According to MacRumors, iPadOS 18 may finally be the update that brings a version of Apple’s first-party Calculator app to the iPad. Calculator was one of the very first iPhone apps that shipped with the iPhone back in 2007 but was mysteriously and inexplicably absent from the iPad when it launched in 2010. It’s also the very last of those original missing apps to find its way to the iPad’s home screen—Stocks, Clock, Voice Memos, and Weather had all made the jump previously, with the Weather app coming as recently as 2022.
Apple’s decision against shipping a first-party Calculator app with the iPad has always been puzzling, given that it has shipped one with every iPhone since 2007 and every Mac since 1984. However, the new Calculator app for iPad is expected to be more than just a straightforward port of the current iOS or macOS app.
Apple is reportedly planning a small overhaul of the Calculator app for macOS 15 with a history tape for tracking past calculations, a resizable window, and an updated round-button design that more closely imitates the iOS version. Since many of Apple’s apps share code between the iPad and macOS versions, it’s likely that the redesigned Mac app and the newly introduced iPad app will be essentially the same software.
The news that Apple may finally be bringing a Calculator app to the iPad has been met with mixed reactions from developers of third-party calculator apps. Some developers, like PCalc developer James Thomson, seem unfazed by the possibility of their apps being Sherlocked by Apple. “Yes, I saw the MacRumors article,” Thomson wrote on his Mastodon account. “Yes, it’s fine.”
