How to check your Mac's temperature (and what's normal)

Updated 3 October 2026 · 2 min read · by MD Kadiwal

Quick answer

macOS has no built-in temperature display in degrees. What it does track is thermal pressure: a level from nominal to critical that tells you whether your Mac is slowing itself down to stay cool. You can see it in Terminal with sudo powermetrics --samplers thermal, or use a menu bar app that reads the Mac's sensors.

Why there's no temperature reading in macOS

Apple doesn't show chip temperatures anywhere in System Settings or Activity Monitor. Macs manage heat automatically: the fans speed up (on Macs that have them), and if that isn't enough, macOS slows the chip down a little. What matters in practice isn't the exact number of degrees, but whether your Mac is throttling, meaning holding back to cool off.

Check thermal pressure in Terminal

Open Terminal from Applications › Utilities.
Run sudo powermetrics --samplers thermal and enter your Mac password. Nothing appears while you type it; that's normal.
Read the pressure level. It prints a line like Current pressure level: Nominal every few seconds.
Press Control-C to stop it.

Level	What it means
Nominal	Cool. Full speed available.
Moderate / Fair	Warm. Fans may be working, little or no slowdown.
Heavy / Serious	Hot. macOS is slowing the chip to cool it.
Trapping / Critical	Very hot. Strong slowdown; find the cause now.

The exact names vary a little between Mac models and macOS versions, but they always run from cool to critical.

Other signs your Mac is too hot

kernel_task near the top of Activity Monitor. macOS uses it to take CPU time away from other apps when the chip is too hot.
Fans at full speed for a long time on a Mac with fans.
Everything slowing down during heavy work, then speeding up again after a pause.
A warning that charging is on hold on a MacBook, which can happen when the battery is too warm.

What's a normal operating environment?

Apple designs Mac notebooks to work in rooms between about 10 °C and 35 °C (50 °F to 95 °F). A Mac feeling warm under load is normal. Using it in hot sun, in a hot car, or on a blanket that covers the vents pushes it toward throttling much sooner.

How to cool your Mac down

Find the busy app. In Activity Monitor's CPU tab, sort by % CPU and quit what you don't need.
Give it air. Use a hard, flat surface and keep vents clear.
Move out of the heat. A cooler room makes a real difference.
Close heavy browser tabs, especially video and web apps.
Update macOS and restart if it runs hot while idle.

Questions people ask

Can I see my Mac's CPU temperature in degrees?

Not with built-in tools on Apple silicon. Third-party menu bar apps read the Mac's sensors and can show degrees. Built in, macOS gives you the thermal pressure level, which tells you whether the Mac is slowing down to cool off.

What is thermal throttling on a Mac?

When the chip gets too hot, macOS lowers its speed so it produces less heat. Your Mac stays safe, but heavy work takes longer until it cools down.

Is it bad if my MacBook gets hot?

Warm is normal under load. If it's hot while idle, or throttles often, find the busy app and improve airflow.

Does powermetrics work on every Mac?

Yes, it's built into macOS, but it needs an administrator password because it reads low-level hardware data.