Metal–air batteries have become one of the new potential sources of electrochemical energy due to the excellent electrochemical characteristics, environmental friendliness and cheap cost. Whereas, the commercialization of the metal–air batteries is still subject to the sluggish kinetics on air electrode and hydrogen evolution corrosion as well as dendrite growth of metal anode. Recently, the applied magnetic field, as a technology for transferring energy across physical space, receives more attention, can improve the performance of metal–air batteries by promoting mass transfer, accelerating charge transfer and enhancing electrocatalytic ability based on magnetohydrodynamic effect, Kelvin force effect, Hall effect, Spin selectivity effect, Maxwell stress effect and Magnetothermal effect. This review provides the recent progress in the research on the relative mechanism and characteristic of the magnetic field in the metal–air batteries.