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Viture, which ranked top in XR glasses shipments in the US in Q3 2025, per IDC, raised $100M, bringing its funding in the past six months to $200M (Charlie Fink/Forbes)

Viture, which ranked top in XR glasses shipments in the US in Q3 2025, per IDC, raised $100M, bringing its funding in the past six months to $200M (Charlie Fink/Forbes)

Charlie Fink / Forbes : Viture, which ranked top in XR glasses shipments in the US in Q3 2025, per IDC, raised $100M, bringing its funding in the past six months to $200M —  Viture has closed another $100 million financing round, bringing its total capital raised in the past six months to more than $200 million …

Best Thunderbolt docks: Extend your laptop’s capabilities

Best Thunderbolt docks: Extend your laptop’s capabilities

A Thunderbolt laptop docking station takes your desk to the next level, with support for old and new peripherals alike. It’s a necessity for a home office, and there are many more options now than you’d think to connect mice, keyboards, printers, and multiple monitors using your PC’s Thunderbolt or USB4 connection. What this story does is recommend the best Thunderbolt docks — an overall pick, as well as budget and premium recommendations — based on my own testing of dozens of Thunderbolt docking stations. That testing includes a formal performance evaluation, of course, but also simply using each dock for several days. If you need help figuring out what’s best for you, a FAQ is there to assist. That FAQ also explains why I generally lean toward slightly older Thunderbolt 4 docks at the moment. Be aware that significantly older laptops often don’t use Thunderbolt. They may have a slower, generic USB-C port instead, making our picks for the best USB-C hubs and dongles a better choice. If you’re interested in productivity and not gaming, consider a middle ground: my favorite DisplayLink USB-C docks . I explain how to make that decision below these recommendations. Why you should trust PCWorld for Thunderbolt dock reviews and buying advice: PCWorld has been in business since the late 1980s, featuring a steady stream of news, reviews, how-to articles, and more. We don’t try to cover every topic under the sun. Instead, we focus on what you need to know — and buy — in the world of PCs. I’ve been personally reviewing these docks for several years now. Kensington Thunderbolt 4 Dual 4K Dock (SD5780T) – Best overall Thunderbolt dock Pros Solid performance No thermal issues Pretty solid mix of ports, including downstream Thunderbolt 4 Price cuts have helped make it more affordable Cons One display port, requiring an additional dongle for two displays No dedicated phone charging port, but Thunderbolt can do it Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Kensington SD5780T? The SD5780T is an ideal “starter” dock, for someone who has a laptop and a single external display and might want to add more in the future. Adding a second display will require the purchase of a USB-C (Thunderbolt) to HDMI cable, which will cost an additional $15 or so. The inclusion of the SD card slot should appeal to photographers who record photo or video on those cards. One of my testing credos is “affordable flexibility,” and I favor a dock that will fit into your existing setup. But I also don’t want you to pay through the nose for it. Still, even the cost of the additional cable isn’t much, and this dock’s price is right where I’d hope it to be, about $250 or so. (It’s also why we include a range of retailers: When I updated this in February 2026, Lenovo was selling this dock for $50 less than other sites.) Kensington SD5780T: Further considerations The Kensington SD578OT is a solid Thunderbolt 4 dock in all respects. For those who wish to use a single 4K monitor, chances are that you already own an HDMI cable. In my tests, the dock was stable (and not all are!) with a nice port selection. The dock will charge your smartphone if you connect its USB-C charging cable to the Thunderbolt port. The bottom line: This is currently among the best combination of value and features in a Thunderbolt dock that I’ve tested. Read our full Kensington Thunderbolt 4 Dual 4K Dock (SD5780T) review Plugable 11-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station (TBT-UDT3) – Best overall Thunderbolt dock runner-up Pros $300 MSRP seems reasonable Thunderbolt 5 Three-display capability, or two displays plus an SSD Thunderbolt Share is included Stable Cons You’ll probably need to buy display adapter cables No active cooling, but it didn’t seem to need it Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Plugable $299.95 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Plugable 11-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station (TBT-UDT3)? It’s becoming more apparent that Thunderbolt 5 simply isn’t going to be part of Intel’s laptop processor platforms, which still dominate, heading into 2026. With that said, Plugable’s dock is a solid choice for anyone looking to future-proof their home office. Gaming laptops and video-editing workstations is where Thunderbolt 5 will appear in the near future. Note that I moved Sonnet’s dock — with a solidly-performing integrated SSD — into the premium category. Plugable’s dock is a more reasonably priced TB5 solution. Plugable 11-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station (TBT-UDT3): Further considerations Most Thunderbolt 5 docks are designed more like hubs, with Thunderbolt 5-out rather than dedicated display cables. You’ll have to buy your own. The upside to all this is that you can easily decide whether to use those ports as display outputs, or to connect to an external storage device. Read our full Plugable 11-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station review Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Triple Display Docking Station – Best budget Thunderbolt dock Pros Two ports for fast-charging smartphones Solid value 18-month warranty Cons Occasional instability Price When Reviewed: 189,99 Euro Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Wavlink $199 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Triple Display Docking Station? If you want a generous set of extra ports and the ability to connect a couple of 4K displays, this affordable yet capable Thunderbolt 4 dock is a great solution. Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Triple Display Docking Station: Further considerations For this I’m leaning on Macworld’s choice of docks, which offers an excellent feature set at an affordable price — and it will work just fine with Windows machines. The dock is a well-priced and loaded Thunderbolt 4 dock, though it sacrifices two of the potential three downstream TB4 ports in favor of two HDMI 2.1 ports. Use one of these for one external display and the downstream TB4 port for the other. The spare HDMI port can be used for a third extended display on Windows PCs. Power delivery to the laptop is 96W, enough for a lightweight content-creation laptop. There’s a handy 30W USB-C charging port at the front, which also supports 10Gbps data transfer. Note that’s not enough to fast-charge the very latest smartphones, but is satisfactory for older models. Read our full Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Triple Display Docking Station review Ugreen Revodok Pro 13-in-1 Triple Display Docking Station – Best budget Thunderbolt dock runner-up Pros Excellent performance Great value for the money Optimized build Completely stable Cons Short, built-in cord You’ll need your own power supply/charger Requires a relatively modern laptop Price When Reviewed: 129,99 Euro Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Ugreen 129,99 € View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Ugreen Revodok Pro 13-in-1 Triple Display Docking Station? I recommend this dock for those who own laptops with 13th-gen Core hardware or above. HBR3/DSC technology really doesn’t work on older systems like 11th-gen Core hardware and older PCs. If you own an AMD Ryzen laptop, too, it may be a little iffy. Great price, though! Ugreen Revodok Pro 13-in-1 Triple Display Docking Station: Further considerations The only reason this isn’t my pick for the best budget Thunderbolt docking station is because it uses a generic form of data compression known as HBR3 (High Bit Rate 3) with DSC (Display Stream Compression), which is built into the DisplayPort spec. That’s a particular technology that is more common within recent Intel Core (and Core Ultra) laptops, but isn’t guaranteed to appear on yours. (If you own a laptop with a Thunderbolt port, though, this should work just fine.) You’ll also have to supply your own USB-C power cable. Otherwise, this docking station has so much to offer. The price is outstanding, of course, but Ugreen’s dock is also so flexible yet so stable. Everything’s well labeled, and the dock offers DisplayPort as well as HDMI options. And it’s really quite portable, too. Just remember that charger. Read our full Ugreen Revodok Pro 13-in-1 Triple Display Docking Station review Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock – Best premium Thunderbolt dock Pros Superb SSD performance Thunderbolt 5 power Cons Higher SSD capacities quickly elevate the price Price When Reviewed: 629 Euro Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Alternate 504,00 € View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock? Yes, this is the same dock I selected as my overall pick. But if you’re looking for a premium Thunderbolt dock, I think this fits the bill. We have a cheaper runner-up option just below. Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock: Further considerations The performance that this dock offers really boils down to the integrated SSD. It’s simply one of the fastest storage options that I’ve tested for an external drive, though it’s confined to the dock. (It’s not removeable.) But if you want a 4GB SSD option, you’ll pay $750 (at press time). That’s kind of insane. Read our full Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock review Kensington SD7100T5 EQ Pro 19-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station – Best premium Thunderbolt dock runner-up Pros Thunderbolt 5 Integrated M.2 slot for an SSD Dedicated function keys Dock will charge without need for a laptop connection Unusually varied ports (optical, CompactFlash) Generally stable Cons Some trouble connecting to displays after a restart/resume Extremely high price Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Kensington $449.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Kensington SD7100T5 EQ Pro 19-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station? This dock is definitely for the prosumer, or someone with some extra spending cash. This dock has it all: an M.2 slot. Hot keys. An optical connection. Offline charging. CompactFlash. If you’re a high-end creative professional, you should be reading the linked review below with one hand on your wallet. Kensington Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Quad Video Docking Station (SD5800T): Further considerations I absolutely think that this is more dock than the average person will need, especially in a year where Thunderbolt 5 isn’t a necessity. But there’s enough here for profesionals today, especially with an eye toward the future. But man, what a price tag! I would hope and expect that Kensington lowers the price during 2026. Read our full Kensington SD7100T5 EQ Pro 19-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station  review Plugable 5-in-1 Thunderbolt Hub (USB4-HUB3A) – Best Thunderbolt 4 hub Pros Incredibly compact USB-C to HDMI adapter included 15W/60W of charging power to phones/PCs Cons Limited ports Best for Thunderbolt-attached displays Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $189 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Plugable 5-in-1 Thunderbolt Hub (USB4-HUB3A)? The hub works as a “splitter” of sorts for the Thunderbolt connection. Why should you care? This hub can be used for an emerging market of Thunderbolt/USB-C monitors , which are much more common in the Mac market but may become more prevalent in the Windows space in the future. Put another way, if you own a USB-C monitor, those displays tend to also have legacy ports (USB-A, USB-C) inside them , which means that a Thunderbolt dock and its cluster of ports may be redundant. This hub is a way to save a little money for the user who has a specific setup. Plugable 5-in-1 Thunderbolt Hub (USB4-HUB3A): Further considerations How does a Thunderbolt hub differ from a Thunderbolt dock? In this case, there’s less of an emphasis on legacy ports, and more of a focus on a direct connection to a display. The Mac world tends to emphasize Thunderbolt-connected displays far more than the Windows world does, so this might be a niche product for most of you. But this thing is tiny (4.75 x 2.88 x 0.5 inches) even if, unfortunately, the associated power brick isn’t. It will send 15W of power via the Thunderbolt/USB-C connections to charge smartphones, and 60W to the host PC. If you don’t need a big, bulky dock with multiple connections, Plugable’s 5-in-1 Hub just does the job and without any extra fuss. If your laptop needs more power than the 60W Plugable hub provides, I would recommend the Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Slim Hub Pro instead. Read our full Plugable 5-in-1 Thunderbolt Hub (USB4-HUB3A) review Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock Chroma – Best Thunderbolt 4 hub runner-up Pros Rock-solid stability The only (?) dock with RGB lighting Cons Average to slightly poor performance Lack of dedicated display ports A higher price tag than what rivals charge Best Prices Today: Retailer Price €324 View Deal €324 View Deal €255.9 View Deal 243,48 € View Deal 247,49 € View Deal €329.99 View Deal €329.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock Chroma? Gamers, obviously. But even a stodgy old reporter like me likes it, because the RGB can either be fixed to a certain color or turned off entirely. And the dock surprised me with its stability and construction. You can certainly buy this dock for its blingy aesthetic, but it works just as well as a more down-to-earth alternative, too. Razer did a very nice job balancing both aspects. Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock Chroma: Further considerations I was surprised by how much I like this combination dock/hub. It’s a premium offering, with enough ports that I’d almost consider it a full-fledged dock. But with three upstream Thunderbolt ports, you can characterize it as a hub as well. As one of the more modern docks, with rock-solid stability, it won me over in the end, though its storage performance was middling. And, of course, remember to invest in cables. The RGB lighting is fun, and optional — it can be turned off. Read our full Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock Chroma review Plugable USB4 Dual HDMI Docking Station (UD-4VPD) – Best USB4 docking station Pros Great price and value, even at MSRP 4K120 display capabilities open up gaming possibilities Stable performance Excellent charging capabilities Cons Significant thermal issues Storage tests across the dock were lower than average Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Plugable USB4 Dual HDMI Docking Station (UD-4VPD)? This is a general-purpose USB4 dock, which can be adopted by anyone. But it’s best suited for laptops with a Ryzen chip inside, and for photographers who need the SD card slots. Plugable USB4 Dual HDMI Docking Station (UD-4VPD): Further considerations Thunderbolt and USB4 are basically the same. USB4 ports typically appear on laptops with AMD Ryzen chips inside (because Intel refuses to certify an AMD laptop as Thunderbolt-compliant.) Why include a dedicated USB4 category? In part, because not everyone knows this. This dock can get hot, but it’s an affordable budget option. Read our full Plugable USB4 Dual HDMI Docking Station (UD-4VPD) review Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock – Best Thunderbolt dock for Apple Mac users Pros Thunderbolt 4 19 ports Built-in speedy SSD enclosure 100W PD 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Price When Reviewed: 373 Euro Best Prices Today: Retailer Price €353 View Deal €399 View Deal 353,00 € View Deal Videodata 412,00 € View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock? Think of this dock as a more full-featured version of our Thunderbolt 4 hub recommendation, above. Though this recommendation is targeted at Mac users, there’s no reason that an owner of a Windows PC couldn’t buy this dock, too. If you’re trying to save space on your desk but also want an external SSD, this hybrid dock could serve both needs. Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock: Further considerations This recommendation comes courtesy of our colleagues at Macworld, who have compiled their own list of best Thunderbolt docking stations for the Apple Mac market. “Boasting an impressive 19 top-rated ports, Thunderbolt 4 certified, and with a bonus internal SSD storage feature, the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt SuperDock offers remarkable value for money,” Macworld writes. I haven’t reviewed this dock myself, but there’s an undeniable surplus of ports, and an SSD enclosure. (I definitely liked the SSD enclosure on our top pick!) And it’s reasonably priced, too. Read our full Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock review Best DisplayLink USB-C docks DisplayLink USB-C docks, which I discuss in more detail in a separate article , don’t offer enough bandwidth for high-refresh rate monitors or gaming, but they work admirably well for everyday office work, including watching movies. Anecdotally, they’ve often been more stable than a Thunderbolt dock on older hardware, as sometimes Thunderbolt docks have issues “waking up” when the host laptop wakes up from standby. You can “break” the dock by pushing more and more over the connection, like streaming while copying files. What I’d like to see in a DisplayLink USB-C docking station is a feature set that approaches a full-fledged Thunderbolt dock, but that is priced below what you’d pay for Thunderbolt performance. The current pick does just that. Some recent reviews do not appear here — for instance, StarTech’s USB-C Triple Monitor Dock fell short. Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615 – Best USB-C DisplayLink dock Pros Terrific price and value Excellent stability Great display port flexibility Support for two 4K60 displays Cons Have to provide your own power supply Can warm to somewhat alarming temperatures Mandatory software driver A lack of naming consistency Price When Reviewed: 159,99 Euro Best Prices Today: Retailer Price X-Kom 133,99 € View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615? If you’re not worried about hunting down the proper software driver (because Ugreen, bless them, does not make it apparent that it needs one) than I would recommend that you buy this dock. It offers many of the features of more expensive Thunderbolt docks at an affordable price. Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C (Revodok) Docking Station CM615: Further considerations Like some of our premium Thunderbolt docks, Ugreen provides options to use either HDMI or DisplayPort to connect a display, allowing you to use your existing display cables and save some money. Like most DisplayLink docks, this dock was unusually stable, with no flickering between displays — one of the reasons I like DisplayLink docks. Some other Thunderbolt docks offer the same flexibility to shift between monitors, but not many. Ugreen’s dock does so affordably. Read our full UGREEN Revodok Pro CM615 review Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station (UD-6950PDH) – Best USB-C DisplayLink dock runner-up Pros Terrific value for office workers Great display flexibility Plenty of USB-A ports SD/microSD card slots, too 100W of charging power Cons No USB-C ports No dedicated charging ports Best Prices Today: Retailer Price B&H $199 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station? If you’re a home office worker who doesn’t want or need to game, this dock will suit you just fine. Plugable’s USB-C Dual 4K Display dock takes Plugable’s traditional approach: Provide dedicated display interfaces, and let the user choose between which cables they’ll need to connect to their display. The dock is a pretty simple affair, with a pair of legacy USB-A ports and standard gigabit Ethernet connection. Interestingly, Plugable has recast this dock as a Mac-dedicated device, with a grayish tint to boot. (That’s what you’ll see on the Amazon page.) It’s really not — it will work on Macs and Windows PCs just fine, though you’ll need the Windows driver for it instead. Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station: Further considerations For whatever reason (maybe the bandwidth that a 10Gbps port consumes?) USB-C ports aren’t common on DisplayLink docks. (The Ugreen dock that we’ve picked as our favorite has one; this dock does not.) This is going to sound redundant, but just keep in mind that these docks are terrific for video playback or office work, but gaming is beyond them. Read our full Plugable USB-C Dual 4K Display Horizontal Docking Station (UD-6950PDH) review Other Thunderbolt reviews and features OWC ships the first two-meter Thunderbolt 5 cable . One-meter cables can be a tad short. OWC’s active cable adds extra flexibility. Satechi launches a Mac mini-like Thunderbolt 5 dock . Meet the CubeDock. Razer Thunderbolt 5 Dock Chroma review : Too many things went wrong here for me to recommend this dock. Why you shouldn’t buy a Thunderbolt 5 dock in 2025 or even 2026. Wavlink Thunderbolt 4 Dock (UTD45) : I disagree with our sister site, Macworld: it’s just not as good as promised. Plugable TBT-UDT3 Thunderbolt 5 dock review: Plugable makes solid docks, but this one is also moderately priced for a TB5 dock. Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock : Why it’s the best laptop dock I’ve reviewed The biggest thing I didn’t see at CES: Thunderbolt 5 : Thunderbolt 5 was a no-show, and insiders explain why. My first Thunderbolt 5 experience was a huge bust: I don’t know whether it was the cable, laptop, or dock, but my first taste of Thunderbolt 5 was a lot worse than I expected. Is Thunderbolt 5 storage ready? Thunderbolt 5 exhibits a marked improvement in sequential transfers, but our first look at the spec suffered some backwards-compatibility issues. Kensington’s first Thunderbolt 5 dock is built for the future : Thunderbolt 5 is here…but you’ll need more than just this well-built Kensington docking station to take advantage of it. Can I get a better deal on Thunderbolt docks? Let’s face it: Tariffs have been a major wild card on all sorts of purchases. Daily discounts and so-called “lightning deals” affect prices, too. Thunderbolt docks, however, still receive discounts during major shopping events like Amazon’s Prime Day deals and holiday sales. While our automated pricing technology that we use in our reviews should reflect the current price of the item, it’s always a good idea to check PCWorld’s list of deals for these major shopping events. We generally dedicate specific articles to the best deals on Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs. How PCWorld tests Thunderbolt docks I’ve written a separate article about how I test Thunderbolt docks , which goes into detail about how evaluate the performance of docks. Put very briefly, I examine each dock physically, making measurements on the cord length and port spacing. I then connect the dock to a variety of laptops. My performance testing includes streaming video, transferring video files back and forth, running standardized benchmarks, and more. In addition, I simply use the dock for several days just to discover any quirks or glitches. Who curated this article? My name is Mark Hachman , and I’ve covered the technology industry as a reporter and reviewer for over 30 years. I’ve worked from home for years, so when the pandemic hit I instantly realized that all the things I had already nerded out about — using a laptop docking station, setting up multiple monitors — would become a priority for PCWorld’s readers. When someone tells me that they bought one of the docking stations that I’ve recommended, and that they love it — well, that’s why I do what I do. How to choose the best Thunderbolt dock Ports, cables, peripherals: Those are the three major considerations when buying a Thunderbolt dock. Check your laptop’s specifications. If you own a laptop with a Thunderbolt 4 port, buy a dock with a Thunderbolt 4 connection. Thunderbolt 4 docks will work with laptops with a Thunderbolt 5 connection, but at Thunderbolt 4 speeds. Still, you may save a few bucks with an older dock. Think about what you want to connect the dock to. Here, the priority is usually the displays. Consider the displays you own (which typically include either HDMI or DisplayPort connections) and think about whether the dock will accommodate them. I prefer docks with dedicated display ports, so that a display with an HDMI port, for example, can connect directly. I am seeing a small but growing percentage of Thunderbolt docks that include a Thunderbolt cable to your laptop and then dedicated Thunderbolt connections out to displays. These docks tend to cater to Mac users. However, you can buy a dongle or cable that converts Thunderbolt/ USB-C to HDMI or DisplayPort, or else you can buy a USB-C display . What will you want to plug into the dock? Use that answer as a guide. Do you want a basic Thunderbolt dock, with just a pair of HDMI ports for connecting two displays? Does an SD card slot matter? How many USB Type A peripherals do you plan to attach? Do you want to charge your smartphone? More recent phones now require more power to fast-charge them. Check your laptop’s power supply. Does it plug into your laptop via USB-C? If so, a Thunderbolt dock will likely power it. You’ll need to understand how the dock supplies power, though. Check your laptop’s charger to learn how much power it supplies, and how much the dock will need to supply to replace it. If your laptop or devices aren’t receiving enough power, you may see a warning pop up. A “bus-powered” dock won’t come with an external charger in the package, saving some cost, space, and power concerns. (Today, these are pretty rare.) A dock with power delivery will supply its own power and charge your laptop and/or a phone via your laptop’s existing USB-C charger. What I’ve found is that some docks, especially those with a free Thunderbolt port, will supply enough power for even today’s most modern fast-charging smartphones, even without explicit support for them. Powered Thunderbolt docks, especially those that power your laptop, can ship with some pretty sizeable power bricks. Mark Hachman / IDG There’s one more consideration: the length of the Thunderbolt cable between your laptop and the dock itself. You may have noticed or heard about USB-C ports wearing out on smartphones; a loose or wobbly connector on a Thunderbolt dock can cause a monitor to unexpectedly flicker or lose connection. Consider how much tension will be put on a cable. A Thunderbolt dock that’s dangling from a Thunderbolt port will stress the physical connector. You don’t want that! We’re starting to see some docks with an SSD enclosure inside. It’s possible that this will become more of a viable product over time, but for now it’s still niche. If you’re a Mac user who has stumbled across this article, welcome. But please be aware that early Apple MacBook Pros powered by Intel silicon supported up to two 4K displays. The first MacBook Pros powered by the Apple M1 chip only support a single 4K display. Many Mac users have recently left negative reviews on Thunderbolt docks on shopping sites because of this. Apple also hasn’t explicitly committed to Thunderbolt 5, either. Buy a PC! FAQ 1. How do I know if my laptop has Thunderbolt? The short answer: Look at the laptop’s published specifications to be sure. A Thunderbolt port uses a USB-C connection, and it may look indistinguishable from a USB-C port. Put another way: All Thunderbolt ports are USB-C, but not all USB-C ports are Thunderbolt-equipped. Thunderbolt ports are supposed to have a small lightning-bolt icon to identify them. But some laptop makers use a similar lightning-bolt icon to indicate that a USB-C port can be used for charging your phone, and not for Thunderbolt. Laptop makers sometimes don’t want to clutter the clean lines of their products by adding additional logos, it seems. Fortunately, most laptops now choose to highlight their Thunderbolt capabilities, so the ports should be well-marked. In June 2024, Intel held a technical session talking about its Core Ultra 200 (Lunar Lake) processor . One of the big changes Intel is making is to force laptop makers to a) cluster all of the older USB-C ports on one side of the laptop, away from the Thunderbolt and b) require the ports (including Thunderbolt) to be clearly labeled. That’s a small but important win for users. USB4 is Thunderbolt’s more generic competitor, and USB4 docks and Thunderbolt docks are often interchangeable. The USB Implementor’s Forum is going to ask laptop makers to add a separate, different USB4 logo to laptops as well. This strikes me as unnecessarily confusing. Two laptops, both with USB-C ports, and both with lightning-bolt symbols. Which laptop offers Thunderbolt? The top one, though it can be difficult to tell. Consulting the manufacturer’s specifications is your safest bet. IDG 2. How fast is Thunderbolt? Put simply, 40Gbps, for Thunderbolt 3 or 4. Most USB-C ports are built on the second-generation USB 3.1 data-transfer standard, which transfers data at 10Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 and 4 ports, the most common standard, transfer data at up to 40Gbps. Thunderbolt 4 differs very slightly in that it supports a theoretical maximum of 32Gbps for external storage devices, but you probably won’t notice the difference. Intel unveiled an 80Gbps version of Thunderbolt in 2024, called Thunderbolt 5, meaning that you’ll see Thunderbolt docks with even more capabilities. In certain scenarios, Thunderbolt 5 can reroute data to deliver 120Gbps in one direction. More laptops are arriving with a discrete Thunderbolt 5 chip inside, though they’re still somewhat rare and tend to land inside gaming laptops. 3. What should I buy: Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, or Thunderbolt 5? I’d recommend a Thunderbolt 4 dock. You can score a deal as retailers continue to clear out old Thunderbolt 3 inventory, but they’re being phased out and as of 2026 are quite hard to find. You can always future-proof your setup with a Thunderbolt 5 laptop and dock. but those aren’t essential quite yet. Thunderbolt 5 is the 80Gbps version, which backwards compatible with both Thunderbolt 3 and 4. Please be aware that, early in 2026, only a few Apple Macs include dedicated Thunderbolt 5 ports, alongside a scattering of Windows gaming laptops. Neither Intel nor AMD support Thunderbolt 5 on their 2026 laptop platforms, meaning that laptop makers have to buy a separate chip. For that reason, Thunderbolt 5 makes sense if you anticipate a future where Intel’s gaming laptops or future platforms natively support Thunderbolt 5. Otherwise, why buy it? Tariffs add cost, and peripheral makers are going to charge more for Thunderbolt 5, too. That’s why I tend to favor Thunderbolt 4 except in certain cases. Thunderbolt 3 and 4 are basically the same, though Thunderbolt 3 is quickly on its way out in 2026. Why? Because they’re so similar, retailers and manufacturers want to phase out the older specification. The long answer: Essentially, Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 allow up to 40Gbps maximum bandwidth, enough for two 4K/60 displays. “Up to” is the key phrase: Thunderbolt 3 is only required to support a 10Gbps connection, allowing for a single external 4K display (a 16Gbps PCIe connection, paired with USB 3.2). Most manufacturers go beyond this, however, and our recommended docks support the full 40Gbps specification (and two 4K displays) unless noted. Thunderbolt 3 also supports a slower (16Gbps) PCIe connection for connecting to external storage. Thunderbolt 3 is also the only specification (not Thunderbolt 4) that we’ve seen connecting to external GPUs , in case you’d like to try that approach. Thunderbolt 5 adds that capability back, but few docks take advantage of it. Thunderbolt 3 was somewhat flexible from a standards perspective. Thunderbolt 4 doesn’t allow for any leeway—you’re getting a full-fledged 40Gbps connection (32Gbps PCIe + USB 3.2), no questions asked. For external storage, Thunderbolt 4 supports 32Gbps of data transfer—this really only matters for video, external GPU connections, or possibly games. Thunderbolt 4 supports “wake on sleep” from an external keyboard or mouse, which allows you to tap your external keyboard or wiggle your mouse to wake up your PC, which is handy. Thunderbolt 4 allows for longer cables and more Thunderbolt ports on laptops, too. Device maker Anker has a nice table of all of the technical features associated with Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4, if you really want to get into the fine distinctions (below). What’s USB4? We address that further down. 4. I already own a USB-C dongle. Can I use it with Thunderbolt? Yes, you can connect the dongle to a Thunderbolt port. But the 10Gbps dongle won’t magically transform into a 40Gbps Thunderbolt port, as there’s circuitry within the dock that allows it to work with your laptop’s high-speed Thunderbolt port. However, there’s nothing saying that you can’t connect the dongle to an available USB-C port on the Thunderbolt dock itself, either. If your laptop has two Thunderbolt ports, you can also attach a Thunderbolt dock to one port, and the dongle to the other. That solution will add more clutter to your desk, but it might allow you to buy a cheaper, budget dock, too. It’s up to you! Thunderbolt dock and I/O hub designer Anker provided this summary of the differences between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4. Anker 5. My laptop says it has a USB4 port, not Thunderbolt. Can I use it with a Thunderbolt dock? Probably. USB4 ports typically appear on laptops with AMD Ryzen processors inside. USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 are compatible and functionally equivalent. (Though Thunderbolt is an open standard, Intel declines to certify non-Intel hardware. That means that Ryzen laptops end up with USB4 ports, and Intel Core laptops include Thunderbolt.) USB4 is essentially a subset of Thunderbolt 4 , mainly designed as an I/O specification. As a subset of Thunderbolt 4, a USB4 device will run just fine plugged into a Thunderbolt 4 port. But dock makers tell us that a Thunderbolt 4 device may not work as expected when plugged into what is specifically a USB4 port. Instead, most hubs and docks are marketed as Thunderbolt 4, while most devices (like an external SSD) are designed around USB4. (We test Thunderbolt docks on Thunderbolt laptops.) There are USB4 docks, however, which you’ll find above in our list of best picks. USB4 Version 2 is a standard that will propel USB4 to 80Gbps, just like Thunderbolt 5. I haven’t seen any docking stations marketed as USB v2 (also known as USB80Gbps ), however. Note that Thunderbolt 3 and 4 require at least 15W to power devices plugged into the Thunderbolt port, such as a bus-powered hard drive. USB4 requires just half that. I did try to connect a Thunderbolt 5 dock to a USB4 laptop, and it didn’t work. It should! It may just be a driver issue. 6. What is so important about Thunderbolt 5? The Thunderbolt 5 spec pushes I/O bandwidth from 40Gbps in Thunderbolt 4 to 80Gbps in Thunderbolt 5, and even to 120Gbps in some cases. Another good way to think of Thunderbolt 5 is in the context of what it can do. Thunderbolt 4 allows enough bandwidth for two 4K displays, running at 60Hz. Thunderbolt 5 will offer enough bandwidth to connect to three 4K displays, at 144Hz apiece. That helps make Thunderbolt 5 a gaming-class technology, rather than just for office work. Thunderbolt 5 will also allow for 64Gbps of dedicated bandwidth for storage and external GPUs, double the 32Gbps on Thunderbolt 4. Finally, there’s power. Thunderbolt 5 will provide up to 240W (140W required) of charging power for your laptop. Most laptops require 65W to 90W today, but gaming laptops require more. All this means is that a Thunderbolt 5 dock will potentially eliminate the need to carry a gaming laptop’s charger around. (It won’t be in all cases, but some.) Note that you’ll need a laptop that supports this power spec, however! And that’s the problem. Thunderbolt 5 debuted in 2024 , both in laptops as well as docks and devices. Although we saw a couple of early products in 2024, I only saw two TB5 laptops for several months:  a version of the Razer Blade and the Maingear ML-17. Both have discrete chips inside, rather than being directly integrated inside the processor. I tried a Thunderbolt 5 setup, and it stunk , though I think it’s the fault of Maingear’s laptop, and not the docks. Why does that matter? If a function like Thunderbolt 5 isn’t built right into the processor, a laptop OEM must buy it separately. That takes time, money, and engineering, and most laptop makers think hard before spending extra. There are a few Thunderbolt 5 docks, but hardly any laptops that support it. At CES 2025, I was told that it may take a couple of years for Thunderbolt 5 to really go mainstream — 2026 or maybe 2027. In 2026, that seems likely to be the case. Thunderbolt 5 isn’t integrated into Intel’s Lunar Lake mobile processor , and it’s not in the desktop or mobile versions of Arrow Lake , either. Maybe Panther Lake ? Nope. 7. What is Thunderbolt Share? How does it work? Thunderbolt Share is a new way of connecting two PCs via a Thunderbolt cable. Plug one end of the cable into one Thunderbolt port, and the other into a Thunderbolt port on another laptop, and voila ! They’re connected. Thunderbolt Share allows you to use one PC to control another, sync files, share files, and more, all at Thunderbolt speeds. I explain Thunderbolt Share and test it, here . It sounds simple, easy, and powerful, but it’s more complicated than that. Both PCs have to run Intel’s Thunderbolt Share software, and you’ll only be able to get that from a licensed PC or Thunderbolt dock. Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5 will run Thunderbolt Share, but not Thunderbolt 3 — well, officially. The same goes for USB 4; it might work, and it might not. Intel isn’t saying. Thunderbolt Share will be supported by a handful of PC makers as well as dock makers like Belkin, Plugable, and more. But you know what? That announcement kind of came and went. I’m not betting on Thunderbolt Share being more than a gimmick right now. 8. What cable should I use with a Thunderbolt dock? Virtually every Thunderbolt dock will ship with its own cable. We recommend that you use Thunderbolt 3 cables with Thunderbolt 3 products, and Thunderbolt 4 cables with Thunderbolt 4 products. Ditto for the first Thunderbolt 5 cables , when the technology ships. 9. My Thunderbolt docking station only has Thunderbolt connections, but I need to connect it to my monitor. How can I connect a Thunderbolt dock to my HDMI display? You’ll need a special USB-C to HDMI cable, rated for Thunderbolt speeds. I recommend and have purchased this Uni Thunderbolt to HDMI cable from Amazon, which is about $16. You can find cheaper options, but make sure they’re rated for either Thunderbolt or a 4K@60Hz display. 10. What differentiates a DisplayLink USB-C docking station from a Thunderbolt dock? A DisplayLink USB-C docking station is a new category of docking station. They’re often marketed just as a USB-C docking station, unfortunately, though the DisplayLink logo features prominently on the box. The key here is that the DisplayLink technology (now owned by Synaptics) uses data compression between your PC and the dock to approximate a Thunderbolt experience (a pair of 4K displays at 60Hz, plus additional peripherals) across the narrower, slower USB-C bus. You’ll need to install a software driver for your PC to communicate with the DisplayLink chip built into the dock. The advantage here is twofold. First, DisplayLink allows you to “cheat” and get a Thunderbolt dock experience on an older laptop. Alternatively, even if you do own a laptop with a Thunderbolt port, you may be able to find a DisplayLink USB-C dock for a cheaper price than Thunderbolt. This is a viable solution, especially if you don’t mind not playing PC games. Our separate story on DisplayLink docks has more. For a while, DisplayLink offered a consistently cheaper option than Thunderbolt. Older Thunderbolt technologies and tariffs have now muddled those waters that the distinction isn’t as clear-cut. 11. What is HBR3 with DSC? We’re starting to see some USB-C docking stations take advantage of another technology: HBR3 (High Bit Rate 3) with DSC (Display Stream Compression). Think of it as the industry-standard, manufacturer-agnostic version of DisplayLink. It works over the USB-C port, and again provides a dual 4K60 display experience. The problem? It’s wonky. I’ve found that support for the technology was very iffy in 11th-gen hardware, and really seems to work consistently in 12th-gen or 13th-gen Core laptops (and above, when they ship). It’s becoming more common, however, and works more stably in the most recent Intel Core laptops. At CES 2026, though, I did see the VESA standards body propose a sticker for DSC, to let customers know they have it. 12. Can I use an external graphics card (eGPU) with Thunderbolt? With Thunderbolt 3? Yes, you can. Certain manufacturers (Razer is one, though there are others) have built enclosures that can house a standard desktop graphics card, connected to your laptop via a Thunderbolt cable. Although a mobile gaming laptop with an external GPU does a good job enabling mobile gaming, a desktop GPU does even better. Thunderbolt simply connects the two. External GPU support sort of skipped Thunderbolt 4, however, and I would recommend using a Thunderbolt 3 dock instead, or wait until Thunderbolt 5. How can you hook up an external GPU to your laptop via Thunderbolt ? Our story has more. 13. The only eGPUs I’ve seen with Thunderbolt use Thunderbolt 3, not Thunderbolt 4. Why is that? According to a representative for Razer, the differences between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 were too small. “When we release any product, we only do so when there can be a material advantage over the previous generation,” we were told. Since Thunderbolt 4 was backwards compatible and functionally equivalent to Thunderbolt 3, Razer simply declined to invest in the production and testing of a Thunderbolt 4 eGPU. I presume other manufacturers followed suit. 14. I want to charge my phone with a Thunderbolt dock. What do I need to know? I specifically updated this question in February 2026, with the release of the Samsung Galaxy S26 lineup . These new phones require a full 60W to charge, which no Thunderbolt 4 dock I’ve seen can accomplish. (An iPhone 17 requires 40W.) A Thunderbolt 4 dock can deliver up to 140W to a laptop (known as host charging), but not commonly out through a USB-C charging port. I have also yet to see a Thunderbolt dock with wireless charging built in. Some USB-C docks do have this feature. Still, the S26 can use up to 25W for wireless charging, as can the iPhone 17. This is a shortcoming of these docks, and we’ll have to see if it can be overcome. The vast majority of Thunderbolt docks should include a Thunderbolt cable like this one, which indicates that it’s specified for Thunderbolt 3. IDG

Google's Nano Banana 2 takes aim at the production cost problem that's kept AI image gen out of enterprise workflows

Google's Nano Banana 2 takes aim at the production cost problem that's kept AI image gen out of enterprise workflows

For the last six months, enterprises wanting to deploy high quality AI image generation at scale have faced an uncomfortable trade-off: pay premium prices for Google's Nano Banana Pro model, or settle for cheaper (sometimes free), faster, but noticeably inferior alternatives — especially in terms of enterprise requirements like embedded accurate text, slides, diagrams, and other non aesthetic information. Today, Google DeepMind is attempting to collapse that gap with the launch of Nano Banana 2 (formally Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) — a model that brings the reasoning, text rendering, and creative control of the Pro tier down to Flash-level speed and pricing. The release comes just sixteen days after Alibaba's Qwen team dropped Qwen-Image-2.0 , a 7-billion parameter open-weight challenger that many developers argued had already matched Nano Banana Pro's quality at a fraction of the inference cost. For IT leaders evaluating image generation pipelines, Nano Banana 2 reframes the decision matrix. The question is no longer whether AI image models are good enough for production — it's which vendor's cost curve best fits the workflow. The production cost problem: why Nano Banana Pro stayed in the sandbox When Google released Nano Banana Pro in November 2025, built on the Gemini 3 Pro backbone, the developer community was impressed by its visual fidelity and reasoning capabilities. The model could render accurate text in images, maintain character consistency across multi-turn conversations, and follow complex compositional instructions — all capabilities that previous image generators struggled with. But Pro-tier pricing created a barrier to deployment at scale. According to Google's API pricing page, Nano Banana Pro's image output is priced at $120 per million tokens, working out to roughly $0.134 per generated image at 1K pixel resolution. For applications generating thousands of images daily — think e-commerce product visualization, marketing asset pipelines, or localized content generation — those costs compound quickly. Nano Banana 2, built on the Gemini 3.1 Flash backbone, dramatically undercuts that pricing. Flash-tier image output is priced at $60 per million tokens, approximately $0.067 per 1K image per image — roughly 50% cheaper than the Pro model. For enterprises running high-volume image generation workflows, that's the difference between a proof of concept and a production deployment. What Nano Banana 2 actually delivers The model is not simply a cheaper Nano Banana Pro. According to Google DeepMind's announcement, Nano Banana 2 brings several capabilities that were previously exclusive to the Pro tier while introducing new features of its own. The headline improvement is text rendering and translation. The model can generate images with accurate, legible text — a historically weak point for AI image generators — and then translate that text into different languages within the same image editing workflow. Subject consistency has also improved significantly. Nano Banana 2 can maintain character resemblance across up to five characters and preserve the fidelity of up to 14 reference objects in a single generation workflow. This enables storyboarding, product photography with multiple SKUs, and brand asset creation where visual continuity matters. Google's documentation highlights the ability to provide up to 14 different reference images as input, allowing the model to compose scenes incorporating multiple distinct objects or characters from separate sources. On the technical specification side, the model supports full aspect ratio control, resolutions ranging from 512 pixels up to 4K, and two thinking levels that let developers balance quality against latency. One notable addition that Nano Banana Pro lacks is an image search tool — the model can perform image searches and use retrieved images as grounding context for generation, expanding its utility for workflows that require visual reference material. The Qwen-Image-2.0 factor: why Google needed to move fast Google's timing is not coincidental. On February 10, Alibaba's Qwen team released Qwen-Image-2.0 , a unified image generation and editing model that immediately drew comparisons to Nano Banana Pro — but with a dramatically smaller footprint. Qwen-Image-2.0 runs on just 7 billion parameters, down from 20 billion in its predecessor, while unifying text-to-image generation and image editing into a single architecture. The model generates natively at 2K resolution (2048×2048 pixels), supports prompts up to 1,000 tokens for complex layouts, and ranks at or near the top of AI Arena's blind human evaluation leaderboard for both generation and editing tasks. For enterprise buyers, the competitive dynamics are significant. Qwen-Image-2.0's 7B parameter count means substantially lower inference costs when self-hosted — a critical consideration for organizations with data residency requirements or high-volume workloads. The Qwen team's previous model, Qwen-Image v1, was released under Apache 2.0 approximately one month after its initial announcement, and the developer community widely expects the same trajectory for v2.0. If open weights materialize, organizations could run a Nano Banana Pro-competitive image model on their own infrastructure without per-image API charges. The model's unified generation-and-editing architecture also simplifies deployment. Rather than chaining separate models for creation and modification — the current industry norm — Qwen-Image-2.0 handles both tasks in a single pass, reducing latency and the quality degradation that occurs when outputs are passed between different systems. Where Qwen-Image-2.0 currently trails is ecosystem integration. Google's Nano Banana 2 launches today across the Gemini app, Google Search (AI Mode and Lens), AI Studio, the Gemini API, Google Antigravity, Vertex AI, Google Cloud, and Flow — where it becomes the default image generation model at zero credit cost. That breadth of distribution is difficult for any challenger to replicate, particularly one whose API access is currently limited to Alibaba Cloud's platform. What this means for enterprise AI image strategies The simultaneous availability of Nano Banana 2 and Qwen-Image-2.0 creates a decision framework that IT leaders haven't had before in the image generation space. For organizations already embedded in Google's cloud ecosystem, Nano Banana 2 is the obvious first evaluation. The cost reduction from Pro pricing, combined with native integration across Google's product surface, makes it the path of least resistance for teams that need production-quality image generation without re-architecting their stack. The model's text rendering capabilities make it particularly well-suited for marketing asset generation, localization workflows, and any application where legible in-image text is a requirement. For organizations with data sovereignty concerns, high-volume workloads that make per-image API pricing prohibitive, or a strategic preference for open-weight models, Qwen-Image-2.0 presents a compelling alternative — provided Alibaba follows through on open-weight availability. The model's smaller parameter count translates to lower GPU requirements for self-hosting, and its unified generation-editing architecture reduces pipeline complexity. The wild card is Nano Banana Pro itself, which isn't going away. Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers retain access to the Pro model for specialized tasks, accessible via the regeneration menu in the Gemini app. For use cases demanding maximum visual fidelity and creative reasoning — think high-end creative campaigns or applications where every image needs to look bespoke — Pro remains the ceiling. The provenance layer: a quiet but important enterprise differentiator Buried in Google's announcement is a detail that may matter more to enterprise legal and compliance teams than any quality benchmark: provenance tooling. Nano Banana 2 ships with SynthID watermarking — Google's AI-generated content identification technology — coupled with C2PA Content Credentials, the cross-industry standard for content authenticity metadata. Google reports that since launching SynthID verification in the Gemini app last November, the feature has been used over 20 million times to identify AI-generated images, video, and audio. C2PA verification is coming to the Gemini app soon as well. For enterprises operating in regulated industries or jurisdictions with emerging AI transparency requirements, baked-in provenance is no longer optional. It's a compliance checkbox — and one that self-hosted open-weight alternatives like Qwen-Image-2.0 don't natively provide. The bottom line Nano Banana 2 doesn't represent a generational leap in image generation quality. What it represents is the maturation of AI image generation from a creative novelty into a production-ready infrastructure component. By collapsing the cost and speed gap between Flash and Pro tiers while retaining the reasoning and text rendering capabilities that make these models useful for actual business workflows, Google is making a calculated bet: the next wave of enterprise AI image adoption will be driven not by the models that produce the most beautiful images, but by the ones that produce good-enough images fast enough and cheaply enough to deploy at scale. With Qwen-Image-2.0 pushing from the open-weight flank and Nano Banana Pro holding the quality ceiling, Nano Banana 2 occupies exactly the middle ground where most enterprise workloads actually live. For IT decision-makers who've been waiting for the cost curve to bend, it just did.

A Greek court sentences four people, including spyware maker Intellexa's founder, to prison, for using spyware to target journalists, politicians, and others (Nektaria Stamouli/Politico)

A Greek court sentences four people, including spyware maker Intellexa's founder, to prison, for using spyware to target journalists, politicians, and others (Nektaria Stamouli/Politico)

Nektaria Stamouli / Politico : A Greek court sentences four people, including spyware maker Intellexa's founder, to prison, for using spyware to target journalists, politicians, and others —  Greece's “Predatorgate” scandal is one of Europe's biggest political crises over the use of hacking software.

AI and ID verification apps leaked data on millions of Android users

AI and ID verification apps leaked data on millions of Android users

There are millions of apps in the Google Play Store, but not all of them are safe to use. Security researchers have recently identified several apps that contain serious security vulnerabilities. The first app in question According to a Forbes contributor , a seemingly harmless app called Video AI Art Generator & Maker by developer Codeway—which has been installed nearly half a million times—leaked all of its users’ images and videos. Over 12 TB of data, including 1.5 million images and nearly 400,000 videos, ended up freely available on the internet. The incident wasn’t malicious, but due to a configuration error in Google Cloud. It allowed anyone to access the stored data without having to identify themselves first. For users of the app, it was a disaster. The app is no longer available in the Google Play Store, as Google responded quickly to user complaints and removed it. It had been listed since June 2023 and was used to generate images and videos quickly and easily with AI. The leaked images were all created using the app, but possibly contained private content. That wasn’t the only leak Another app from the same developer, called IDMerit and used for identity verification, had an equally serious security vulnerability. However, this one didn’t result in the leaking of image data, but rather exposed sensitive personal information including: Full names Home addresses Postal codes Dates of birth ID card numbers Telephone numbers Gender Email addresses Other metadata All of this information could be linked to individuals in the United States and 25 other countries, including Germany, France, China, and Brazil. Sensitive personal data like this can be used by attackers to launch targeted phishing attacks and/or steal identities. If you have an app from developer Codeway installed on your device, you should uninstall it immediately. Also, check all incoming messages or emails for signs of phishing and ignore all such suspicious requests. How to protect yourself When installing new apps, you should always check whether they come from a trustworthy source. Although Google checks all apps offered in the Play Store, it can’t guarantee that they’re 100% secure. This is still the responsibility of the developers. It’s therefore best to check how many apps the provider has previously released and whether they have a trustworthy track record. Don’t be tempted by hype or trends, such as AI-driven apps. Don’t install free apps that have not been sufficiently tested. Pay attention to the device permissions requested by apps, too. Various seals of approval, such as the “Verified Developer” badge or this symbol for VPN apps indicating that an app has been sufficiently tested.