WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.880 Remember AirPower? The idea was to create a convenient wireless charger that just worked. 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 00:00:13.040 --> 00:00:19.000 bad alignment. It would just charge. So look for the AirPower charger next year. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Well, that never happened. And what we got instead three years later is this. MagSafe. 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 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:38.080 surrounding the iPhone's wireless charging coil. You can see it right there. And I think 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 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:55.400 a much more interesting and handy ecosystem. Let me show you how. 00:00:55.400 --> 00:01:00.880 You're smart because you bought an iPhone 12 mini. My favorite small smartphone option 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 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 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 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:24.560 into a phone is just embarrassing. So what about this? 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:29.520 It's Apple's brand new MagSafe battery pack. Their first powered MagSafe accessory since 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 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 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 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:52.440 a peculiar little thing, full of little bits of Apple magic and odd priorities. Let's 00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:59.280 take battery capacity for example. It's labeled at almost 1500mAh, which seems low, but battery 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. 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, 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 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:22.200 your phone up completely. Not that it ever would have, because when you first attach 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%. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:31.640 Which I imagine is there to help prolong the longevity of your iPhone's precious battery. 00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:36.040 Which I should also note, only costs $70 to replace. 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 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 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 00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:56.720 top up the battery pack, it supports reverse charging too. Placing it on your phone conjures 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. 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 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 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, 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, 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 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 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 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 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 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:59.760 which one do you get? These two very similar accessories kind of show the interesting state 00:03:59.760 --> 00:04:07.280 the MagSafe ecosystem is in. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:16.520 See these accessories here are not MagSafe. Rather, they're compatible. It's confusing. 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 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:27.400 full speed wireless charging magic and then have the privilege to print made for MagSafe 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 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 00:04:40.280 --> 00:04:46.600 MagSafe compatible accessories. It's annoyingly hard to differentiate between the two. Looking 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:51.120 in Apple's accessory guidelines document where the specs and dimensions of the magnets 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:59.000 are found, it appears that Apple calls the ring of magnets MagSafe Attach. Okay, so then 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 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:11.320 a MagSafe accessory. And if it simply has the magnets and uses everyday slower Qi charging, 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 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:23.040 right? And I got these right. Yes. Yes. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:29.360 The first and most famous MagSafe accessory is Apple's official MagSafe charging cable. 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 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:43.800 sold separately. It's a little inconvenient. Interestingly, when you search MagSafe on 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:50.520 the internet, you often get accessories that merely hold this charger. In fact, there's 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 00:05:55.960 --> 00:06:02.560 this expensive and beautifully crafted mount by Grovemade. But mostly, it's all kind of 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 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:10.120 own magnets, it doesn't really count as an interesting accessory, especially when you 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:17.560 consider this. It's the Belkin Boost Charge 3-in-1 charger. 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:22.400 Affectionately referred to by Vergerider as a charging tree thing, it's cute and mighty 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 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 00:06:34.880 --> 00:06:41.200 MagSafe pad. It means you get the full 15 watts of inductive charging throughput, well, 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 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 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 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:05.840 can schedule your charging routine for then, meanwhile not missing on any notifications. 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 00:07:11.080 --> 00:07:16.400 and convenient accessories available. Take this kit for a moment, for instance. Reading 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 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 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 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 00:07:39.200 --> 00:07:47.320 yet a microphone, dongle not included. There are three variations, including this one, 00:07:47.320 --> 00:07:51.960 which lets you vertically mount your phone on your tripod so that you can record the 00:07:51.960 --> 00:07:57.000 hottest TikTok dances. And then there's also this multi-threaded puck, which the camera 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 00:08:03.080 --> 00:08:08.240 your phone really makes this compelling. You can have a rig set up for precious moments 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. 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, 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 00:08:25.080 --> 00:08:30.720 a normal case creates from the iPhone's built-in magnets weakens them significantly. Which leads 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:38.120 me to an interesting thought. These moment cases would be perfect for Madison, our social media 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. 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 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:57.120 with those magnets built in for their older phone? Sintechi has a sticker you can adhere 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. 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 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 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 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 00:09:28.920 --> 00:09:34.440 MagSafe Attach cases for older phones scattered on AliExpressive as well. But the usual cap vets 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:38.280 of that platform apply. Long shipping times, question of quality, you know. 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:48.360 Now back to inductive charging. Outside of officially sanctioned MagSafe, there are plenty 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 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 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 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 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 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 00:10:24.760 --> 00:10:29.720 volt adapter. But at least it's something. Otherwise, if you don't care about charging, 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:35.080 the stronger magnets and slim profile of the moment car mount is a pretty good option. 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:43.720 I'm still pretty shocked that after eight months, we haven't seen more official MagSafe 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:48.680 accessories hit the market. Where's the official fast charge car mount? Where are the cool 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 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 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 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, 00:11:12.520 --> 00:11:18.360 or even Android phones? To be able to easily and conveniently attach to a burgeoning accessories 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 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:27.880 box full of chargers that are useless, otherwise. 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:34.840 You get a MagSafe Attach charger! You get a MagSafe Attach charger! You least have a 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:46.600 MagSafe attached charger! You get a MagSafe attached charger! You get a MagSafe charger! 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:53.720 You get a MagSafe charger! You get a MagSafe charger! You get a MagSafe charger! 00:11:55.240 --> 00:12:07.160 Apple's MFI program first started with the iPod. 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 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:19.760 their headphones, and Apple was the sole gatekeeper of the iPod's 30-pin connector. 00:12:19.760 --> 00:12:24.920 But with MagSafe, cheat charging is not controlled by Apple, so nothing stops third parties from 00:12:24.920 --> 00:12:29.680 avoiding the burden of Apple's MFI program while making accessories that still work. 00:12:29.680 --> 00:12:33.680 Meanwhile, I think customers will be happy to put up with slightly slower charging if 00:12:33.680 --> 00:12:37.880 it means they save $20 or $40 off the price. 00:12:37.880 --> 00:12:42.360 There are murmurs that MagSafe might become the future of charging on the iPhone, and 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:45.740 that certainly would increase demand for MagSafe accessories. 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:50.960 But at a cost to your wallet and power efficiency, look, MagSafe is neat. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:56.600 It's a future for charging, but please not the future. 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. 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 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. 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 00:13:19.560 --> 00:13:22.680 YouTube. Like what you're probably doing right now. 00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:24.520 But if you have an idea, let me know in the comments below.