WhatCable now remembers your cables

The big one: WhatCable can keep a history of the cables you use. Add a cable, give it a name, and WhatCable records how it actually performs over time, so you can catch one that misbehaves. There's also a new free warning when a cable develops a fault mid-session, plus two fixes and three more cables in the database.

New

• Cable history (Pro). Add a cable, give it a name, and WhatCable starts keeping a record of how it actually performs over time, not just a snapshot of the moment it's plugged in. It recognises the cable on later connections and builds up a timeline: when you last used it, what it negotiated, whether it's been misbehaving. You get a saved-cables list, an all-time summary per cable, and a verdict right on the port card. Cables you haven't added still get the live reading as before, they just aren't recorded. Localised in 18 languages.

• Mid-session fault warnings (free). If a cable develops a fault while you're using it (a power overcurrent, or the connection dropping and coming back), WhatCable now shows a banner on that port instead of staying silent. It reads the port's own fault counters, so it catches trouble that only shows up once a cable is under load. Free for everyone.

Fixed

• A connected MagSafe charger no longer shows "nothing connected." On some Macs, macOS occasionally doesn't expose the per-port power data for a MagSafe charger, and WhatCable would treat the port as empty even though it was charging. It now shows the port and the charger's wattage. If the full power detail is still missing, a restart usually brings it back (macOS sometimes doesn't publish it until the next boot). Thanks to the Pro user who reported it.

• Negotiation Diagnostics opens instantly again on macOS 26. On the latest macOS, opening the Negotiation Diagnostics screen could hang with a spinning cursor while it loaded. It was running the same hardware scan twice over. Now it shares one scan with the rest of the app. Display Diagnostics and Power Monitor got the same treatment.

Also

• Three more cables in the database. New fingerprints from your reports: the Apple Thunderbolt 4 Pro 1.8m cable (@todrobbins), the Cable Matters Thunderbolt 5 80Gbps / 240W cable (@jmuscara), and the WD My Passport SSD bundled cable (@tinpansoul). Browse them all at whatcable.uk/cables.
• Updated translations. Italian (@bovirus) and Traditional Chinese (@jimmyorz), including the new cable-history screens.