottom panel and spray the air into the vents. Then, grab a microfiber cloth and gently wipe away any dust. Reinstall the bottom panel at last. 

If you are not confident removing the panel yourself, you can make a Genius Bar reservation to get your Mac’s fans cleared for you.  

8. Run some maintenance

If you have no time to perform optimization tweaks and get to the reason why your Mac’s overheating, there is a quick solution you could try. CleanMyMac, an app we’ve mentioned before, has a Performance tool with plenty of features that will help you troubleshoot all kinds of Mac issues.

  1. Open CleanMyMac (download the app from the official site).
  2. Go to Performance and run a scan.
  3. Click Run Tasks
  4. You can also click View All Tasks to select the tasks you want to perform.

Tip

If you think malware may be the reason your Mac overheats, run a Protection scan in CleanMyMac — it identifies all kinds of Mac malware and lets you remove them from your Mac.

9. Update your Mac

With every software update, Apple releases fixes to performance issues on Mac. Maybe this Mac overheating problem you’re struggling with has already been fixed with the latest macOS release? Let’s check if your Mac is up to date:

  1. Go to Apple menu > System Settings > General.
  2. Click Software Update.
  3. If an update is available, click Update Now. 
System Preferences - Software Update

10. Manage graphics settings (GPU)

The final tip to stop MacBook getting hot is to adjust graphics settings (GPU). The thing is that some older Macs are equipped with two graphic cards so that they are more resource-hungry. It is a great option for those playing graphics-intensive games or using their computers to render videos. However, it commonly leads to Mac overheating. 

To solve this issue, follow these steps: 

  1. Go to your System Settings > Battery. 
  2. Now, click Options and turn on Automatic Graphic Switching. If you cannot see the option there, it means that your Mac has only one graphic card, and the tip is not applicable in your case.
System Preferences - Battery

There are a number of things that can cause your Mac to overheat, from misbehaving applications pushing the CPU too hard to blocked vents or fans not working, and even the ambient temperature of the room you’re working in. Whatever the cause, overheating can damage your Mac. But hopefully, now you know how to stop Mac from overheating. By following the advice above, you’ll minimize the chances of it overheating and make sure it keeps running smoothly.