v1.5.0-beta.8 is up

[darrylmorley]

@jimmyorz @aguilaair @cannotcollide @Caruso8677 @Mostxlnt @aldobalducci @themadturk7 @official-Cromatin @dino2895

Beta 8 is up: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/releases/tag/v1.5.0-beta.8

First: thanks @official-Cromatin for confirming all four beta.7 fixes on the M1 Pro. Great to have those closed out.

One big fix this time: MagSafe 3 charge cables are back in cable tracking (#573, thanks Thorsten via support). It turned out to be deeper than a regression: the app had never actually read the MagSafe cable chip's identity, so this build adds that too. What that means in practice:

• The MagSafe port card now shows the cable (Made by Apple) while charging.
• You can add a MagSafe cable to your saved cables and its name follows it, in notifications too.
• One honest limit: every MagSafe 3 cable reports the same maker and model IDs, so identical cables share one saved record and one history. The app says so in the wording.
• Under the hood this build also migrates the cable-history database (adds MagSafe awareness). It's designed to be safe on every existing database, but that's exactly what I'd like beta eyes on: if your saved cables list looks wrong after updating, shout here.

What to look at: plug and unplug MagSafe with the app running, add the cable, check the name comes back on replug. If nothing looks off after a few days, 1.5.0 stable follows.

Thanks all!

[aguilaair]

Nice, exciting update! Everything looks good on my side! As a side note I also now have an M4 Pro (MBP 16") to test with as well :)

[darrylmorley]

Thanks @aguilaair and congrats on the new addition!

[aguilaair]

hahah thanks it's just my work laptop hahah

[official-Cromatin]

The naming did stick after a reconnect, but I only have one MagSafe cable to test with so might not be the best metric. But other than that I noticed multiple things that dont seem right.

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The banner says PD source instead of MagSafe and a custom cable is not displayed

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The displayed PD profile is incorrect and the only displayed profile is not "selected"

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The wattage is wrongly identified as 2W even though the System informations app, power monitor and AlDente say otherwise.

In the port diagnostics it reports 2W:

The power monitor reports >2W charging power (ignore the low voltage)

And system informations reports that 15W was negotiated.

Informationen zum Ladegerät:

Ladegerät angeschlossen: Ja
ID: 0x0000
Leistung (W): 15
Familie: 0xe000400a
Batterie wird geladen: Ja

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The issue I reported for the first time in #491 resurfaced (see the last screenshot of the power monitor above)

[official-Cromatin]

When using my UGREEN charger with my MagSafe cable, is seems like the PD profile reporting is still bugged

If charging via USB-C its correct, so it has something to do with how the App reads the PD profile for the MagSafe port

[darrylmorley]

Thanks @official-Cromatin, this is a great set of finds, and good news on the naming sticking.

I've dug into all four. They turn out to share one root cause, and it's older than beta 8. With a third-party charger on MagSafe, macOS only publishes a low-fidelity "Brick ID" identity for the port: one junk 5V/0.5A entry (your 2W) and no negotiated PD contract. The real wattage only lives in the system-wide adapter reading. The main headline already knows this trick (that's why it correctly said 15W), but the banner, the profile list, the diagnostics card and the power monitor all still read the raw Brick ID data. That last one is also why the #491 spinner is back: no contract, nothing to meter, so it waits forever. Tracked as #592.

The missing cable name in the banner is a separate gap: saved names currently only attach to device notifications, and a MagSafe plug only produces a charger notification. Tracked as #593.

One question to confirm: which charger was on the MagSafe cable in the first screenshots (the 15W one)?

[official-Cromatin]

which charger was on the MagSafe cable in the first screenshots (the 15W one)?

I was being lazy and didn't want to get my charger, so I just plugged it into the top-facing USB-C port of my pc. So not a real charger and in hindsight a bit dumb.

When testing with my USB-C to USB-C cable, it doesnt advertise PD profiles so that might have caused confusion on the app's side. Interestingly when viewing the power monitor, while using the USB-C to USB-C cable, its shows the spinner aswell. Probably because of no available USB PD contract.

But adding support for non PD (by checking for jumped data lines or resistors across the CC pins) might be a bit niche compared to how much effort it would require. And no one out of their right mind charges their laptop with a non PD capeable charger.

[darrylmorley]

No such thing as a dumb test, that one's genuinely useful: a PC's USB-C port is a plain 5V source with no PD at all, so there was never a contract for the app to read. That plus the UGREEN result pins #592 down nicely.

On the power monitor: the incoming power was actually showing, in the System Power Input half at the bottom (your 9.5W). The top half is per-port metering, and that needs a PD contract, so with a non-PD source it has nothing to meter. The bug is the spinner pretending it's still waiting. I'll make it say so and point at the chart below instead, and your USB-C test shows that state is needed on USB-C ports too, not just MagSafe. Folded into #592.

Agreed on non-PD detection, I'm not going there.

[aldobalducci]

hi,
I bought a fake MagSafe 3 cable from amazon, but it reports the same as the genuine, not sure if there should be a different id.

[aldobalducci]

when I plug a usb-c cable in with nothing on the other end its being identified here

[aldobalducci]

here it is without the magsafe charger plugged in.

[mmols40880]

hi

do you where i can download an oler realease form whatcable for MacOS hiigh siierra 10.13.6 or older ?

regards mike