v1.5.0: Devices in the right box, displays read from macOS, and live charging

Devices in the right box, displays read from macOS, and live charging

A big one. Ten betas went into this, and most of what changed started with a tester's report. Credits inline.

Connected devices

• Devices on a Thunderbolt chain show under a dock or display only when the hardware proves they are inside it. Before, a device could look as if it sat in the first box in the chain just because nothing said otherwise. Anything unproven now appears under "Other USB devices on this port", and a dock's own hubs nest where they belong.
• Thunderbolt 5 daisy chains are sorted. On a Mac to display to dock chain, a drive in the dock used to render under the display. WhatCable now works out which box each hub belongs to from the fabric's own routing data, and leaves the tree alone if the answer does not check out.
• Devices behind TB3-era docks and displays are attributed to a port again. LG UltraFine 5K, CalDigit TS3+ and others of that generation bring their own USB controller, and everything behind them used to vanish as soon as two Thunderbolt things were connected.
• Built-in USB-A ports are labelled and split per physical port (#490, thanks @i0ntempest). The box now says to move those devices to a Thunderbolt port to see more about them.
• A port that can't read cable details now says where to plug the cable instead: a Thunderbolt port (#436, thanks @apple-ihack-geek).

Displays

• The display check now reads what macOS says the display is doing, instead of estimating from bandwidth. It tells "the cable is limiting your monitor" apart from "your monitor is set below its best mode".
• Fewer false warnings on TVs and HDMI adapters: modes they can only send in reduced colour (4:2:0) no longer count against the cable.
• Every mode the display declares is read, including DisplayID blocks that were skipped before. Where macOS doesn't say enough, the card reads "Display connected" with the reason, rather than a guessed all-clear.
• The false "needs about 14.4 Gbps" warning on a monitor with a 75 Hz scan range is gone (#596, thanks @JarvisDong). Preferred refresh rates now count EDID borders, contributed by @YuriNachos.

Thunderbolt

• A Thunderbolt 5 link reads 80 Gb/s, not the per-lane 40 (#607, thanks @cannotcollide for the raw dumps). Asymmetric links show one rate per direction.
• An idle Thunderbolt port no longer reads as linked, and a stale row left after an unplug can't describe a link that isn't there.
• Another Mac on the far end of a Thunderbolt cable reads "Linked to another Mac" and no longer blames the cable.
• A charger-only cable no longer flashes "10 Gbps" as you plug it in (#181).

Charging

• Charging state is now live: no more "charging on hold" for the first minute after plug-in, the open popover updates as it changes, and it now shows when your Mac is held at its charge limit.
• A third-party charger on MagSafe no longer shows Brick ID junk, and the card stops spinning on a non-PD charger (#592).
• Pro: the charging resistance estimate is visible and says what it is doing. Still labelled experimental.

Cables

• Straighter e-marker wording. Some chargers and docks block the read, and the card now says so. While macOS is still reading it says "Reading cable details…", and when a charger negotiates above 3A without the Mac seeing the e-marker, it says what that contract shows. Thanks @jimmyorz (#413), @cannotcollide, @spreiter and @official-Cromatin (#578).
• Cables with blank or partial e-marker IDs can be tracked, and so can MagSafe 3 cables. Existing saved cables migrate automatically. Reported by @EmilEmilchen (#530).
• A registered power brick no longer softens a blank e-marker vendor ID, contributed by @YuriNachos.
• Apple accessories show their own names. Apple's USB-C EarPods read as a small powered accessory, not a 60 W cable (#542, thanks @maelcum).
• The cable database now holds 145 entries.

Notifications

Thanks to @official-Cromatin for methodical reports and raw captures throughout (#550, #551, #556).

• Plugging in or unplugging a dock posts one notification naming the dock, with every device on its own row.
• Disconnect notifications say what left. Clicking a notification opens the popover. A disconnect replaces the held connect banner instead of piling under it.
• The phantom charger banner at launch is gone, and a device that drops and returns says "Reconnected".
• Thunderbolt gets named, and Pro users see a saved cable's name, including on charger notifications (#593).
• "Notify on app updates" is its own switch.

The app

• The port card groups every line under what told us it: the cable's chip, your Mac's measurement, WhatCable's database, or the charger. Cards now settle once instead of assembling in front of you, and hold still while you read them (#536, thanks @miketuckman).
• WhatCable takes up less room in the menu bar, 36pt instead of 42pt.
• The popup no longer closes itself while you plug and unplug, follows the icon when you rearrange the menu bar (#543, thanks @maelcum), and closes when you tell it to.
• Settings has an Updates section with an "Include beta versions" switch.
• Numbers follow your region, and the app language setting reaches the menus too. Thanks to Rob for the number formatting.
• Pro screens and Settings no longer crop or float in window mode (#600, thanks @official-Cromatin).
• Pro: see and free your licence's device slots from Settings and the CLI.
• On a first run, the deep USB probe waits until the welcome screen has shown (#571, thanks @aapple1944 and @tvalleau).
• The desktop widget shows its detail line again, and a port no longer claims "Plugged in" when your Mac is on battery.
• The terms now say plainly that you can share what WhatCable tells you, as long as you describe it accurately.

Test kit

• The test kit is rebuilt: it captures a fuller hardware snapshot in fewer steps, and uploads are smaller.
• The consent screen asks you to plug in what you want included and leave it connected until the run finishes, and names the Mac model identifier, which is sent with the run. Running it again no longer replaces your earlier submission.

For scripts

• For scripts: --json and --bench-report display output has changed. --bench-report is now schema version 3, with every mode the monitor declares.
• For scripts: --json display objects gain new fields, and compressionPlausible is gone.
• New whatcable --bench-report command for a per-cable JSON capture.
• The terminal dashboard's power view no longer sits on "Waiting for telemetry..." on M1 Pro and similar Macs (#580, thanks @official-Cromatin).

Update both together

If you use the standalone CLI, update it along with the app.

Translations

Italian from @bovirus, Traditional Chinese from @jimmyorz, and Latvian from @shpokas.

Thanks

To the beta group. @official-Cromatin reported and captured most of what changed in notifications and windows, @cannotcollide caught the Thunderbolt 5 speed and sent the dumps that fixed it, @maelcum stuck with the popout through several attempts, and @aldobalducci tested charging on beta.10. @YuriNachos contributed two fixes.