GitHub - djui/ankered

Anker Power (ankered)

Unofficial native macOS menu-bar monitor for the Anker Prime Charger 160W with Smart Display (A2687). Product page: djui.github.io/ankered.

The app lives in the menu bar (LSUIElement). It connects locally over Bluetooth LE, shows live power, and can change charging mode, display settings, and individual USB-C ports. It is not affiliated with Anker Innovations.

What's included

• macOS 14+ menu-bar app for A2687 only
• Local BLE only — no Anker account, no cloud, no network requests
• Menu-bar icon with a bar per port (taller as the port draws more, a stub when something is plugged in but idle) next to total watts in tabular digits, so it does not jitter; faint bars while the charger is away, slashed when Bluetooth is off or the connection is paused
• Popover that leads with the charger's connection status and firmware, with Pause and Reconnect beside it; when Bluetooth is off, access is missing, or the charger is out of reach, it says why and offers the fix
• Total output against the 160 W limit, with a bar split by port, and the charging-mode picker (AI 2.0, C1 Priority, Dual Laptop, Custom)
• Per-port watts, volts, and amps, with charging protocol, connected device, and cable rating (a small USB VID/PID table; unknown models stay at brand level)
• Port output on/off (with confirmation), per-port shutdown timers, and optional port names (modern AES-GCM session)
• Device names that follow a device to whichever port it is plugged into, keyed by its USB VID/PID; identical models share a name, since the charger reports no per-unit serial
• Settings for display (brightness, timeout, language, rotation), a previewed custom watt split, port names that save as you type, and This Mac options
• Custom screensaver image over BLE: four local slots, in-app crop, optional black edge blend (no Anker account)
• 24-hour history on this Mac (full resolution for the last hour, 30-second averages before that) with peak, average, energy, and charging-time tiles, an optional charger-side curve, and CSV export
• Launch at login, optional idle-port notification, and Shortcuts for port on/off
• About panel with app version and homepage link
• Diagnostics window with firmware / serial / MAC in the header (Copy All still omits serials, session keys, and decrypted payloads)
• Current Anker-app-compatible P-256 ECDH / AES-GCM handshake, with AES-CBC fallback from Anker-BLE

What's not included

• Firmware updates or OTA
• Cloud protocol management (0x021D) or Anker account features
• Cloud screensaver catalog, rename, or pictures set only in the official Anker app
• iOS, iPadOS, Windows, Linux
• Home Assistant, MQTT, or any other home-automation bridge
• MagGo pads, power banks, Solix stations, or other Anker models
• The official app's full device-model catalog — unknown USB IDs stay "Brand Device"
• Sharing the BLE session with the official Anker app (only one client at a time)
• App Store distribution or Apple notarization (see Install)

Requirements

• macOS 14 or newer
• Xcode 15 or newer to build from source
• Anker Prime Charger 160W, model A2687
• Bluetooth permission
• The official Anker mobile app disconnected from the charger

Install

Download AnkerPower-1.4.0.zip from the latest GitHub Release, unzip it, and move AnkerPower.app to /Applications.

Builds are ad-hoc signed and not notarized. On first launch, right-click the app and choose Open, then confirm. After that, Spotlight and Finder open it normally.

Grant Bluetooth access when macOS asks.

Usage

The app appears only in the menu bar, with one bar per port (C1 to C3, left to right) next to the total watts. A bar steps up at 15, 45, and 90 W; a solid stub means something is plugged in but not charging, and a faint stub means the port is empty. Click the icon:

• Header — charger name, connection status, and firmware. Reconnect (↻) drops the session and scans again; Pause (⏸) releases the charger so the official Anker app can connect, and Resume (▶) takes it back
• Total output — live watts against the 160 W limit, a bar split by port, and the charging mode (AI 2.0, C1 Priority, Dual Laptop, or Custom)
• Ports — C1–C3 with watts, volts, amps, protocol, device, and cable. The timer button sets a 1 / 2 / 3 hour or custom shutdown; the power button turns the output off (after a confirmation) or back on. Click a device's line to give it a name; it keeps that name on any port
• Charging History — last 1 / 6 / 24 hours on this Mac or the charger's own curve, with peak, average, energy, and charging time; CSV export
• Settings… (⌘,) — Charger display, Custom split, Screensaver, Port names, Device names (once you have named one), and This Mac (launch at login, idle alert, release Bluetooth during sleep, Connection diagnostics)
• About Anker Power and Quit Anker Power (⌘Q)

When there is no live data, the popover explains why instead of showing empty ports: searching, paused, Bluetooth off (Open Bluetooth Settings), Bluetooth access missing (Open Privacy Settings), or connection lost (Reconnect).

Right-click the icon for Pause/Resume, Reconnect, Charging History, Settings, About, and Quit. Shortcuts can turn a port on or off while the app is running.

If a connection fails, open Settings… › Connection diagnostics and use Copy All when filing an issue.

When the charger is away, the app scans in short bursts and waits longer between tries instead of scanning continuously. By default it also disconnects while the Mac sleeps, so charging history has a gap until wake. Turn off Release Bluetooth during sleep in Settings to keep the session up.

Build from source

open AnkerPower.xcodeproj

Select the AnkerPower scheme and My Mac, then Run. To work on the UI without a charger, add --demo to the scheme's launch arguments: the app runs on sample data and never touches Bluetooth.

xcodebuild -project AnkerPower.xcodeproj -scheme AnkerPower \
  -destination 'platform=macOS' test

Refresh the README and landing-page screenshots (light and dark) with:

./scripts/export-screenshots.sh

Cut a local archive (and optionally a GitHub Release) with:

./scripts/release.sh            # zip only
./scripts/release.sh --publish 1.4.0

Privacy

All charger telemetry and history stay on the Mac. Up to 24 hours of readings (averaged to 30 seconds after the first hour), last-known charger identity, and locally uploaded screensaver JPEGs are stored in the app's Application Support container (~/Library/Application Support/AnkerPower/). Port and device names live in UserDefaults. The app makes no network requests.

Protocol

This is an unofficial implementation. The A2687 BLE protocol is not a public Anker API and may change with charger firmware.

The app first performs the current app-compatible, ephemeral P-256 ECDH/AES-GCM session and polls 0x020A/0x0200. After the session is ready it also requests charger-side history once (0x020C). If that handshake does not answer, it falls back to the older AES-CBC flow and 0x4200 telemetry subscription documented by the MIT-licensed T-REX-XP/Anker-BLE project. Mode, display, port control, screensaver select/upload, and history are available on the modern session only. Charger-button changes arrive as 0x0300–0x030B reports.

Credits

Protocol constants, FF09 framing, negotiation, ECDH/AES-CBC behavior, and telemetry subscription are derived from:

• Anker-BLE — Copyright (c) 2026 T-REX-XP / Anker-BLE contributors, MIT License. Full notice: THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

The app-compatible AES-GCM handshake and telemetry commands were cross-checked against public reverse-engineering notes in:

• Anker Prime 160W WebBLE (A2687) — research only; no code or assets from that repository are distributed here.

Screensaver cover-transfer layout (0x021F / 0x0220 / 0x0221, 240×240 JPEG chunks, ACK pacing) was reimplemented from public notes in:

• anker-prime-ble — research only; no Python or assets from that repository are distributed here.
• Charker — Copyright (c) 2026 qzz0518, MIT License. Arithmetic cross-check only; no Swift sources from that repository are distributed here. Full notice: THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

License

Ankered is released under the MIT License. That is compatible with Anker-BLE's MIT license; the required copyright and permission notice is reproduced in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Disclaimer

Unofficial research software. Anker is a trademark of Anker Innovations. This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anker Innovations. Use at your own risk. Keep the official Anker app disconnected while this app holds the BLE session.