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Why does Apple hate calculators?

Neutral Milk

Neutral Milk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 28, 2015
130
11
What's with the absence of native calculator apps on both the iPad and Apple Watch?

While I don't fully understand the absence on the iPad I understand it even less on the Watch. Calculator watches are an essential classic, and I was pretty surprised it wasn't an option when getting my watch.

I know there are apps that I can download, but there's the current lag with non-native apps that would cause me to just pull out my phone for a quick calculation, that and I haven't liked any of the non-native calculator apps I've found.

So what gives? Any chance this is coming?
 
Neutral Milk said:
What's with the absence of native calculator apps on both the iPad and Apple Watch?

While I don't fully understand the absence on the iPad I understand it even less on the Watch. Calculator watches are an essential classic, and I was pretty surprised it wasn't an option when getting my watch.

I know there are apps that I can download, but there's the current lag with non-native apps that would cause me to just pull out my phone for a quick calculation, that and I haven't liked any of the non-native calculator apps I've found.

So what gives? Any chance this is coming?
Click to expand...

I think Apple would say that the touch targets for a good calculator would be too small on a watch and asking Siri provides a better user experience. (they are mostly right about this, asking siri to calculate things like tips is easy and fun)

And there are third party solutions. Calcbot is pretty good. I'd assume that watchOS 2.0 calculator apps will be plentiful.
 
iCarabma said:
I think Apple would say that the touch targets for a good calculator would be too small on a watch and asking Siri provides a better user experience. (they are mostly right about this, asking siri to calculate things like tips is easy and fun)

And there are third party solutions. Calcbot is pretty good. I'd assume that watchOS 2.0 calculator apps will be plentiful.
Click to expand...

I have pcalc on my iphone 6 and the pcalc glance showed up on my apple watch with VERY limited capabilities that like +,-,*,/. Since I have it set to RPN on my phone, it's RPN on my watch. The touch targets aren't too small but there's no trig, exponentiation, etc either.
 
The buttons on the watch are too small for accurate input on any calculator program I have used so far. Siri works exceptionally well for the type of simple calculations needed here. Agree RPN would be the way to go if needed, but it's still just too inefficient to try to tap numbers on the screen.
 
Agree that touch targets are too small, especially on the 38mm.

I tried Calculator+ when I first got the AW. Ignoring speed issues (which can be fixed in watchOS 2 with native apps), the buttons were too small to touch correctly. So out it went. But I can see it being quite useful for simple calculations (i.e. 0-9, +-*/).
 
Even the passcode touch targets on 42mm are so bad I had to turn it off. Also, you have wolfram alpha.
 
Calculations simple enough to be workable on the Watch should be done in the head anyway so they probably thought it would be pointless to develop a crippled calculator.

For more complicated calculations, simply pull out your iPhone.
 
I always wondered that too. Even on the Mac the calculator has been pretty lame. The System .93 calculator was basically unchanged for a really long time.

It's silly for a computer to have a lame calculator, since that's basically what it does when it's all said and done.
 
usarioclave said:
I always wondered that too. Even on the Mac the calculator has been pretty lame. The System .93 calculator was basically unchanged for a really long time.

It's silly for a computer to have a lame calculator, since that's basically what it does when it's all said and done.
Click to expand...
If you enable all the advanced options, the Windows Calculator is actually amazing.

I use Spacetime on my iDevices. Have been using it for over 10 years now, first on my Windows Mobile 2003 handheld. It lets you do absolutely anything once you learn how to use it.
 
maybe tim cook was a 3rd grade math teacher who said "you won't always have a calculator everywhere you go" and is determined not to be wrong
 
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