1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,880
Remember AirPower? The idea was to create a convenient wireless charger that just worked.

2
00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:13,040
Using a whole bunch of coils, you could just place your device anywhere and not worry about

3
00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:19,000
bad alignment. It would just charge. So look for the AirPower charger next year.

4
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:27,000
Well, that never happened. And what we got instead three years later is this. MagSafe.

5
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:32,920
It's a really neat feature added to the iPhone 12 last fall. In essence, it's a ring of magnets

6
00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:38,080
surrounding the iPhone's wireless charging coil. You can see it right there. And I think

7
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,640
in many ways that it is better than AirPower could ever have been, because it makes for

8
00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:55,400
a much more interesting and handy ecosystem. Let me show you how.

9
00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:00,880
You're smart because you bought an iPhone 12 mini. My favorite small smartphone option

10
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:06,480
on the market. It's easy to hold, doesn't demand all your attention, and fits in any

11
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:12,240
pocket. But it might not have enough battery life for your heavy usage. So if you're not

12
00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,480
at home, you might not be able to plug it into a wall. And holding a battery pack plugged

13
00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:24,560
into a phone is just embarrassing. So what about this?

14
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:29,520
It's Apple's brand new MagSafe battery pack. Their first powered MagSafe accessory since

15
00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:34,880
the puck is designed to top up your phone in a pinch. Just attach it to the back and

16
00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:40,280
it'll send a 5 watt trickle of power to your phone. You can see how perfectly its dimensions

17
00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:46,920
match the edge of this mini. It's basically designed for this phone. For $100, it's such

18
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:52,440
a peculiar little thing, full of little bits of Apple magic and odd priorities. Let's

19
00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:59,280
take battery capacity for example. It's labeled at almost 1500mAh, which seems low, but battery

20
00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:06,040
capacity numbers make no sense to me because it's rated at 7.62 volts and 11.13 watt hours.

21
00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:12,700
So I don't know. Well, it means that when I tried to recharge my dead iPhone 12 mini,

22
00:02:12,700 --> 00:02:18,120
it made it to 73%. And that took about 3 heat generating hours. So it's not going to charge

23
00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,200
your phone up completely. Not that it ever would have, because when you first attach

24
00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:27,280
the battery pack, you do get a notification telling you that it won't charge past 90%.

25
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,640
Which I imagine is there to help prolong the longevity of your iPhone's precious battery.

26
00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:36,040
Which I should also note, only costs $70 to replace.

27
00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:40,920
It's pretty neat that if you plug it into a modern 20 watt charger with a USB-C lightning

28
00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:45,960
cable, neither of which are included in the box, it turns into a full spec 15 watt MagSafe

29
00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,720
charger like the Puck. Or if say you need to plug your phone into CarPlay but want to

30
00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:56,720
top up the battery pack, it supports reverse charging too. Placing it on your phone conjures

31
00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:02,120
up a nifty animation that shows the outline of the battery pack and what's getting charged.

32
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,400
And the capacity shows up in the battery widget, which I think you'll probably want to set

33
00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:10,560
up on your home screen or in the today view. The downsides are that you need iOS 14.7 to

34
00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:17,200
get it to work. Also, I thought it would be clad in Apple's typically glossy white plastic,

35
00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:26,680
but it isn't. It's matte. Now there's also something like this. It's the Anker Powercore Magnetic 5K. Functionally,

36
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:32,060
it's the same, but capacity wise it has more juice. Able to charge this iPhone 12 mini

37
00:03:32,060 --> 00:03:37,840
from empty to 98% and hold it there for a bit. It's got this same untethered charging

38
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,520
speed and because it has a USB-C port that also doubles as a charging output, it's a

39
00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,640
bit more useful if you have other devices to charge and a bit less useful if all you

40
00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:54,240
have are lightning cables in your home. It also costs $46 which is $54 less. So like

41
00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:59,760
which one do you get? These two very similar accessories kind of show the interesting state

42
00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:07,280
the MagSafe ecosystem is in.

43
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:16,520
See these accessories here are not MagSafe. Rather, they're compatible. It's confusing.

44
00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:21,600
I know. Let me explain. Any accessory maker that wants to take full advantage of Apple's

45
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:27,400
full speed wireless charging magic and then have the privilege to print made for MagSafe

46
00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:33,480
on their box will have to pay into Apple's MFI program. Well, you'll have to pay, but

47
00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:40,280
you know what I mean. This presents a bit of a problem because there's official MagSafe accessories and then there's

48
00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:46,600
MagSafe compatible accessories. It's annoyingly hard to differentiate between the two. Looking

49
00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:51,120
in Apple's accessory guidelines document where the specs and dimensions of the magnets

50
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:59,000
are found, it appears that Apple calls the ring of magnets MagSafe Attach. Okay, so then

51
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,160
to be clear, if it's MFI and officially sanctioned by Apple with fast charging, we'll call it

52
00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:11,320
a MagSafe accessory. And if it simply has the magnets and uses everyday slower Qi charging,

53
00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:18,120
we'll refer to it as an accessory with MagSafe Attach. Hmm, I think that's easy to understand

54
00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:23,040
right? And I got these right. Yes. Yes.

55
00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:29,360
The first and most famous MagSafe accessory is Apple's official MagSafe charging cable.

56
00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:37,040
At $40, it's expensive. With one meter length, it's short and requiring a 21 adapter that's

57
00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:43,800
sold separately. It's a little inconvenient. Interestingly, when you search MagSafe on

58
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:50,520
the internet, you often get accessories that merely hold this charger. In fact, there's

59
00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:55,960
a whole sub ecosystem of this stuff from cheap holders for your dashboard all the way to

60
00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:02,560
this expensive and beautifully crafted mount by Grovemade. But mostly, it's all kind of

61
00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,920
lame if you think about it. Because as far as I'm concerned, if it doesn't have its

62
00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:10,120
own magnets, it doesn't really count as an interesting accessory, especially when you

63
00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:17,560
consider this. It's the Belkin Boost Charge 3-in-1 charger.

64
00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:22,400
Affectionately referred to by Vergerider as a charging tree thing, it's cute and mighty

65
00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:27,640
convenient for the ultimate Apple device user. In its base is a 5-watt Qi charging pad for

66
00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:34,880
AirPods. There's a spot for your Apple Watch. And right next to that, there is an official

67
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:41,200
MagSafe pad. It means you get the full 15 watts of inductive charging throughput, well,

68
00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:48,080
12 on this mini, and a cool animation just like on the Apple Watch. At $140, it's a

69
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:53,760
lot of money. I wish it had USB-C and a more discreet wall adapter for when you can't

70
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,680
plug it into a wall, but I like it. Put one of these things on your desk at work and you

71
00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:05,840
can schedule your charging routine for then, meanwhile not missing on any notifications.

72
00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:11,080
Now if we broaden the horizon to include MagSafe Attach, then there's a lot of interesting

73
00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:16,400
and convenient accessories available. Take this kit for a moment, for instance. Reading

74
00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:21,200
up a phone to make good social content can become an annoying faff. But what Moment has

75
00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:27,600
done is beefed up their magnets in both their cases and in here. These little pucks easily

76
00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:33,560
stick onto the back of your iPhone and turn it into the ultimate production rig. This tripod

77
00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:39,200
adapter is brilliant, actually. At the top you have a cold shoe mount for a light or better

78
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:47,320
yet a microphone, dongle not included. There are three variations, including this one,

79
00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,960
which lets you vertically mount your phone on your tripod so that you can record the

80
00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:57,000
hottest TikTok dances. And then there's also this multi-threaded puck, which the camera

81
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:03,080
guys here say is extremely handy for rigging. The ease at which you can place and remove

82
00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:08,240
your phone really makes this compelling. You can have a rig set up for precious moments

83
00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:15,480
without your phone becoming a wright old mess. And it's all for a cost of between $40-60.

84
00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,000
But here's an important thing to remember. If you're going to be using MagSafe Attach,

85
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:25,080
you need to make sure that you have a case with the magnets built in. The separation

86
00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:30,720
a normal case creates from the iPhone's built-in magnets weakens them significantly. Which leads

87
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:38,120
me to an interesting thought. These moment cases would be perfect for Madison, our social media

88
00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:44,880
coordinator here. However, her work phone is an iPhone 11 Pro, which doesn't have MagSafe Attach.

89
00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:52,080
But if the MagSafe Attach specification is a simple ring, why can't someone just buy a case

90
00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:57,120
with those magnets built in for their older phone? Sintechi has a sticker you can adhere

91
00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,760
to the back of your phone to give it MagSafe capability, but I think you can do better.

92
00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:08,840
I searched high and low and found this, the Zira Clear MagSafe case. It looks very much

93
00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:14,320
like Apple's clear case, but with a difference. It's also available for all of the iPhone 11

94
00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:21,400
models. And I've tried it with all our accessories here. And it works flawlessly. While not being

95
00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:28,920
the most quality of plastic cases, it is around $27 for two. I should note that I have seen

96
00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:34,440
MagSafe Attach cases for older phones scattered on AliExpressive as well. But the usual cap vets

97
00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,280
of that platform apply. Long shipping times, question of quality, you know.

98
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:48,360
Now back to inductive charging. Outside of officially sanctioned MagSafe, there are plenty

99
00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:55,000
of options. There's this Sintechi stand for instance, which is about $60. That's about $15

100
00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:01,400
less than the comparable Belkin. And this power wave magnetic from anchor is even less, if you can

101
00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:07,240
get it. For the road warriors among us, MagSafe Attach can actually be pretty handy. A lot of

102
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:13,720
you are asking what I was using in my AirTags video, and it's this, the $36 ESR Gear Halo

103
00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:20,200
car mount. Now it's far from the prettiest car mount in the world, but it does actually charge

104
00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,760
your phone as you drive along. I'll be it very slowly because I'm using this gas station five

105
00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:29,720
volt adapter. But at least it's something. Otherwise, if you don't care about charging,

106
00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:35,080
the stronger magnets and slim profile of the moment car mount is a pretty good option.

107
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:43,720
I'm still pretty shocked that after eight months, we haven't seen more official MagSafe

108
00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:48,680
accessories hit the market. Where's the official fast charge car mount? Where are the cool

109
00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:55,080
interactions created by the NFC chip that's part of MagSafe? I can't find them. The MagSafe Attach

110
00:10:55,080 --> 00:11:01,080
ecosystem, however, is thriving quite well. But I feel like it'd be pretty easy to make it even

111
00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:06,760
better. Well, Zira has shown that it's perfectly workable to add a ring of magnets to an iPhone 11

112
00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:12,520
case. Why stop there? Why aren't there good cases for older iPhones that support cheat charging,

113
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:18,360
or even Android phones? To be able to easily and conveniently attach to a burgeoning accessories

114
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:25,240
market would make MagSafe, or MagSafe Attach, all the more compelling. It's not hard, and I have a

115
00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:27,880
box full of chargers that are useless, otherwise.

116
00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:34,840
You get a MagSafe Attach charger! You get a MagSafe Attach charger! You least have a

117
00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:46,600
MagSafe attached charger! You get a MagSafe attached charger! You get a MagSafe charger!

118
00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:53,720
You get a MagSafe charger! You get a MagSafe charger! You get a MagSafe charger!

119
00:11:55,240 --> 00:12:07,160
Apple's MFI program first started with the iPod.

120
00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:14,080
Remember how many different accessories were available back then? The ecosystem thrived because lots of people wanted to easily use their iPods outside of

121
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:19,760
their headphones, and Apple was the sole gatekeeper of the iPod's 30-pin connector.

122
00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:24,920
But with MagSafe, cheat charging is not controlled by Apple, so nothing stops third parties from

123
00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:29,680
avoiding the burden of Apple's MFI program while making accessories that still work.

124
00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:33,680
Meanwhile, I think customers will be happy to put up with slightly slower charging if

125
00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:37,880
it means they save $20 or $40 off the price.

126
00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:42,360
There are murmurs that MagSafe might become the future of charging on the iPhone, and

127
00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,740
that certainly would increase demand for MagSafe accessories.

128
00:12:45,740 --> 00:12:50,960
But at a cost to your wallet and power efficiency, look, MagSafe is neat.

129
00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:56,600
It's a future for charging, but please not the future.

130
00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:02,400
Thanks for attaching to this Mac Address. If you'd love to be able to magnetically attach your phone to things, give this a like.

131
00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:09,680
And if you've already experienced that, why not subscribe? Now one thing I didn't mention is that Moment also has this magnetic wall mount that you

132
00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:15,560
can drill or glue onto the wall. But I'm having trouble coming up with a reuse for it.

133
00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:19,560
The best I can think of is putting it on the wall opposite of the toilet for watching

134
00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,680
YouTube. Like what you're probably doing right now.

135
00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:24,520
But if you have an idea, let me know in the comments below.