4 Ways to Prevent Your Mac (Sequoia) from Sleeping

Last updated: Jul 15, 2025

In this post, we’ll walk you through how to prevent your Mac (Sequoia) from going to sleep when the display is off or when the lid is closed. Keep reading.

"How can I keep my MacBook from going to sleep during a long download?"

- A question from Reddit.

Is your Mac/MacBook going to sleep too quickly? This post will show you how to tweak the sleep settings to keep your Mac awake longer.

Also Read: How to Go Full Screen or Exit Full Screen on Mac (Sequoia/Sonoma/Ventura)

How to Stop Your Mac (Sequoia) from Sleeping

You can adjust your Mac’s sleep settings to keep it from going idle or to keep it running even with the lid closed. Here’s how to do it step by step. Let’s dive in.

1. Change Energy Saver Settings

For most Macs and MacBooks, the fastest way to keep your Mac from sleeping is by adjusting the Energy Saver settings.

Here’s how:

For desktop Macs:

Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Energy Saver > Turn on Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off.

For MacBook Air/Pro:

Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Battery > Options > Turn on Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off.

Tip

Do you know how to use the Screenshot app on a Mac? Or how to customize screenshot shortcuts? Check out this guide: "How to Screenshot on Mac/MacBook (Sequoia/Sonoma/Ventura) - 4 Ways" to learn everything you need.

2. Adjust Lock Screen Settings

Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Lock Screen.
Set Start Screen Saver when inactive to Never.
Set Turn display off when inactive to Never.

If you just want to delay sleep instead of disabling it completely, choose a preferred time period instead of Never.

Tip

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3. Turn Off Sleep Mode via Terminal

If you're comfortable using Terminal, you can disable sleep mode using these steps:

Open Terminal: Launch Terminal using Spotlight.
Disable Sleep: To prevent your Mac from sleeping, type sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1 and press Enter. You may be prompted for your administrator password.
Re-enable Sleep: To restore the default sleep behavior, enter sudo pmset -a disablesleep 0.

If you want to keep your Mac awake while it’s sharing files or other resources, there’s a smarter setting:

Set your Mac to wake from sleep when other users access its shared resources.

For macOS Sequoia and newer:

Open the Apple menu > System Settings.
If you’re using a MacBook, go to Battery in the sidebar > Options > Enable Wake for network access.

For macOS Monterey/Big Sur/Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra:

Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Energy Saver > Check or uncheck Wake for network access as needed.

Besides stopping your Mac from sleeping, here are a few more related settings you might want to adjust.

Disable "Allow Bluetooth Devices to Wake this Computer"

On macOS Big Sur 11.0 and earlier, Bluetooth devices can wake your Mac. To disable this:

Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Bluetooth.
Click Details > Uncheck Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer.

Conclusion

Now you know how to stop your Mac from going to sleep. Try these methods out and keep your Mac awake whenever you need it!

Jerome Peng

Jerome is a passionate enthusiast of all things Apple. He is expertise in crafting tech-related articles, with a portfolio of more than 100 articles covering various Apple products like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.