v1.2.1-beta.1 is up

[darrylmorley]

@jimmyorz @aguilaair and anyone else that can help with testing, a new beta is ready ahead of 1.2.1.

Download: https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/releases/tag/v1.2.1-beta.1
(Grab WhatCable.zip from the assets. Your Pro licence and everything else works as normal.)

Most useful to look at

• Charger wattage with a second device plugged in. If you charge over MagSafe with a third-party adapter and also have a USB-C display (or anything else on a second port) connected, check the power reading is correct rather than stuck at "3W". This is the main fix in this build, and both your M1 Air / M1 Pro have MagSafe, so it's right in your wheelhouse.
• Power Monitor with a charger connected but not selected (a second charger the Mac isn't drawing from): it should explain what's happening now instead of spinning.
• General sanity: port labels, speeds, power and cable verdicts on your usual setups. "Looks fine on " is genuinely useful.

Also in this build: clearer messaging for Intel Macs and for the updater when the app was moved, a Traditional Chinese update (thanks @jimmyorz), and consent/privacy wording spelling out what the diagnostic probes send.

Reply here with what you see. Anything that looks like a real bug I'll split into its own issue so the fix stays findable. Thanks both!

[cannotcollide]

I'd love to help with Beta testing! This app is really great.

[darrylmorley]

@cannotcollide I appreciate any help with this. Do you have the pro or free version?

[cannotcollide]

I have the pro version, now running 1.2.1 Beta 1

[darrylmorley]

Welcome aboard, @cannotcollide, and thanks for the kind words. Added you to the tester list. Since you're already on this build, what Mac (and any docks, hubs or cables) are you running it on? That helps me know which setups are covered, and flag anything that looks off here in this thread.

[cannotcollide]

I'm running a MacBook Pro M3 Pro 11/14, which I dock via a CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock (Apple store exclusive ver. of TS4). That dock has an OWC Express 1M2, a LaCie 1big Dock, and a Studio Display (2022) connected. Alongside various USB peripherals. The MacBook's connected to the dock via an Active 3m Apple Thunderbolt 4 Pro Cable, and the daisy-chained devices are connected via CalDigit .5m Thunderbolt 4 Pro cables.

If there's anything else I can provide, please do let me know.

[darrylmorley]

That's a great one to have covered, thanks. A TB4 dock with a daisy-chain and a Studio Display is exactly the kind of fabric setup I can't test here. Updated the list.

[cannotcollide]

Worth mentioning that the Studio Display is connected to the downstream port of the 1big Dock, which then connects to the CalDigit Dock, and then to the Mac. I've had no issues with this setup so far but I know that it's definitely an odd one.

[darrylmorley]

Really useful, thanks. A display tunneled through two docks (Studio Display off the 1big, then the CalDigit, then the Mac) is exactly the kind of chain the Thunderbolt view can trip on. If you get a moment on that setup, the thing worth a glance is whether WhatCable represents the chain sensibly, the Studio Display landing under the right Thunderbolt link with a reasonable video-output label. Good to hear it's been solid so far.

[jimmyorz]

@darrylmorley Small correction: my M1 MacBook Air doesn’t have MagSafe 🤣
My current test machines are an M4 Mac mini and an M1 MacBook Air, so I won’t be able to test the MagSafe.
However, I tested both machines with two power sources connected at the same time, either directly or through a mini dock, and everything behaved normally. Everything else looks good so far.

One additional issue: on macOS 27.0 beta 3 v.2 (26A5378n), I’m unable to change the language from within WhatCable. The language selector is greyed out and cannot be selected. This works normally on macOS 15.x and macOS 26.x.

[jimmyorz]

By the way, the updated Traditional Chinese translation has also been submitted in #447.

[darrylmorley]

Noted on the M1 Air, my mistake 🤣 Thanks for covering two power sources on both machines.

The macOS 27 language selector is now #458. And #447 is merged and shipped in 1.2.1, thank you.

[aguilaair]

Hi! Will test these tomorrow morning, for the first point can you clarify what you want to test?

Do you just need 3rd party magsafe and then a display? I have both 1dt and 3rd party magsafe but i do not have 1st party Mac chargers (only 3rd party a 300W power bank, 140W, 100W, 60W, 40W-- mostly Anker but some MINIX and generics)

I should be able to run all of these no problem :)

[aguilaair]

1. Seems to be behaving correctly:

2. It doesn't really explain it's not charging, but this is what I see:

This is with Magsafe connected as shown above and a 40W charger connected to the port, whcih is what I normally use to trickle charge the laptop

3. I have noticed that I am unable to make the "Detatch Count" on magsafe even though I bump it, seems to just fully reconnect. Is there a specific way to make that counter go up? Other than this and the above everything else looks correct!

[darrylmorley]

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed, and sorry I missed your question the night before.

Point 2 is #459. The explanation clearly isn't covering your MagSafe-plus-40W shape.

Point 3 is #460. No special trick, it should count a detach. I need to check whether MagSafe reports it the same way a USB-C port does. If it doesn't, I'll hide the counter there rather than leave it looking broken.

[cannotcollide]

Here's the result of my testing:

When connected to my Thunderbolt Dock, which provides 98W of power, this is the result

When I then introduce a 100W charger, I get the following results
MagSafe:

USB-C:

Interestingly, MacOS opts to stick with the slower 98W charger than switch to the faster 100W connections. I suspect this is due to it hosting a Thunderbolt link, which takes priority. Regardless, WhatCable v1.2.1 beta 1 reports this setup correctly!

[darrylmorley]

v1.2.1 is out. Thanks all three of you, the charger wattage fix is confirmed working across every setup you tested, which is what I needed before shipping.

https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/releases/tag/v1.2.1

Three things you spotted are now tracked:

• [Bug] Language selector greyed out on macOS 27.0 beta #458 language selector greyed out on macOS 27 beta (@jimmyorz)
• [Bug] Power Monitor still doesn't explain a connected charger the Mac isn't drawing from #459 Power Monitor does not explain a connected charger that is not the source (@aguilaair)
• [Bug] MagSafe detach count doesn't increment when the connector is knocked off #460 MagSafe detach count does not move (@aguilaair)

I will open a fresh thread for the next build.