Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
More like 1974.
At least the iPad is finally getting a calculator app from the mother ship. Now it had better be included quietly. If Apple thinks this qualifies as a key feature of iPadOS 18... let's just say they'd be better off with Steve Ballmer in charge.
I agree. There’s no excuse considering that even the apple watch got a calculator app years ago.
They’d really have no valid reason to do that. Even limiting the calculator app to devices running iOS 18 -as rumors have it that apple plans to- will be hard to justify given that the calculator app has existed for over a decade and even the apple watch got it years ago.
Haha, I doubt it. The EU would have asked them to release it independently for all ipads, not as part of iPadOS 18.
I hope that this is true as I refuse to pay a subscription for a simple calculator app and I never install apps that are supported by ads at all.
the saddest thing is, this is probably the most innovative thing we seen for years.
I use a great knock-off of the iOS calculator on my iPad Pro and it works great. No need to wait another 5 years. See the attached screen shots. You can get it here: https://calculator.lakeedwards.com/about
* Credit to the author!
* Credit to the author!
Last edited:
I submitted a request through feedback awhile back to make the calculator app a floating window not unlike Picture in Picture video. Would be nice to have it available at all times and not confined to a full length window via slide over or require Stage Manager to use.
Is this the back-up plan for the Vision Pro flop?
As people on MacRumors keep chiding me, Apple is often late on features, but better when released. So I am very excited to be able to start doing all the calculations that I needed to do and had accumulated over the past decade+ when this app arrives.
For years and years and years and years, all my non-Apple friends kept breezing through calculations and enjoyed many other apps and features to enhance their lives and careers, but I laughed at them and told them that when I get these features from Apple, it will be better than what they have enjoyed all these years. And then they will be jealous of me.
Of course, Apple could have offered these same apps and features on the first day along with everyone else and then improve upon them to get ahead. But then I would have had to suffer an imperfect user experience when I could just wait about 10-15 years for a slightly better experience.
But I don't totally blame my non-Apple friends for not understanding this. I wouldn't have known to think this way if not for my friends here at MacRumors.
For years and years and years and years, all my non-Apple friends kept breezing through calculations and enjoyed many other apps and features to enhance their lives and careers, but I laughed at them and told them that when I get these features from Apple, it will be better than what they have enjoyed all these years. And then they will be jealous of me.
Of course, Apple could have offered these same apps and features on the first day along with everyone else and then improve upon them to get ahead. But then I would have had to suffer an imperfect user experience when I could just wait about 10-15 years for a slightly better experience.
But I don't totally blame my non-Apple friends for not understanding this. I wouldn't have known to think this way if not for my friends here at MacRumors.
Last edited:
I am just really hoping it supports split screen. I figure out my bills in the Notes app and a split with the calculator would be awesome. But then, Apple has not seen fit to allow the Settings app to Support split screen so one can only hope…
oh wow, I remember Phil telling us they just couldn't figure out how to arrange the ui on the ipads big screen. So finally after 12 years Apple's crack Ui design team figured out how to do it???
How many sub windows and swipe overs and flyouts and 1 pixel slide handles will they use to do it? Perhaps they'll put the + and - on the main screen and then you can tap three dots off in space to access the x and / operators in another window, and then when you're done swipe the middle upper left corner on a diagonal to get to a microphone icon and so you can shout "EQUALS!" "EQUALS!" "EQUALS!" "NO, EQUALS!" "NO, NOT NO, DELETE NO!" "EQUALS!", and give it to the Maps people so it'll have medium blue text on a dark gray background. That'll help a lot.
How many sub windows and swipe overs and flyouts and 1 pixel slide handles will they use to do it? Perhaps they'll put the + and - on the main screen and then you can tap three dots off in space to access the x and / operators in another window, and then when you're done swipe the middle upper left corner on a diagonal to get to a microphone icon and so you can shout "EQUALS!" "EQUALS!" "EQUALS!" "NO, EQUALS!" "NO, NOT NO, DELETE NO!" "EQUALS!", and give it to the Maps people so it'll have medium blue text on a dark gray background. That'll help a lot.
Last edited:
So from what descriptions I’ve heard, specifically about the auto resizing buttons and such….perhaps this is a test bed for their developer tools?
I’m thinking this is actually the iOS application written in whatever Swift UI updates they’ve been working on. I know the last two WWDC’s have focused on bridging the amount of work that developers need to do to make an application once, then just compile with the appropriate OS’s checked off.
I’m not a developer, but I’ve always watched the developer sessions and the State of The Union during WWDC week to get a better feel under the hood at what Apple is focusing on.
I think one of the major downsides of iOS apps running on MacOS right now is that depending on how you built the UI (with recommended frameworks or not) it was either a few tweaks OR a massive rewrite of the UI logic.
Just a theory, but this may be them using one of the first party apps as a proof of concept if whatever they’ve been doing to continue to make their ecosystem more seamless *for developers*?
SwiftUI sessions this year at WWDC will be a focus of my watching this year.
I’m thinking this is actually the iOS application written in whatever Swift UI updates they’ve been working on. I know the last two WWDC’s have focused on bridging the amount of work that developers need to do to make an application once, then just compile with the appropriate OS’s checked off.
I’m not a developer, but I’ve always watched the developer sessions and the State of The Union during WWDC week to get a better feel under the hood at what Apple is focusing on.
I think one of the major downsides of iOS apps running on MacOS right now is that depending on how you built the UI (with recommended frameworks or not) it was either a few tweaks OR a massive rewrite of the UI logic.
Just a theory, but this may be them using one of the first party apps as a proof of concept if whatever they’ve been doing to continue to make their ecosystem more seamless *for developers*?
SwiftUI sessions this year at WWDC will be a focus of my watching this year.
It’s weird that it took so long for Apple to implement something as simple and basic as a calculator app. Did Apple ever explain to someone in the media why they included a calculator app with the iPhone, but left it out with the iPad. I’m guessing it’s one of those Apple mysteries that will never be officially explained.