Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-05-07

WhatCable is a small macOS menu bar app that tells you what each USB-C cable plugged into your Mac can actually do. This page explains what data the app handles.

What WhatCable reads

WhatCable reads USB-C port state, USB-PD Discover Identity messages, power source data, and Thunderbolt switch information from your Mac through Apple's IOKit framework. All of this stays on your Mac. It is used only to render the popover you see in the menu bar.

What WhatCable sends

The Mac App Store version of WhatCable does not make any network calls of its own. App Store updates are handled by macOS.

The free GitHub / Homebrew version of WhatCable checks the public GitHub Releases API once every six hours to see if a newer version is available. That request includes a User-Agent header naming the app and your installed version (for example, WhatCable/0.8.4). It does not include any personal information, and no analytics, telemetry, or identifiers are sent.

If you click "Report this cable", WhatCable opens GitHub in your default browser with the cable's public e-marker fields pre-filled in a new issue. You review the contents and decide whether to submit it. Nothing is sent automatically.

What WhatCable stores

WhatCable stores your in-app preferences (display mode, hidden ports, notification toggles, font size) in the standard macOS user defaults system, on your Mac. Nothing else is stored.

What WhatCable does not do

WhatCable does not collect, store, or transmit:

• Personal information (name, email, address, phone number).
• Account or device identifiers.
• Browsing or app usage analytics.
• Information about other apps or files on your Mac.
• Anything about devices connected to ports WhatCable does not need to read.

Contact

Bug reports and questions go through the public GitHub repository at github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable.