How to Check Mac Uptime, Reboot & Shutdown History

This guide shows you how to find your Mac’s uptime (how long it’s been running since the last boot) and its full reboot and shutdown history. You’ll use built-in macOS tools—no third-party apps needed. You’ll get exact commands and menu paths for current versions of macOS (Ventura and later, though most steps work on older versions too).

What You’ll Need

• A Mac running macOS (any recent version).
• Access to Terminal (found in /Applications/Utilities/).
• Administrator privileges only if you want to view logs from other users—not needed for basic checks.

Step-by-Step

Check Current Uptime

1. Open Terminal (Spotlight with Cmd+Space, type “Terminal�, press Return).
2. Type uptime and press Return. The output shows the current time, how long the system has been up (e.g., “up 3 days, 4:22â€�), the number of users, and load averages.
3. For a more precise uptime in seconds, type sysctl -n kern.boottime. This prints a date like { sec = 1710000000 }—that’s the Unix timestamp of your last boot. You can convert it online or with date -r 1710000000.

View Reboot and Shutdown History via Terminal

1. Open Terminal if not already open.
2. Type last reboot and press Return. This lists every reboot with date and time, most recent first. The last line shows “rebootâ€� with a date; the line above it is when the system went down.
3. Type last shutdown and press Return. This shows all clean shutdowns (when you chose Shut Down or the system shut down normally).
4. To see both together in chronological order, type last reboot | head -20 and last shutdown | head -20 separately—or combine with last reboot shutdown (this shows both types interleaved).

Check Uptime and History in System Information

1. Click the Apple menu and select System Settings (macOS Ventura or later) or System Preferences (older).
2. In System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then About. Look for “Startup disk� and “Memory�—but not uptime. Uptime isn’t shown here.
3. Instead, open Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities/). Click the CPU tab. At the bottom, you’ll see “Uptime� with days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

Check Shutdown History via Console App (Graphical)

1. Open Console (in /Applications/Utilities/).
2. In the search field, type shutdown and press Return.
3. You’ll see log entries with timestamps. Look for lines that say “shutdown� or “system shutdown�. These are less readable than Terminal’s output but useful if you prefer a GUI.
4. For reboot logs, search for reboot or system boot.

Check Last Boot Time (Command Line)

1. Type who -b and press Return. This prints the exact date and time of the last system boot.
2. Type last | head -20 to see the most recent logins and reboots, including the boot time at the top.

Common Mistakes

• Confusing “last rebootâ€� with “last shutdownâ€�—a reboot is a shutdown followed by a boot; the “shutdownâ€� log only shows clean shutdowns that were not followed by an immediate boot (like when you power off).
• Using “lastâ€� without a filter—typing just last shows all user logins, which is noisy. Stick to last reboot or last shutdown.
• Reading the Unix timestamp incorrectly—the number from sysctl is in seconds since January 1, 1970. Use date -r to convert.
• Expecting uptime in System Settings—it’s not there; use Activity Monitor or Terminal.
• Forgetting that logs rotate—very old shutdown history may be gone if your Mac has been running for months without a reboot (logs are kept for a limited time).

Tips

• To see the exact time your Mac was last booted in a readable format, type date -r $(sysctl -n kern.boottime | awk '{print $4}' | sed 's/,//')—this extracts the timestamp and converts it.
• If you want a quick one-liner for uptime in days, type uptime | awk -F'up ' '{print $2}' | awk -F',' '{print $1}'.
• Use last reboot | head -5 to see the five most recent reboots—useful if you’re troubleshooting a crash loop.
• For a full system log of power events, type log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "shutdown"' --last 30d (this may take a minute and requires admin).
• Bookmark the Terminal commands—they’re the fastest way to get this info.

Troubleshooting

• “last rebootâ€� shows nothing or only one line—This means your Mac has only been rebooted once since the logs were created, or the logs were cleared. Try last reboot | wc -l to count lines. If it’s 1, that’s your current boot.
• “last shutdownâ€� is empty—This happens if your Mac has never had a clean shutdown (only forced restarts or power loss). Check log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Previous shutdown cause"' --last 30d to see shutdown cause codes.
• Terminal says “command not foundâ€�—You’re typing the command wrong. Copy-paste exactly: last reboot (with a space).
• Activity Monitor shows 0 seconds uptime—This can happen if you’re viewing a different Mac’s process or if the app just refreshed incorrectly. Close and reopen Activity Monitor.
• The uptime seems too long—If you never shut down, your Mac can stay up for weeks. That’s normal. If you think it’s wrong, check sysctl -n kern.boottime and compare with the current date.
• Console shows no shutdown entries—Search for “Previous shutdown causeâ€� instead. A code like -128 means clean shutdown; positive numbers indicate a crash or forced power-off.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I see when my Mac was last restarted?
A: Type last reboot | head -1 in Terminal. The first line shows the most recent reboot date and time.

Q: Can I see shutdown history from weeks ago?
A: Only if logs haven’t rotated. macOS keeps system logs for a limited period (often a week or two). For older history, you’d need a third-party tool that logs events continuously.

Q: What does “up 5 days, 3:14� mean exactly?
A: It means your Mac has been running continuously for 5 days, 3 hours, and 14 minutes since the last boot, without a restart or shutdown.

Q: Why does “last shutdown� not show entries for my restarts?
A: A restart is a shutdown followed by an immediate boot. macOS logs it under “rebootâ€� but not under “shutdownâ€� unless the shutdown was a clean power-off. Use last reboot for restart history.

Q: Is there a way to see if my Mac crashed vs. was shut down normally?
A: Yes. In Terminal, type log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Previous shutdown cause"' --last 30d. A value of -128 means clean shutdown; positive numbers (like 3, 5, 20) indicate crashes or power loss.

Q: Does checking uptime affect performance?
A: No. These commands only read system logs and statistics; they don’t change anything or consume noticeable resources.

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