And somewhere, on a dusty hard drive, the ghost of Mi PC Suite for Mac lives on.

“Safer than losing your data.” The man plugged in Leo’s phone. Within ten seconds, the Mac recognized it. Photos streamed into a folder. Contacts synced. And there, under the “Advanced” tab, was a dusty archive: .

In the dim glow of a San Francisco coffee shop, Leo, a die-hard Apple minimalist, stared at his brand-new MacBook Pro. On the screen was a blinking error message: “Xiaomi Mi PC Suite is not available for macOS.”