Prevent Mac from Sleeping on Sequoia

How to stop Mac from sleeping on macOS Sequoia

We can stop Mac from sleeping on Sequoia by adjusting our macOS power management or Lock Screen preferences. In System Settings > Lock Screen, switch the Turn display off when inactive option to Never to keep your Mac awake at all times. You can also change your Screen Saver options here.

Moreover, in the Energy Saver menu, you can prevent your Mac from sleeping automatically when you turn its display off, but this won’t stop Mac from sleeping. Changing Lock Screen settings is best, or alternatively, we can use a Terminal command or third-party apps to prevent Mac from sleeping on Sequoia.

A note from our experts: 

 

If you’re keeping your Mac awake to download large files, make sure you have plenty of free space with MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup. It locates and removes old logs and caches, undeleted Trash files, unnecessary language packs, and old Mail attachments in just a few clicks.

 

Try this:

1. Install MacKeeper on your Mac.
2. When the app opens, select Safe Cleanup, then click Start Scan.
3. Select all the things you want to remove, then choose Clean Junk Files.

1. Prevent macOS Sequoia from sleeping via Terminal

If you’re keen to control and manage your Mac using the Terminal, there are several commands you can use to stop Mac from sleeping on Sequoia. We’ve found that this one, which is a more permanent solution, tends to work best for most users:

1. Launch Terminal from the Applications > Utilities folder in Finder.
2. Type sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1, then press enter.
3. To reverse this change later and enable sleep again, repeat the above steps but use the sudo pmset -a disablesleep 0 command instead.

A hint from our team: 

 

This command keeps your Mac awake until you put it to sleep manually or shut it down. We sometimes have users asking us, is it bad to shut down a MacBook every day? While this certainly won’t cause your computer any damage, it’s usually not necessary either.

If you only want to stop your Mac from sleeping temporarily, our advice is to use the following Terminal command instead:

1. Open Terminal on your Mac.
2. Enter caffeinate, then press enter.

Now, as long as this Terminal window stays open, your Mac will stay awake. When you’re ready to revert back to normal sleep settings, you can simply close the window, then click Terminate to confirm you want to stop the caffeinate process. Here are more handy caffeinate commands we find useful:

• caffeinate -d: prevents your Mac’s display from sleeping
• caffeinate -i: prevents your Mac from idle sleeping
• caffeinate -m: keeps your Mac’s disk awake at all times
• caffeinate -s: stops your Mac from sleeping only when plugged into power.

2. Use System Settings to turn off sleep mode on macOS Sequoia

We know a lot of Mac users aren’t keen on tinkering in Terminal, but don’t worry—there are simpler ways to turn off sleep mode on macOS Sequoia. Here’s how you can adjust sleep settings in System Settings:

1. Open System Settings, then select Lock Screen in the sidebar.
2. Next to Turn display off when inactive, select Never. If you have a MacBook, you may see an additional option to Turn display off on battery when inactive, set this to Never as well.
3. If you want to disable the screen saver so that your Mac’s desktop is always displayed, also select Never next to Start Screen Saver when inactive.

By default, when you turn off the monitor connected to your Mac, it will go to sleep. We’ve found that some Mac users don’t want this to happen, and if you’re one of them, you can prevent this like so:

1. In System Settings, select Energy Saver in the sidebar.
2. Click the toggle next to Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off to enable it.

3. Use third-party tools to keep Mac awake

Some third-party tools make it much easier to manage your Mac’s sleep and prevent Mac from sleeping on Sequoia. For example, the free app Caffeine puts an icon in your Mac’s menu bar that lets you enable and disable sleep with just one click. Amphetamine on the Mac App Store does a similar job.

Amphetamine offers users more control options, like the ability to set “triggers” that disable automatic sleep, and the ability to keep your Mac awake only when specific apps are running. If you don’t need any of this, Caffeine is a much simpler tool that’s become incredibly popular among long-time Mac users.

As third-party apps tend to give you more control over your Mac’s sleep settings, including options that Apple doesn’t offer by default, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the difference between hibernate vs sleep vs standby before using these solutions.

Conclusion

If you need your Mac to stay awake when you’re not using it, there are several ways you can stop Mac from sleeping on Sequoia, like adjusting the Lock Screen and Energy Saver options in System Settings, using Terminal commands, or installing third-party apps like Caffeine and Amphetamine.

To free up storage space before leaving your Mac to tackle large downloads, use MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup to get rid of system junk. This essential tool clears unnecessary logs and caches, unused language packs, and old trash files in minutes without deleting important files.