TikTok, Zoom and Disney+ have the slightly dubious-sounding honor of being named the three most popular iOS apps in the United States during the age of coronavirus, a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower suggests.

The report, which covers the first three months of 2020, sheds light on the way our app habits are changing during the COVID-19 pandemic. In short? We’re downloading a whole lot more apps than usual. That makes the App Store one of the few businesses that’s actually thriving during an incredibly difficult time.

iPad Pro’s exciting new Magic Keyboard, available to order now from $299, has already made its way into the hands of some reviewers. As you might have guessed, they all have great things to say about it.

Its excellent typing experience, unparalleled trackpad, and ease of use make the new Magic Keyboard one of the best iPad accessories to date, though it’s not quite perfect. Here’s what you need to know before you get yours.

Apple is seemingly looking to step up its work in speech translation, showing one more way that Cupertino is looking to incorporate cutting-edge approaches to artificial intelligence into what it does.

In a recent paper, published to the pre-print server arXiv, two Apple research scientists describe the challenges in the field, carrying out a fundamental survey of the problems with current speech translation.

No, they don’t have a magical solution. But the fact that Apple gave them such a task suggests the company takes seriously the need to hone its tools in this area.

Apple’s amazing new Magic Keyboard might be a must-have accessory for some iPad Pro owners, but it comes with one big tradeoff. The combined weight of both devices makes the package heavier than a MacBook Air.

That’s something you’ll want to bear in mind if you use an iPad Pro for its portability. If it doesn’t put you off, however, you’ll want to check out the early hands-on videos that show the Magic Keyboard in action.

Project managers are used to working directly with their teams. But work life is changing for everybody, so this bundle includes everything you need for doing digital project management from a distance.

The new iPad Air will boast a Mini LED display and display-based Touch ID instead of Face ID, an Apple leaker claims.

Twitter user @L0vetodream, who has previously correctly shared details about forthcoming Apple devices, said that the iPad will therefore feature a full screen display with no notch. Last year’s iPad Air refresh sported a physical Home button.

Apple is developing its own game controller for Apple TV and iOS devices that will launch this year or next, according to claims from one tipster, published on Monday. It is said to be part of a big push to improve Apple Arcade.

The information comes from the same source who accurately predicted Apple’s plans for the 2020 iPad Pro refresh and the second-generation iPhone SE.

If you’re hoping for a smaller notch on the iPhone 12 than previous models you may be in luck, according to an image tweeted by Apple leaker Jon Prosser Sunday.

The image appears to be a CAD diagram. It shows a labeled version of what Prosser claims is the new notch for Apple’s next-gen iPhone. Compared to the ones seen on the last three generations of iPhones — dating back to the iPhone X — it looks substantially smaller.

New AirPods, which Apple reportedly planned to unveil at its canceled-before-it-was-announced March event, are ready to go, claims regular Apple leaker Jon Prosser.

In a tweet Sunday, he claimed the upgraded earbuds likely will arrive alongside a new MacBook Pro next month.

Abode Iota is a do-it-yourself security system that’s one of the very few with support for Apple’s HomeKit home-automation platform. That means it’s a breeze to control from your iPhone. It includes a camera, motion detector and windows/door sensor. Additional sensors can be added.

I installed the Iota Starter Kit and have extensively tested it. Read on to see whether it’s the right solution to secure your home or business.

Apple will release a single-device wireless charging pad in addition to the larger, multi-device mat rumored to be much like the doomed AirPower, according to an unconfirmed report Sunday.

The latest rumors come a year after Apple canceled the AirPower wireless charger the company announced in 2017 without ever releasing it.

This week we switch on our lights with a tap of the iPhone, customize our Finder’s menus, track our health with HealthChampion and more.

Whether you’re working from home or at the office, Microsoft Office Suite is probably part of the picture. Excel, Word, Outlook and the rest of the software package prove fundamental to the modern workplace. So if you find yourself with some extra time, these lessons mean you can gain some super-marketable skills.

It’s time to get certified!

An Apple employee teaches the basics of the free GarageBand music-creation software in an new video tutorial from Today at Apple. It covers sampling sounds from your kitchen to make house music.

Normally, these free educational sessions are held in Apple Stores, but with these all closed during the COVID-19 crisis, they’ve gone online. There are already training videos for drawing and taking better pictures.

With screaming-fast internals, key flagship-level features and a budget price tag, the new iPhone SE ticks all the boxes in these uncertain times. Apple cut a few smart corners to make the magic happen.

Read all about the 2020 iPhone SE in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Grab yours today and get to reading. (Alternatively, hit the links below for the week’s top Apple news, reviews and how-tos.)

If you’re looking for some situation-appropriate fiction to read during the COVID-19 lockdown, then what could be better than a good old post-apocalyptic novel?

Some people will want to avoid all mention of pandemics and other worldwide disasters. But if your idea of catharsis comes through mental inoculation, then you should check out this list. I’ve read a ton of dystopian fiction over the years, and below are some of my favorites. A few are from recent years, and one is a bona fide classic, but all of them are great.

Being unexpectedly stuck at home can mean you’ve suddenly got time to start streaming your thoughts and creative endeavors. But if you want people to watch your videos, you’ve got to cover the basics — good camera angles and quality lighting.

These two DIY bundles include studio lights, camera grips and more so you can stream video like a pro.

A Fold Apart asks players to solve over 50 handcrafted paper-folding puzzles. But the real goal of this title that debuted Friday on Apple Arcade is to bring together a couple struggling through a long-distance relationship.

This Windows 10 and Microsoft Office upgrades post is presented by URcdkeys.

If you currently run old versions of Microsoft software and keep putting off upgrades because of costs, Cult of Mac has you covered. Our readers can get 20% off an assortment of Windows 10 and Office product keys that are already priced well below typical prices.

Once you enter Cult of Mac’s special discount code at purchase and get the key, you’ll be free to install Windows 10 Pro or your choice of 2016 or 2019 Office products on any PC.

The head of Apple Music is apparently assuming an additional role. Oliver Schusser is reportedly going to take charge of the company’s Beats line of high-end headphones, while also remaining at the helm of Apple’s music-streaming service.

Apple also took the opportunity to refute a recent unconfirmed report that it’s phasing out Beats.

Chris Evans’s first big role after playing Captain America is a district attorney whose 14-year-old son is accused of murder in Defending Jacob on Apple TV+. He and other cast members talk about their characters from this upcoming show in a “First Look”video released Friday.

Watch it now:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you’ve probably become hyper-aware of how much you touch everything. Your face, your iPhone, the AirPods you never clean, the filthy handle on your apartment building’s front door, etc. If you’re using your iPhone’s Reminders app to manage your iPhone shopping list, you’re likely finding yourself constantly tapping the screen and relying on Face ID to wake it up during trips to the store.

Clearly that’s useless if you’re being responsible and wearing a mask in the supermarket. Today we’ll see how to quickly toggle a “shopping mode” in the Drafts app, which will keep your iPhone awake while you dash down the aisles.

Every iPhone buyer knows the excitement they feel when they first pull the protective plastic wrapper off their new device. Apple is supposedly about to release an ad for the 2020 iPhone SE that plays on the excitement users feel in that exact moment.

Watch it now:

The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday it is cautiously encouraged by a commitment to privacy by Apple and Google as they develop Bluetooth-based contact-tracing technology to track the spread of COVID-19.

But the civil liberties group says the two tech giants must resolve “certain important privacy-related questions” key to winning trust from a public growing wary about who sees their data.

Those looking to improve the graphics performance of their 2019 Mac Pro can now pick up the Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module from the Apple Online Store.

For exactly $1,000, the new GPU offers up to 9.4 teraflops of compute performance and 16GB of GDDR6 memory. It uses AMD’s latest RDNA architecture, and it’s now the most affordable GPU module Apple sells.