{"id":358017,"date":"2026-07-10T18:39:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T18:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/apple-2\/whatcable-gives-you-the-download-on-your-usb-cables-six-colors\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T18:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T18:39:06","slug":"whatcable-gives-you-the-download-on-your-usb-cables-six-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=358017","title":{"rendered":"WhatCable gives you the download on your USB cables \u2013 Six Colors"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n

If you\u2019ve ever wondered why your data transfers to external drives aren\u2019t going as fast as you\u2019d like, or a certain peripheral just isn\u2019t working, you could probably use WhatCable<\/a>, a helpful little app from developer Darryl Morley.<\/p>\n

WhatCable looks at your Mac\u2019s USB ports and anything plugged into them, and lets you know about speeds and power supply for your currently connected USB and Thunderbolt cables, as well as what their maximums are. While there are other places on your Mac that you can find this information, such as System Information, WhatCable presents it all in a well organized, easy to read manner. It even details all the devices connected to your USB hubs.<\/p>\n

For example, after looking at it, I realized that my backup drive was only connected via a USB2 cable. Fine in general for overnight backups, but when it reminded to me when I was troubleshooting some backup issues that maybe I should switch to a high speed cable that supports USB-3.<\/p>\n

You can choose to run WhatCable in your menu bar, or as a standalone app; there\u2019s also a \u201cShow technical details\u201d option that gives you even more information that could be helpful for troubleshooting. There are options for font size, translucency, and menu bar icon, in case you\u2019re so inclined.<\/p>\n

For its base functionality, WhatCable is free and available either via Morley\u2019s site, or via homebrew. For a \u00a39.99 one-time purchase, you can unlock WhatCable Pro<\/a>, which works on up to two Macs, lets you assign names to cables so you can remember which one it is when you plug it in later, provides more in-depth diagnostics, offers live power metering to see how much juice is being delivered right now, and even more.<\/p>\n

[via Michael Tsai<\/a>]<\/p>\n

[Dan Moren<\/strong> is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights<\/a> or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His next novel, the sci-fi adventure Eternity’s Tomb<\/a>, will be released in November 2026.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

If you appreciate articles like this one, support us by becoming a Six Colors subscriber<\/a>. Subscribers get access to an exclusive podcast, members-only stories, and a special community.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever wondered why your data transfers to external drives aren\u2019t going as fast as you\u2019d like, or a certain peripheral just isn\u2019t working, you could probably use WhatCable, a helpful little app from developer Darryl Morley. WhatCable looks at your Mac\u2019s USB ports and anything plugged into them, and lets you know about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11768],"tags":[1332,23199,298,11518,3554,2234,14775,2013,11553,16746,2308,179561],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-358017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-2","tag-apple","tag-cables","tag-colors","tag-download","tag-ios","tag-ipad","tag-ipados","tag-iphone","tag-mac","tag-macos","tag-usb","tag-whatcable"],"yoast_head":"\nWhatCable gives you the download on your USB cables \u2013 Six Colors - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=358017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WhatCable gives you the download on your USB cables \u2013 Six Colors - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019ve ever wondered why your data transfers to external drives aren\u2019t going as fast as you\u2019d like, or a certain peripheral just isn\u2019t working, you could probably use WhatCable, a helpful little app from developer Darryl Morley. 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