With the announcement that iPadOS 18 could bring a calculator to the iPad, we’ll refresh our memories on why the iPad doesn’t have a calculator right now, and what the alternatives are if you want to do some math and that this is the only device you need. have at hand.
Since the arrival of the iPad, there has been a curious omission in Apple’s pre-installed applications. While the iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and even the iPod touch have a calculator as standard, there has never been one on the iPad.
Why is that? Of all the platforms, this is probably the most suitable for this task, especially if it is a scientific platform with all the additional capabilities.
We’re not ones to leave a stone to chance, so we set out to understand why the iPad ships without a calculator.
The story of Steve Jobs
While preparing this article, we contacted Apple to see if there was an official reason why the calculator app was being removed from the iPad. At the time of writing, we hadn’t heard back, so we couldn’t ask if it had anything to do with an Apple executive standing at an intersection at midnight, playing on a prototype d iPad until a dark figure arrived, promising to make it the queen of all tablets, but at a terrible price: that of the calculator application.
Maybe this theory explains why no one at Apple wanted to talk to us? Or is this something forbidden? Who knows?
There is, however, another theory, reported by Cult of Mac’s Luke Dormehl in 2016:
This story, which comes from someone who worked at Apple at the time, says that as the launch of the original iPad approached, Steve Jobs called Scott Forstall (who headed software development for the tablet) in his office. . Jobs then asked where the new calculator app designed specifically for the iPad was. To which Forstall replied that there was none. They planned to use the iPhone version instead.
Jobs, who was known for his incredible attention to detail, was unhappy with this because the application looked horrible to him. He then removed the app, much to Forstall’s dismay, and it simply fell to the bottom of the pile of things that needed to be done for every update or upgrade to iOS and then to iPadOS since.
It’s entirely possible that this story is apocryphal, as it’s a little hard to believe that no one at Apple has been able to create a decent calculator app in the last decade, but the continued absence of said program gives a some weight to the idea.
We prefer the crossroads version, but maybe that’s just the fatalistic romantic in us, and we suspect Craig Federighi may have made a similar swap to ensure the magnificence of his luscious mane.
How to use the calculator on iPad
Regardless of why Apple doesn’t include its Calculator app on the iPad, the really strange thing is that the Calculator is actually there, it’s just hidden.
How to access the calculator on iPad? Just ask Siri.
We asked Siri on the iPad “What is 10 x 12” and it gave us the answer 120. The big surprise, as you can see in the image below: it got this calculator answer!
So you can just use Siri to do simple calculations on your iPad. For example, ask:
- Hey Siri, what is 10% out of 100?
- Hey Siri, what is 15-7?
- Hey Siri, what is 28.96 divided by 5
Other more complicated questions can be routed through Wolfram Alpha. For example, when we asked Siri for the square root of 16, the answer came from Wolfram.
So the Calculator app on iPad is useful for doing simple calculations, but it won’t give you all the answers. What are the best options for more complicated calculations. We will discuss it next.
Best Calculator Apps for iPad
If you don’t want to wait for Apple’s legendary calculator app to arrive on the iPad, there’s still a huge selection of decent alternatives available on the App Store. One of our favorites is the cheap and cheerful Calcbot 2, which performs standard and scientific calculations, as well as unit conversions. The free version includes ads, but you can get rid of them for around $2/£2.
Other options include PCalc, Calculator HD++, Calculator HD Pro Lite, and a host of equally powerful apps. There may be no Apple Calculator app for the iPad, but luckily you have no shortage of offerings in this department from other developers.
