The MacRumors Show: Thomas Frank Talks iPad and Mac Productivity

Productivity guru Thomas Frank joins us on The MacRumors Show podcast this week to evaluate the state of the iPad Pro and Mac as productivity tools.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos

Thomas is a YouTuber, podcaster, and content creator best known for his personal development video essays, Notion tutorials and templates, and Skillshare courses. We discuss the ‌iPad Pro‌'s hardware and form factor, the advancements and limitations of iPadOS 16, and accessories like the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard.

We explore the M2 MacBook Air, share some productivity tips, and weigh up the upsides and downsides of Apple's platforms for getting things done. We also touch on some of our favorite third-party apps like Things 3, Obsidian, Craft, and Notion. See more of Thomas's work on his YouTube channel or his website.

Listen to The MacRumors Show via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, Google Podcasts, or subscribe by copying our RSS feed directly into your podcast player. You can also watch a video version of the podcast on our YouTube channel. If you haven't already listened to the last episode of The MacRumors Show, be sure to catch up for an in-depth chat about Apple's long-rumored foldable iPhone following the launch of Samsung's latest Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold devices.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for more episodes, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by exciting guests like Jonathan Morrison, iJustine, Ross Young, Sam Kohl, Ian Zelbo, Jon Rettinger, Rene Ritchie, Andru Edwards, Jon Prosser, and Mark Gurman. Remember to rate and review the show, and let us know what subjects you would like the podcast to cover going forward.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...

Top Rated Comments

BootsWalking Avatar
32 months ago
Those must be some major productivity tips to warrant watching a 67 minute video.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ackmondual Avatar
32 months ago

Those must be some major productivity tips to warrant watching a 67 minute video.
I skimmed through that video. No screenshots, nor videos of workflows in action. Just talking. This makes it great if you want to turn it into a podcast (ie, at the gym, driving, daily commute), but as person who doesn't use MacOS, and not iOS for gaming, I was kind of hoping for video clips of such productivity (to get some specifics as to why creative people prefer MacOS). Oh well. That's something that's been on the back of my mind. I'll put in a mental to do list item to seek other videos. I do know one guy who's a solid Apple user (IIRC, he has about $13K of Mac OS equipment alone), so I'll ask him next time I run into him.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dan Barbera Avatar
32 months ago

I skimmed through that video. No screenshots, nor videos of workflows in action. Just talking. This makes it great if you want to turn it into a podcast (ie, at the gym, driving, daily commute), but as person who doesn't use MacOS, and not iOS for gaming, I was kind of hoping for video clips of such productivity (to get some specifics as to why creative people prefer MacOS). Oh well. That's something that's been on the back of my mind. I'll put in a mental to do list item to seek other videos. I do know one guy who's a solid Apple user (IIRC, he has about $13K of Mac OS equipment alone), so I'll ask him next time I run into him.
This IS a podcast lol
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
topdrawer Avatar
32 months ago
watching youtube is not productive to me.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Starscape Avatar
32 months ago
So iPadOS’s limitations are a good thing, because it means less distractions.


Alrighty.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
imnotthewalrus Avatar
32 months ago
Sorry, MR but as a video - no. Just my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. I didn't even make it to the halfway point.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)