Apple's COVID-19 App Gains Updated CDC Symptoms, Cloth Mask Tips - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple's COVID-19 App Gains Updated CDC Symptoms, Cloth Mask Tips

Apple today updated its COVID-19 screening app, which was created to help people stay informed and take the proper steps to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

applecovid19appmask
The new version of the app includes updated symptoms and recommended actions that align with the CDC guidelines. The CDC this week added several new symptoms that can be signs of the coronavirus, including chills, shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and new loss of smell or taste.

Apple's updated COVID-19 app also includes tips for wearing a cloth mask to protect yourself and others from the coronavirus. The mask section includes tips on creating a mask, how to wear it, where to wear it, and how to sanitize it.

Apple has also updated its accompanying COVID-19 website to provide the same information.

Apple developed the COVID-19 app and website in partnership with the CDC, White House Coronavirus Task Force, and FEMA. Along with the features introduced today, the tools provided by Apple let users answer a series of questions on risk factors, recent exposure, and symptoms to receive CDC recommendations on the next steps that they need to take.

The screening tool is available to anyone who is 18 years or older in the United States. Data provided in the COVID-19 app and on the website is not shared with Apple, the CDC, or other government agencies.

Popular Stories

apple pro tell logo

Apple Launching Five New Products Today

Thursday November 5, 2026 12:59 am PST by
Apple is launching five new products on Friday, November 6, following pre-orders that opened last week, including its first touchscreen MacBook Pro models. The following new products will be available from today: iPad mini with OLED display and A20 Pro chip iMac with M6 chip 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 chip 14-inch MacBook Pro with OLED touchscreen 16-inch MacBook Pro with OLED...
duo aquarium

More Fun iPhone Duo Apps: 30 New Picks to Try

Friday November 6, 2026 3:27 pm PST by
When the iPhone Duo launched, we shared a list of some of the fun apps developers created for the new form factor. Two weeks out, developers are continuing to come up with fresh ideas, so we thought we'd share some of our favorites. Games Marbles Unhinged ($2.99) - Marbles Unhinged is a marble maze designed for the Duo. When you fold it, the floor turns into a ramp. If you stand the top...
silver iphone 18 pro

Apple Rumored to Drop the iPhone's Action Button Next Year

Friday November 6, 2026 6:07 am PST by
Apple plans to merge the iPhone's Action button with the Camera Control starting next year, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker claimed that a single press of the combined button would open the camera, while a long press would trigger the function assigned to the Action button. They explicitly clarified that the dedicated Action button would ...

Top Rated Comments

85 months ago

Dreadful that so much poorly thought-out virtue-signalling nonsense is costing more lives than the virus itself. The misleading manipulation of people into senseless hysteria is sickening.

You know, two nearby hospitals in Central Europe have been following different paths. One has been treating patients according to virtue-signalling centralised edicts; the other has been treating on personalised patient needs. The first has a 60 per cent death rate. The second has zero per cent.

Panic, hysteria, poor management, misinformation, virtue signalling, and a total lack of leadership are doing so much avoidable harm.
As for virtue signaling I’m sick and tired of the ads corporations are putting out about how they care for their customers more than anything, are here for us, and we’ll get through this together all the while syrupy music is playing in the background. I want to vomit
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacHiavelli Avatar
85 months ago
Dreadful that so much poorly thought-out virtue-signalling nonsense is costing more lives than the virus itself. The misleading manipulation of people into senseless hysteria is sickening.

You know, two nearby hospitals in Central Europe have been following different paths. One has been treating patients according to virtue-signalling centralised edicts; the other has been treating on personalised patient needs. The first has a 60 per cent death rate. The second has zero per cent.

Panic, hysteria, poor management, misinformation, virtue signalling, and a total lack of leadership are doing so much avoidable harm.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AngerDanger Avatar
85 months ago
Nothing says "COVID-19 infected cell" quite like a cartoon ship steering wheel.



Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
85 months ago

Well-said. The entire point of closing up was to slow the spread and prevent the healthcare system from being overloaded. Well, that's done, so we should be free to live our lives, right?
It's not done. The restrictions are the only thing that keep the case numbers from growing exponentially again and overwhelming the healthcare system. Think about it: nothing has changed from earlier this year when the virus first started cirulating. We have no vaccine, no cure, and are far away from "herd immunity". Why would you think the result would be any different now if all restrictions were lifted?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
85 months ago

We don't know precisely, but all indications are (once you rule out unreliable testing) is that people are not getting reinfected. Long enough to generate herd immunity and kill this thing.
This is just empty speculation.
Lots of things.
1. We know with a high degree of certainty who the most vulnerable are. They should be quarantined and protected to the best of our ability, which will significantly limit deaths.
Not really. The doctors who are actually treating patients still discover new aspects every day, such as that young people may be at a risk of stroke even if they escape lung infection.
2. We know that heat also slows this thing down considerably, well guess what season we're heading towards? It's already warming up in NYC significantly, which should improve things a good deal.
Actually, we don't know that at all. The virus is spreading rapidly in some countries with warm climates.
3. Individually we have all learned to benefits of social distancing, washing our hands, and wearing masks (gloves don't really help). That too will significantly slow down the spread.
We still don't know exactly how much masks actually help, for example.
You make a lot of assumptions, and clearly suffer from a lack of faith in the average human. The average human, completely voluntarily shut themselves indoors, to their detriment in many cases. The average human is going to social distance. The average human won't be sitting shoulder to shoulder in a movie theater.
You didn't get the point. If you want to open up the economy fully, the average human does not have a choice in many cases. For example, in normal times here in the Bay Area, hundreds of thousands of people per day are dependent on crowded public transport to get to work since roads and highways don't have have the capacity for everyone to use their own car. It's the same in many major cities around the world. And movie theaters were troubled economically before the crisis, many won't survive if they have to cut the number of seats in half or less. The same goes for air travel if the number of passengers per flight has to be cut because middle seats can no longer be used. And so on.
Now, if NYC wasn't run by a buffoon, the logical solution to your bus and train problem would be to run extra trains to keep the density in the trains and buses low, and that would allow some social distancing.
Have you even been on the NYC subway? The trains already run back to back during rush hour. The capacity of any transport system is limited.
"The experts"

You mean the ones you listen to.
I mean the ones who have spent their lives studying the issues. What qualification do you have to know better?
We live in a fascist country today, largely because of those tech giants. There is only one correct viewpoint. While we all admit that we don't have all the information, somehow many have come to the conclusion that there is only one possible answer. A strange contradiction.
:rolleyes:
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
85 months ago

As for virtue signaling I’m sick and tired of the ads corporations are putting out about how they care for their customers more than anything, are here for us, and we’ll get through this together all the while syrupy music is playing in the background. I want to vomit
Maybe the corporations shouldn’t do anything for fear of insulting the few who don’t want any messages of positivism in their lifes.


Well-said. The entire point of closing up was to slow the spread and prevent the healthcare system from being overloaded. Well, that's done, so we should be free to live our lives, right? Nope. Recent data suggests that the virus is far less deadly than previously thought, so that too should be even more incentive to open up. At this rate, herd-immunity is going to take awhile, which will likely result in many unnecessary deaths.
COVID-19 could inflict a lot Long lasting damage to the organs. It could send you on a ventilator and if you survive could take a month or more for a full recovery.

I would want to get the flu any day of the week over COVID-19. I don’t want to risk being part of the herd. So I’m going to shelter in place until it is deemed reasonably safe. (In the NYC area)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Latest Stories
Siri AI Rumored to Become 'More Like an Agent' as Early as Next Year
Siri AI Rumored to Become 'More Like an Agent' as Early as Next Year
2 hours ago
Apple Taking New Approach to Developing iOS 28 and macOS 28
Apple Taking New Approach to Developing iOS 28 and macOS 28
4 hours ago
Early Apple Black Friday Deals on Apple Watch, MacBook Air, and More
Early Apple Black Friday Deals on Apple Watch, MacBook Air, and More
23 hours ago
'Backglow' Lets You Customize New MacBook Pro's Glowing Apple Logo
'Backglow' Lets You Customize New MacBook Pro's Glowing Apple Logo
23 hours ago
Top Stories: Apple Product Launches, iOS 27.3 Beta, and More
Top Stories: Apple Product Launches, iOS 27.3 Beta, and More
1 day ago
More Fun iPhone Duo Apps: 30 New Picks to Try
More Fun iPhone Duo Apps: 30 New Picks to Try
2 days ago
Hands-On With Apple's New OLED Touchscreen MacBook Pro
Hands-On With Apple's New OLED Touchscreen MacBook Pro
2 days ago
Apple Store With All-New Design Opening Soon in Southern California
Apple Store With All-New Design Opening Soon in Southern California
2 days ago
Control the Glowing Apple Logo on Your New MacBook Pro
Control the Glowing Apple Logo on Your New MacBook Pro
2 days ago
Apple Shares New 'Apple Card: Apply and Use in Minutes' Ad
Apple Shares New 'Apple Card: Apply and Use in Minutes' Ad
2 days ago
Apple Says More Than 100,000 Apps Optimized for iPhone Duo, Here's What's Still Missing
Apple Says More Than 100,000 Apps Optimized for iPhone Duo, Here's What's Still Missing
2 days ago
Early Black Friday Deals Kickoff With Steep Discounts on Apple Watch Ultras and More
Early Black Friday Deals Kickoff With Steep Discounts on Apple Watch Ultras and More
2 days ago
The MacRumors Show: iOS 27.3 Looks Like a Huge Update
The MacRumors Show: iOS 27.3 Looks Like a Huge Update
2 days ago
Best Buy's Black Friday Event Begins With Sitewide Savings on Apple, TVs, More
Best Buy's Black Friday Event Begins With Sitewide Savings on Apple, TVs, More
2 days ago
Apple Releasing Yet Another Two New Products Next Week
Apple Releasing Yet Another Two New Products Next Week
2 days ago
MacBook Air Drops to Lowest Price in Months With Amazon's $250 Discount
MacBook Air Drops to Lowest Price in Months With Amazon's $250 Discount
2 days ago
Apple Rumored to Drop the iPhone's Action Button Next Year
Apple Rumored to Drop the iPhone's Action Button Next Year
2 days ago
Apple's Extended Return Policy Now in Effect for 2026 Holiday Season
Apple's Extended Return Policy Now in Effect for 2026 Holiday Season
2 days ago
Apple Music Classical Updated With New Icon and Refreshed Design
Apple Music Classical Updated With New Icon and Refreshed Design
2 days ago
OLED iPad Mini, M6 iMac, and New MacBook Pros Available From Today
OLED iPad Mini, M6 iMac, and New MacBook Pros Available From Today
2 days ago
Apple Surveys iPhone Duo Buyers About Crease and Camera
Apple Surveys iPhone Duo Buyers About Crease and Camera
3 days ago
Apple's First Touchscreen Mac is Now Arriving to Customers
Apple's First Touchscreen Mac is Now Arriving to Customers
3 days ago
Claude Gets Personal Finance Feature With Bank Account Linking
Claude Gets Personal Finance Feature With Bank Account Linking
3 days ago
Apple Arcade Adds Crossy Road Rush and NBA 2K27
Apple Arcade Adds Crossy Road Rush and NBA 2K27
3 days ago
Apple's New HomeView Smart Home Hub: Here's How Much RAM It Has
Apple's New HomeView Smart Home Hub: Here's How Much RAM It Has
3 days ago
iPad Mini vs. iPad Air Buyer's Guide: Now Just $50 Apart
iPad Mini vs. iPad Air Buyer's Guide: Now Just $50 Apart
3 days ago
First iOS 27.3 and macOS Golden Gate 27.3 Public Betas Now Available
First iOS 27.3 and macOS Golden Gate 27.3 Public Betas Now Available
3 days ago
Apple Announces a New Mac Sales Record
Apple Announces a New Mac Sales Record
3 days ago
Paid $200 for Logic Pro? Apple Says You Won't Get This New Feature
Paid $200 for Logic Pro? Apple Says You Won't Get This New Feature
3 days ago
Instagram's Edits Video Editor is Now Available on Mac
Instagram's Edits Video Editor is Now Available on Mac
3 days ago