If you’ve been dreaming of seeing the bottom half of people’s faces in Apple Stores (odd dream, admittedly!), you’ll get your wish starting this week as many Apple Stores in the U.S. begin loosening their mask requirements.

This comes as major retailers are increasingly getting back to normal as the coronavirus pandemic subsides. Apple has been one of the more cautious parties when it comes to in-store mask policies. The likes of Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Costco have already ditched mandatory mask rules. But Apple was said to be holding back.

PopSockets PopGrips are already wildly popular, and the new MagSafe system in the iPhone 12 series improved on the design. Instead of having to attach with adhesive, the pop-up phone handles cling tightly to magnets built into Apple’s handsets.

I tried the standard PopGrip and the wallet version with an iPhone 12, and they stood up brilliantly to real-world use.

We’re big fans of the Apple Watch, but great smartwatches don’t have to cost a small fortune. Case in point: The C-Max Chrono-Max Smartwatch, which is on sale today for just $59.99. That’s a 72% discount off the regular price of $219.

Boasting a dozen different features, all displayed on a lush, full-color, 1.69-inch touchscreen display, the C-Max Chrono-Max means you’ll never miss a call, chat or text again, as you’ll receive an alert right to your watch for each through useful push notifications.

This software keys post is brought to you by URcdkey.com.

For a short time, Cult of Mac readers can enjoy big discounts at URcdkey.com. Between June 12 and June 20, you can get 25% to 35% off the site’s already inexpensive software-activation keys for an assortment of Microsoft Office and Windows products. See the links below for some special deals.

This week’s Worldwide Developers Conference brought an avalanche of info about what to expect from Apple’s next-gen operating systems. Our top story runs down our overall first impressions after Monday’s WWDC keynote. And our newsy roundups showcase each platform’s new key features.

Also don’t miss Ed Hardy’s deeper hands-on dives into key features coming in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. You can read all that and more in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Just download and enjoy on your favorite iOS device. Alternatively, you can use the links below to read our coverage in your browser of choice.

If you want to get exhaustive, you can dig through all our posts by key platform: iOS 15, macOS Monterey, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8 and tvOS.

iOS 15 makes it a whole lot easier to move images, text and files between applications. The familiar drag-and-drop action makes the jump to iPhone, and it’s surprisingly simple to use.

I’m testing the first iOS beta on an iPhone 12, and this new sharing system is one of the best additions. There are even benefits for iPad users.

The beauty of Apple AirTags is that the tracking tags attach to your valuables and allow you to find them with your iPhone, from anywhere. But that also means your AirTags are constantly on the move — and vulnerable to damage.

That’s why anyone who invested in an AirTag needs a solid case to keep it protected. One of the best is this Apple AirTag Protector Case, which is on sale right now for just $14.95. That’s a 50% discount off the regular price of $29.

It seems Apple can’t keep a lid on Beats Studio Buds. Celebrities keep getting photographed wearing the not-yet-announced in-ear wireless headphones, and now the launch date has leaked out.

They are still MIA for regular folks to buy. But since they showed up in yet another social media post by a famous athlete, Apple is seemingly playing a calculated long game when it comes to ramping up anticipation.

A significantly redesigned iPad mini 6 could drop its Lightning port in favor of USB-C, according to a new unconfirmed report. And a smaller Apple Pencil could be produced for it.

The tablet already drew quite a bit of attention because it’s expected to offer a nearly edge-to-edge screen, dumping the hefty bezels in the current version.

Don’t get caught without juice ever again. This week, Cult of Mac is giving away two SuperMini portable battery chargers from Zendure.

The SuperMini is one of the smallest portable chargers available, yet it packs formidable charging power. Smaller than a credit card (but thicker), the SuperMini fits easily into a pocket or bag, but has enough juice to recharge an iPhone 12 Pro three times over. If you want a portable charger that is adorable and can fit anywhere, make sure to enter this giveaway.

The wild Apple TV+ adaptation of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story gets even richer and more imaginative in this week’s episode. Having introduced Lisey, the troubled widow of a famous writer, the miniseries starts drawing out the details of the other people who populate its real and imaginary worlds.

Director Pablo Larraín continues to flex his artistic muscles as he creates a compelling fantasy world. And one character in particular proves delightfully unnerving.

A bipartisan bill expected to be proposed in the U.S. congress would, if passed, have an enormous effect on Big Tech. The legislation, reportedly called the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, might force Apple to make the App Store a completely separate business not under its control.

Redditor UGenya806, who works in marketing for San Francisco-based DocuSign in Germany, takes appearances on Zoom calls seriously. After all, their job has always been remote and will remain so, even when others return to offices following the COVID-19 pandemic.

UGenya806’s setup centers on an M1 Mac mini tethered to dual Dell 24-inch 4K monitors and a CalDigit TS3 Thunderbolt 3 Dock. The mini is connected wirelessly to a Magic Keyboard and a Magic Trackpad.

A stand-mounted MacBook Air rounds out the mix, but is usually used separately as a standalone machine, not with the peripherals.

Legends of Kingdom Rush just became the first new game to debut on Apple Arcade since early April. The medieval fantasy RPG is available for iPhone and Mac.

And more games are scheduled to appear on Apple’s subscription gaming service.

The new and ultra-slim M1 iMac just hit a new low after Amazon slashed $50 off the base model. Bag yours today in blue or silver for just $1,249 — down from $1,299 — before the discount disappears.

Apple is encouraging iPhone and iPad app developers to up their 5G game and embrace super-speedy connectivity.

In a new guide titled “Optimize your app for 5G,” Apple says “5G networking can provide even more opportunities to take advantage of high-bandwidth and low-latency connections in your app.”

It also outlines the benefits the technology can bring to things like games, streaming, machine learning, and augmented reality.

Home Before Dark, the Apple TV+ show about a cute and cuddly girl reporter, returns for more incongruous drama and more bad parenting. The show got off to something of a generic start in its first season, sandwiched between popular styles and uncertain of its identity.

But in its second season, which debuts today, the show digs a little deeper into the setting and characters. As a result, the creative team produced something close to an essential season.

Signs of the new iPhone 13 series showed up in a database belonging to the Eurasian Economic Commission this week. In all, seven new iPhones appeared under the model identifiers A2628, A2630, A2634, A2635, A2640, A2643 and A2645.

The EEC is frequently a good place to look for future Apple releases. All devices being released in Eastern Europe, Western Asia and Central Asia must be registered there if they use encryption technology. That includes the iPhone.

The ability to play Xbox games in Safari on your iPhone and iPad will soon be available to everyone.

Microsoft this week confirmed its new cloud streaming web app, which has been in beta testing since April, will roll out “in the next few weeks.” What’s more, it’s soon going to get even more powerful.

The latest Apple Pay promotion gets you $20 off select purchases on Adidas when you spend $100 or more for Father’s Day. The discount is available through June 17 but excludes certain Adidas brands.

The trailer for season two of Apple TV+ series See gives us our first glimpse of new star Dave Bautista in the post-apocalyptic series. Bautista is best known for playing Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as well as for his Batista-bombing escapades as a former heavyweight champ in WWE.

In See season two he plays Edo Voss, brother of Jason Momoa’s character Baba Voss. Check out the trailer below.

Apple has begun testing a revamped iCloud Mail interface for the web. The new look resembles the most recent version of the built-in Mail app in macOS and iPadOS, and users can try out the beta today.

iOS and iPadOS 15 give app developers the ability to hide sensitive information in lock screen widgets until a device has been unlocked.

The change is part of an upgrade to the WidgetKit framework, first introduced in iOS and iPadOS 14 last year, and will be particularly useful for things like banking and budgeting apps.

When people talk about “Apple” and “leaks” in the same sentence, they’re usually referring to rumors about upcoming products. But the Justice Department of the Trump administration took the step of subpoenaing Apple in an effort to quell White House leaks during the Trump presidency.

Specifically, it sought to gain information from Apple regarding data from the accounts of at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, their aides, and family members — including one minor. The New York Times reports that the gag order on the subpoena only expired this year, allowing those investigated to know they had been under scrutiny.

The annual Apple Design Awards honor excellence in innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement in iOS and iPadOS application and game design. A dozen winners were named Thursday in categories ranging from outstanding Interaction to apps that are just fun.