Talk:MagSafe (wireless charger)

Article title / primary topics / disambiguation page

• Previously, the article for the Apple Computer laptop charging connector known as a MagSafe connector was titled "MagSafe".
  • ... That article was first created in 2006; Its title was unchanged from 2006—2019.
  • Computers with MagSafe connectors and their power adapters were produced for well over a decade (2006—2019) and are still in common use.
  • During about the second half of that period, the physical size of the connectors was modified and those are sometimes referred to as "MagSafe 2" connectors.
  • As of August 2021, products with this name remain for sale .
• In 2020, Apple introduced a charging / accessory interface for some new models of iPhone.
  • (This includes, as of mid-2021, a small fraction of iPhone models in actual world-wise use.)
  • ... this technology unfortunately has also been named/branded as "MagSafe".

• An editor made a minor edit (on 13 October 2020) of the original article, changing the title (and thus moving the article) from "MagSafe" to "MagSafe (MacBook connector)". Throughout the next 24 hours, the title was changed several times, resulting in a final title of "MagSafe (Mac)"
• That same day, a new stub article was created with the title "MagSafe (2020)"; later that day it was renamed to "MagSafe (iPhone)"
  • On 18 November 2020, that article (to which this talk page belongs) was renamed once more, to "MagSafe".

While there is nothing necessary wrong with the existing article titles (in isolation), there are years of webpages on the public Internet currently linking to the original article URL

• • Since late 2019, those pages, such as this (example), incorrectly link to the parent article of this Talk page.
• As I understand, that normally wouldn't be a problem, as the site would automatically create a redirect page.
  • That was the case for just over a month.
• That redirect, however, broke when the new article was renamed to have the same name as the original article.

Note: I'm cross-linking this from the Talk page on that original article, so any discussion isn't duplicated and can take place here.

It does not seem the present configuration of these articles (and the implications of that configuration) was actually intended by the community - rather, the link redirection error outlined above appears to have occurred as an unintended consequence of several unrelated changes over time.

Since neither one of these articles now qualifies as a primary topic for "MagSafe" and in an attempt to address the issue detailed above, I'm going to be bold and attempt the following steps in rapid succession:

1. Rename the article referring to the mobile phone charger from "MagSafe" to "MagSafe (smartphone charging and accessory interface)" ✓
2. Rename the article referring to the computer charging connector from "MagSafe (Mac)" to "MagSafe (laptop power connector)" ✓
3. Create a disambiguation page at MagSafe (disambiguation)" and then immediately move it to the original article title of "MagSafe". ✓
   1. (Note: this step required manually editing redirects at both URLs)
4. Place notes referring to this discussion on the other two Talk pages. ✓
5. Adjust hatnotes and redirect pages for both articles, as necessary. ✓
6. Check for double and broken redirects, and repair any that are discovered. ✓

If you disagree with any of this, please discuss on this Talk page (the one you are reading right now). As noted previously, the individual articles can be renamed again in the future; for this transition, I intentionally chose quite specific names to start to establish a solid redirect chain and try to keep us all sane.

After discussion, if necessary, the above changes can be reverted (in reverse order).

P.S. I tried (sincerely) to make sure this explanation didn't devolve too far into an Abbott & Costello bit. YMMV.

Please leave this post here long-term, for the benefit of future editors.

Jim Grisham (talk) 05:37, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

I am quite surprised the idea of merging these articles was not raised in this discussion. it seems clear now from their product naming and public statements that Apple has expanded the MagSafe brand to cover magnetic attachments for a variety of their devices. Neither the laptop nor mobile device connectors are such a complicated topic that it would result in an unwieldy article if both were covered in the same place, why can't they simply be separate sections in the primary article? I can understand the impetus to treat them separately when the 'phone Magsafe' was new and it wasn't clear if they intended to keep the laptop version around, but now both connectors are alive and well, and they are similar enough technologies that they could easily covered under one heading. Walkersam (talk) 00:53, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

This is ridiculous, and helps nobody except the sort of weird pedants that the disambiguation rules are explicitly intended to exclude from the debate. The laptop page has been the primary topic for years and should be returned to that. Mine2480 (talk · contribs) should be soundly trouted for causing a mess. No further discussion is needed here. I'll be moving these back promptly unless a very good reason (as opposed to more bureaucratic diarrhoea) surfaces as to why that wouldn't be prudent. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 14:36, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

Done. The iPhone page is now at MagSafe (smartphones), which is less tortuous than the old title. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 09:44, 19 September 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 26 June 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: MagSafe not moved. MagSafe Attach → MagSafe (iPhone). (non-admin closure) - nathanielcwm (talk) 13:05, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

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• MagSafe Attach → MagSafe
• MagSafe → MagSafe for Mac

– The term "MagSafe Attach" is used nowhere except Apple's internal documents. It's simply known as MagSafe globally. Nokia621 (talk) 03:47, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

This is a contested technical request (permalink). GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 04:13, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

• Your move from MagSafe to MagSafe for Mac has already been reverted. Both moves are therefore controversial and need to be discussed. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 04:13, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
• Oppose MagSafe is definitely more well-known for its' Mac roots. I'd honestly prefer to see both articles merged, with an introduction that goes over the shared history before diving into the differences/details as subsections. Unless Apple does something crazy (like MagSafe for iPad) it seems very likely these articles won't expand much beyond the odd iterative changes. —Locke Cole • t • c 05:03, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

I'd agree with it being merged. Nokia621 (talk) 13:51, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

• Oppose agree with merge. It would make the most sense to have one MagSafe page, with sub sections "MagSafe (Mac)" & "MagSafe (iPhone)". Then the lead can mention the two technology differences (history, basic original release dates, et al.), with each of those sections explaining in detail each version's information. If other pages need to link to a specific version, they can link to each section directly on the page – eg. MagSafe#MagSafe_(Mac) & MagSafe#MagSafe_(iPhone). Obviously after merging, checking what links to each one and altering them would be done by the user merging; standard practice done previously across many merges. MagSage Attach would simply be explained in the MagSafe (iPhone) section as being the internal name used for the iPhone version, with an RD to that section from MagSafe Attach (an uncommon term amongst the general public). Jimthing (talk) 22:24, 1 July 2022 (UTC)
• Support MagSafe Attach being moved back to MagSafe. The "Attach" part is not part of its common name and is only used in developer documents by Apple. Since MagSafe for Mac came first I think that article should be MagSafe, and the iPhone version should be changed to something like MagSafe (iPhone). Don't support merging, the two standards are very different. -Shivertimbers433 (talk) 17:19, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

  @Shivertimbers433: MagSafe Attach is the iPhone article. You mean you support moving it to MagSafe (iPhone)? About the merge, I agree they are physically completely different, but they are very closely related due to Apple's branding, and the fact that they both use magnets to help complete the connection. —Locke Cole • t • c 16:34, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

• Oppose MagSafe is much more well known as the Mac charging connector. I do however support moving this article to MagSafe (iPhone) due to the argument brought up by Shivertimbers433 - nathanielcwm (talk) 20:15, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

  That seems like a reasonable compromise! (It would also avoid many of the potential unintended consequences of swapping article names).

  An in-article reference to the name ‘MagSafe Attach’ and redirect from that term would still exist in that case.

  Also, for the record, the article was titled ‘MagSafe (smartphones)’ until just two weeks ago it when it was re-named to ‘MagSafe Attach’ .

  Jim Grisham (talk) 19:01, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

• Oppose These pages were sorted last year (after someone inadvertently created a huge technical mess); since then there appears to have been minimal stated concern about the status quo until now (see the other discussion above and the one at Talk:MagSafe).

FWIW, I also oppose merging the two articles: while the two technologies share a marketing name (at the moment) they are otherwise vastly different in both form and function.

If any page retains the plain ‘MagSafe’ title, it should be the original (laptop computer-related) one: that technology has a much longer history (plus ‘long-term significance’) and it remains in production and common use.

(There are also reliance issues here regarding incoming links from the rest of the internet, including ‘deep’ links to article sections, whenever swapping names between two articles.)

Re-name this article to ‘MagSafe (iPhone)’ if you must (it may be easier for casual editors to properly wikilink that name than to the much less well-known term ‘MagSafe Attach’); otherwise I strongly recommend either leaving things as they are or making ‘MagSafe’ a disambiguation page at ‘ MagSafe (disambiguation)’ (since there is arguably no longer a ‘primary topic’)

The nature of the disagreement here implies there is a chance for confusion in with any outcome; that itself implies we should err on the side of being more specific in these article titles.

(Whatever decision is ultimately made, please take great care in the technical implementation regarding redirect chains and preserving page histories to avoid repeating mistakes of the recent past.) Jim Grisham (talk) 17:37, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

• Oppose One is a laptop power connector, the other is used to secure accessories to mobile phones. Two distinctly different products. I do Support moving this article to MagSafe (iPhone), personally I have never seen to the "Attatch" name used to referance this technology. Narnat. 19:52, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Requested move 5 January 2023

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Moved (non-admin closure) >>> Extorc.talk 07:29, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

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MagSafe (iPhone) → MagSafe (wireless charger) – The current article name makes a false impression that it's limited to charging iPhones (or worse, that MagSafe is a phone instead of an accessory). It's not limited to charging phones; Apple Watches and AirPods work as well with this wireless charging. It's better to use a more descriptive name for this article. And I think "(wireless charger)" as a tag is concise enough for what the subject does. Explorer09 (talk) 05:40, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

Support for being more accurate. NasssaNser_talk 09:58, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Support; seems like a common-sense move. DFlhb (talk) 13:23, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Support for older phones

It could be mentioned that iPhone 11 and older models are supported if you use a case with a magnetic circle, however I could not find any link that mentions that that is not on a store (which then would not be allowed on Wikipedia). ArlindoPereira (talk) 13:12, 3 June 2024 (UTC)