Unlike Apple’s iPhone, the iPad has never shipped with a native calculator app. Why?
Reddit user Tangoshukuda explains:
It is actually a funny story. When they were prototyping the iPad, they ported the iOS calc over, but it was just stretched to fit the screen. It was there all the way from the beginning of the prototypes and was just assumed by everyone at apple that it was going to be shipped that way. A month before the release, Steve Jobs calls Scott Forstall into his office and says to him, “Where is the new design for the calculator? This looks awful” He said, “What new design?” This is what we are shipping with.” Steve said, “No, pull it we can’t ship that.” Scott fought for it to stay in, but he knew he had to get their UI team involved to design a new look for the calculator, but there was no way they could do it in that short time frame, so they just scrapped it. It has been such low priority since then that no one cares to work on it since there is more important things to work on.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Someday, it would be nice – but not for third-party calculator app makers – if Apple made an iPad calculator app that’d make Jobs proud.
[Attribution: Cult of Mac. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
PCalc. Its worth every cent
Agreed!
As are the amazing powerOne calculators.
I was always puzzled by the lack of a built-in calculator on iPads. The first thing I looked for was to try and download the proper Apple one from the app store, but it wasn’t there.
It seemed odd that they didn’t offer one and left it to third party app developers instead.
I have always thought it was strange that the iPad didn’t ship with a native calculator app. Although, I find the story in the article less funny and more sad. The iPad debuted in 2010. It can’t take that many engineers and that much time to get the calculator app iPad ready. I am kind of surprised Steve let that slide.
Yes, well I have always thought it strange that the iPhone and iPad, to this very day, STILL does not let you send out group emails!
And I’m talking about the native iOS email or contacts app.
In my iOS devices, I have groups created from my Mac that were ported over and to thus day, Group emails are not possible!!
(And no, I don’t want to use third-party contact apps or group mailing apps on my devices. That’s a hassle)
What gives? 🤔
Or just swipe down from the top edge and type your calculation into the search box.
“There ‘is’ more important ‘things'”?! This author has lost all credibility.
“This author” being a random Reddit user. It would be nice, but I quit expecting any reasonable level of competence from the common man many years ago.
All credibility? For what is almost certainly a typo created by rewording the sentence? That’s a harsh penalty. There’s not a writer alive who hasn’t made that sort of mistake. Surely you don’t think he doesn’t know better.
ALL credibility?
That’s kind of shallow.
A bit o’ imperfection here, negligence there, before long, you end up with a bit o’ junque, which Apple does not make…
Calca — an app that might be overkill for calculating restaurant tips, but is indispensible for equations etc. Until I acquired an iPad and found this app, I had been carrying my father’s vintage HP calculator around with me. It was getting hard to find replacement batteries…
If it was an HP12C you were carrying around, and I am still carrying one around, an iPad clone is available that works identically. Search for “12E financial calculator” by Vicinno Soft. That’s right, 12E not 12C.
I never even noticed that the calculator is missing. I use it on my phone frequently, but apparently no one in my family has needed one on our iPads. Go figure… (But only on your iPhones!)
That’s one sad story. But really, 6 years without a native calculator app. How freakin’ hard can it be to port the iPhone app over and make it look decent.
As an engineer, I just have to shake my head at this tale of stupidity. Apple must have Wally from Dilbert working on it.
lol never noticed it didn’t have one. I IMMEDIATELY install PowerOne on every iOS device in my home. Great Calc app, supports RPN, does Time Value of Money and all conversions better than anything else I’ve seen our used. Lost without it!
Same goes for Weather.app and stocks.app. WTF?
Just use the calculator app on your phone (or through Siri) and quitcherbitchin.
Does Siri do word problems?
Question: If it is Tuesday in Tokyo, the moon is full and Trump is in the White House, how many Soccer balls will fit into a Ferrari?
The answer: we’re fucked.
Reality pushes back against the recent wave of articles MDN posts claiming that iOS is a professional platform. iOS will never be as capable as a full fledged Mac. Apple has clearly designed it to be a thin client device for consumption, subscription-based computing, and non-personal tasks that require constant connection to a mainframe. The Mac is a personal computer, and does not require the umbilical cord be attached at all times. How quickly MDN forgets what Apple offered in 1984.
I use Numbers on the iPad. It’s natural to me to use the phone when I just need a calculator, and reach for the iPad when I need a spreadsheet.
-jcr
I never noticed. Besides that, the calculator from the iPhone is a bit less functional than I could see an iPad calculator needing to be. Take the Mac calc app, maybe. Or just leave it alone. people haven’t noticed it anyways, before the article anyways, lol.
Acqualia’s Soulver app is incredibly useful, hard to describe in words–kind of a mixture of notes and calculator with just a bit of spreadsheet, dead simple–and it’s been my go-to calculator on the Mac for years. The iOS version is only 3 bucks!