v1.3.0-beta.1: Beta build: cable provenance, cleaner power reporting, and front-port fixes

Beta build: cable provenance, cleaner power reporting, and front-port fixes

This is a beta for the tester group. It bundles everything since v1.2.1. Nothing changes about licensing: use your normal Pro key.

What's new

• Offline cable provenance. Cables that carry a USB-IF certificate (XID) now show a "USB-IF certified" line with the manufacturer, read straight from the cable with no network lookup.
• Front-port devices attributed correctly. On desktop Macs, a device on a built-in USB-only front port is now named against that port instead of being left unattached.
• Cleaner power and charging reporting. A run of fixes to stop misleading charging lines: stale power-contract wattage is no longer reported as live, and a charger that's plugged in but not being drawn from is now explained rather than shown as an error (thanks to the M1 Pro/Max reporters).
• MagSafe counted on its own line in the "nothing plugged in" message, instead of being lumped in with the USB-C ports.
• Live port health counters that update as things change and land on the right port.
• Menu-bar popover height is clamped to the screen so it can't run off the bottom.
• Licensing help. A "lost your key" form on the support page, and the success page now shows your licence key right after purchase.
• DisplayPort: monitors running at 1.62 Gbps (RBR), the lowest DisplayPort rate, are now labelled correctly.
• Translations: refreshed Italian (thanks @bovirus) and Traditional Chinese (thanks @jimmyorz).

What to look at

• If you have a certified cable (many Thunderbolt/USB4 cables are), check the new "USB-IF certified" line reads right.
• If you're on a desktop Mac, plug something into a front port and confirm it shows up attributed to that port.
• Charging: confirm the power lines match reality, especially the charger-attached and "not drawing" cases.
• Anything that looks off gets its own issue labelled beta, linked from the announcement thread.

v1.2.1: Charger wattage fix, plus clearer Intel and updater messages

Charger wattage fix, plus clearer Intel and updater messages

Fixed

• Charger wattage no longer sticks at 3W when a second device is plugged
  in. Charging over MagSafe with a third-party adapter while also using a
  USB-C display (or anything else on a second port) could freeze the reading
  at "3W", even though the Mac was charging at full wattage. Unplugging the
  display used to be the only way to correct it. Thanks @hinaloe for the clear
  report and the diagnostics (#443).

• Intel Macs now say why the app can't work. WhatCable relies on data
  Intel Macs don't expose, so it can't report cables on them. Instead of an
  empty ports list, Intel users get a clear message explaining that (#407).

• Power Monitor explains a connected-but-not-selected charger. When a
  charger is plugged in but the Mac isn't drawing from it, the monitor used
  to spin forever (#296).

• The window comes to the front in window mode when reopened (#419).

• Updater gives clearer guidance when the app bundle is missing. If the
  running app was moved (for example, left in Downloads), the updater now
  explains what to do instead of failing with a cryptic error.

Also in this release

• The consent sheet and privacy policy now describe exactly what the
  diagnostic probes send.
• Diagnostic probes are now bounded and can't run away, thanks @VailElla
  (#451), and the CLI sanitises text that comes from hardware before printing
  it, also @VailElla (#453).
• Translation updates: Traditional Chinese, thanks @jimmyorz (#433, #447),
  and Italian, thanks @bovirus (#448).

Thanks to @jimmyorz, @aguilaair and @cannotcollide for testing the beta.

v1.2.1-beta.1: Beta: charger wattage fix, plus clearer Intel and updater messages

Beta: charger wattage fix, plus clearer Intel and updater messages

A beta for testers ahead of 1.2.1. Nothing about your Pro licence or how the
app works changes. As always, please flag anything that looks off.

What to test

• Charger wattage no longer sticks at 3W when a second device is plugged
  in. Charging over MagSafe with a third-party adapter while also using a
  USB-C display (or any other device on a second port) could freeze the
  reading at "3W", even though the Mac was charging at full wattage.
  Unplugging the display used to be the only way to correct it. Now the real
  wattage shows regardless of what else is connected. Thanks @hinaloe for the
  clear report and the diagnostics (#443).

• Intel Macs now say why the app can't work, instead of showing nothing.
  WhatCable relies on data Intel Macs don't expose, so it can't report cables
  on them. Instead of a blank window, Intel users now get a clear message
  explaining that (#407).

• Power Monitor explains a connected-but-not-selected charger. When a
  charger is plugged in but the Mac isn't drawing from it, the monitor used
  to just spin. It now explains what's happening instead (#296).

Also in this build

• Updater gives clearer guidance when the app bundle is missing. If the
  running app was moved (for example, left in Downloads), the updater now
  explains what to do instead of failing with a cryptic error.
• The window comes to the front in window mode when reopened (#419).
• Traditional Chinese translation update, thanks @jimmyorz (#433).
• The consent sheet and privacy policy now describe exactly what the
  diagnostic probes send.

v1.2.0: Better desktop USB-C port grouping, Thunderbolt tunnel paths, and a probing compatibility switch

Better desktop USB-C port grouping, Thunderbolt tunnel paths, and a probing compatibility switch

This release focuses on how WhatCable reads desktop Macs (mini, Studio) and
Thunderbolt docks, plus a compatibility switch for Macs where deep USB
probing misbehaves.

What's new

• Desktop built-in USB ports no longer group under a Thunderbolt dock.
  On a Mac mini or Studio, the machine's own front USB-C ports were being
  drawn as if they hung off a connected dock. They now show in their own
  "Built-in USB ports" section. Raised by @CronoCX in
  discussion #417.

• Devices behind a dock on a front USB-C port now show up. Plugging a
  dock into a Mac mini or Studio front port used to list the dock's own hubs
  but drop everything plugged into the dock (drives, phones, audio). Those
  devices now appear, nested under the dock. Thanks @jimmyorz for the report
  and the testing (#430).

• Connected devices tree roots under the Thunderbolt link (Pro). The
  device tree now shows the downstream Thunderbolt device with its live link
  speed at the top, plus tunnel-path attribution: which display or data
  tunnel each device is riding.

• New "Skip deep USB probing" compatibility switch. A few KVM switches
  and hubs react badly to deep USB probing. Settings now has a switch to turn
  it off if probing ever stalls or misbehaves on your Mac; everything else
  keeps working. Thanks @asapuntz (#429).

Under the hood

• Test-kit probe hardening and a correction to how hardware identifiers are
  captured.
• Internal correctness fixes to USB and power port join keys.
• Cable database updates: several newly reported cables added, and a
  Thunderbolt adapter relabelled.

v1.2.0-beta.2: Beta: dock devices on front USB-C ports now show up

Beta: dock devices on front USB-C ports now show up

Another beta for testers ahead of 1.2.0. Nothing about your Pro licence or
how the app works changes. Same as before, please flag anything that looks
off.

What to test

• Devices behind a dock on a desktop's front USB-C port now appear. On a
  Mac mini or Studio, plugging a dock into a front port used to show the
  dock's own hubs but drop everything plugged into the dock (drives, phones,
  audio). Those devices now show under "Built-in USB ports", nested under the
  dock. Devices on the rear Thunderbolt ports were never affected. Thanks
  @jimmyorz for the report and the detailed testing (#430).

Also in this build

• Cable database updates: several newly reported cables added, and a
  Thunderbolt adapter relabelled.

v1.2.0-beta.1: Beta: desktop port grouping, tunnel paths, and a probing compatibility switch

Beta: desktop port grouping, tunnel paths, and a probing compatibility switch

This is a beta build for testers ahead of the 1.2.0 release. Nothing about
your Pro licence or how the app works changes. Please run your usual setup
and flag anything that looks off, especially around Thunderbolt docks and
the Connected devices view.

What to test

• Desktop built-in USB ports no longer group under a Thunderbolt dock.
  On a Mac mini or Mac Studio, the machine's own front USB-C ports were being
  drawn as if they hung off a connected dock. They now show separately.
  Raised by @CronoCX in
  discussion #417.
• Connected devices tree now roots under the Thunderbolt link. For Pro
  users, the device tree shows the downstream Thunderbolt device with its
  live link speed at the top, plus tunnel-path attribution: which display or
  data tunnel each device is riding.
• New "Skip deep USB probing" compatibility switch. If deep USB probing
  ever stalls or misbehaves on your Mac, Settings now has a switch to turn it
  off. Everything else keeps working. Thanks @asapuntz (#429).

Also in this build

• Test-kit probe hardening and a correction to how hardware identifiers are
  captured.
• Internal correctness fixes to port join keys.

v1.1.9: USB-C charging now shows on M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros

USB-C charging now shows on M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros

Two solid fixes this time. If you have an M1 Pro or M1 Max MacBook Pro,
WhatCable finally shows your USB-C charger: macOS never publishes the
per-port power data on that generation, so the app now derives it from the
battery controller instead. And Saved Cables got a durability overhaul, so
your cable collection and its recorded history are written to disk far more
robustly.

Fixed

• USB-C charging on M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros. These Macs never
  publish the per-port power source that the charging display reads (0 of 61
  machines in our community data), so a USB-C charger showed nothing at all.
  WhatCable now reconstructs the charge contract from the battery
  controller's own per-port data, on any MacBook where the usual source is
  missing. Desktop Macs are unaffected. Thanks @grtm77 for the report
  (#401).
• Saved cables and their history are now much harder to lose. Every
  change to your saved cables is written straight into the main database
  file, and recorded history is flushed on quit. Previously everything could
  sit indefinitely in a sidecar file that backup and cleanup tools sometimes
  mishandle, and a damaged database could silently reset to empty. It now
  refuses to touch your data rather than guess, and logs what happened so we
  can diagnose any report.

Improved

• Italian translation refreshed. Thanks @bovirus.
• Traditional Chinese translation refreshed. Thanks @jimmyorz.

v1.1.8: Fast cables no longer get short-changed by slower devices

Fast cables no longer get short-changed by slower devices

WhatCable had the logic backwards on one thing: it treated the live Thunderbolt
link speed as the most a cable could do. It's actually a floor, not a ceiling.
Plug an 80 Gbps cable into a 40 Gbps drive and the cable now still reads
80 Gbps, with a separate line describing the live link, and Negotiation
Diagnostics points at the device as the limit. Thanks @cannotcollide for the
report (#393).

Fixed

• 80 Gbps cables no longer read as 40 Gbps when the device is the
  bottleneck. The negotiated link speed is now treated as proof of what the
  cable can carry, never as a cap on it. When the e-marker claims more than the
  current link uses, you'll see a "Thunderbolt link active at N Gbps" line
  about the connection instead of a wrong claim about the cable. Thanks
  @cannotcollide (#393).
• Device brands no longer doubled. A Thunderbolt device whose model name
  already includes its brand used to show up as "Ugreen Ugreen Storage
  Device". Now it's just the once. Thanks @ebondfrancisco (#392).
• Buttons respond across the whole button. The header buttons only
  registered clicks over the exact icon shape, so near-misses did nothing.
  The full button area is clickable now. Thanks @jckirton (#386).
• Port card titles no longer get squashed when the Pro "Track as...?"
  chip is showing.

Heads up

• Some cables' trust tier moves from green to amber. If your cable claims
  a speed nothing in your setup can actually test (an 80 Gbps cable where the
  Mac and every device top out at 40, say), it now shows amber, "not yet seen
  to perform at its claim", instead of green. The old green was circular: it
  trusted the very reading this release fixes. Plug the cable into hardware
  that can use its full speed and it earns the green properly.
• One conflict banner has gone quiet on purpose. A registered-brand cable
  claiming a speed tier nothing in the chain can test no longer gets a
  "conflicting speed" banner. Untestable is not evidence of lying. Cables with
  blanked-out vendor IDs are still flagged by the trust signals.

Improved

• Display Diagnostics now uses macOS's own DisplayPort link description
  instead of a number we derived ourselves, so the link-rate line always
  matches what the system believes.

Under the hood

• Test Kit hardening for contributors: long probe output no longer gets cut
  off mid-dump, probes that fail are reported instead of silently skipped, and
  two probes capture extra port-mapping data that helps us line up multi-port
  machines.
• More cables in the built-in database, several straight from community
  reports.
• A large batch of internal regression tests that replay real community
  diagnostic data through the parsers, so this class of bug is harder to
  reintroduce.

v1.1.7: A new opacity slider lets you make WhatCable see-through

A new opacity slider lets you make WhatCable see-through

Settings has a new Opacity slider. Drag it down and WhatCable's windows go
translucent, from the menu bar popover to the Pro screens, so you can see what's
behind them. Leave it at 100% and nothing changes.

New

• Opacity slider. Settings > Display now has an Opacity control (50% to
  100%). It dims every WhatCable surface together: the menu bar popover, the
  separate Pro windows, the welcome and licence screens, and the pop-up dialogs.

Improved

• The updater checks for the newest version right before it installs. When
  you hit install, WhatCable re-checks for the latest release first, and the
  update panel refreshes itself when you open it, so you always get the current
  version. Thanks to the report behind this one.
• Contributing diagnostic data no longer pops up a "removable disk" warning.
  The Test Kit used to nudge macOS into showing its USB-storage prompt while it
  ran. It now skips storage devices, so the run stays quiet.

Under the hood

• Italian and Traditional Chinese wording refinements.
• More cables added to the built-in cable database.

v1.1.6: Devices behind a dock or hub now show where they're plugged in

Devices behind a dock or hub now show where they're plugged in

This release is about your dock. If you connect through a dock, a hub, or a
monitor with USB ports, the devices hanging off it now appear nested under what
they're actually plugged into, instead of as a flat list or not at all.

Fixed

• Devices behind a dock or hub are listed, and nested correctly. WhatCable
  now shows everything behind a dock or hub with each device under the hub it
  sits on, so a trackpad behind a hub behind your dock reads as exactly that.
  Before, those devices could appear as a flat list with no hierarchy, or be
  counted but never listed. Thanks to @jesserobbins and @tomjn for the reports.

Under the hood

• Improved diagnostic data. The Contribute Diagnostic Data feature now
  collects more accurate USB, Thunderbolt, and display information, which helps
  us improve cable, port, and display detection across more Macs.