Calculator App Issues in iOS 18

There was a earlier threat about the in iOS 18 calculator a few weeks ago that some one posted and showed that calculator was inaccurate. I did the same on the Mac and it was correct.

Here is the thread.

ios18 calculator not accurate - Apple Community

And someone got a promotion for it. Love big-tech's customer focus.

I hate this update to the calculator app so much. I used to lend my child my iPhone when he needed to use a calculator, but now I had to buy a real calculator for him because now the app is so unusable. Why do I need to press the back button multi times just to reset the calculator? Before I just need to tap AC. Why does when I press + or x for the second time, the calculator doesn’t show the result of the first addition/multiplication but show the full equation instead? It’s just so unusable…

I used the repeating “=“ operations to calculate compound interest over a few periods. No point of pulling up a separate tool or switching modes if you need to run it for 3 to 5 periods. I use this multiple times a day. Forced to download a different calculator and abandon the built-in one. Can we at least have a setting to control this behavior?

Sloading wrote:

Not sure how well Apple iPhone reps monitor and consider this content, but I would suggest that everyone also send input to the iPhone User Feedback page. This calculator downgrade is something they need to hear about until they decide to fix it. Feedback - iPhone - Apple

I AM sure how well Apple iPhone reps monitor ASC: Not at all. The only people who monitor ASC are moderators, and even they don’t read every post, and they certainly don’t read for feedback. I know because once you reach level 6 you can chat with the ASC administrators directly.

DaveSic wrote:

When I multiply 80 times 175,000 the answer is 1.4e7

what the heck is that?

Scientific notation shorthand. 1.4 times 10 to the 7th power, or 14,000,000.

Just add zeros to the right, then move the decimal point 7 digits to the right. Basic 7th grade science and math.

As a carpenter, this calculator change has been a real stitch up. I would love it if Apple could resolve this = issue so we can get back to using the Apple calculator rather than using an external app on the phone. Please get this sorted Apple!!

ColonC71 wrote:

If the new IOS 18 calculator is not changed back to its original format IOS 17 version with running totals then I will be getting rid of I phone

You should absolutely use the tool that best meets your needs. If that means buying an entirely new phone rather than just a new calculator app (try PCalc), that's what you should do. Seems like a waste of money to me, though.

please speak to who ever designed this and get them to rectify it please

No one here in this user-to-user forum can "speak to" anyone. If you want to let Apple know your thoughts, use the feedback page:

Product Feedback - Apple

I'm pretty sure they changed it intentionally, though.

The Apple calculator has endured backwards update in terms of flexibility of use.

If I want to apply an 8% return to $1000 over 3 years, I used key in “1000x1.08===“ and the calculator would give me the product 1,259.712 but now I have to key in “1000×1.08×1.08×1.08” so the old way was 12 keystrokes and the new way is 19.

…or I can go into scientific mode and enter:

1. Start with the interest rate:  1 + 0.08 , press = (you should see  1.08 ).
2. Raise this to the power of 3: Tap the x^y button, enter  3 , and press = (you should see  1.259712 ).
3. Multiply this result by the principal amount ($1000):  1.259712 \times 1000 , press =.

…so the scientific mode has always been hard to remember and instead I’d just set up the equation and hit equal for the number of times equal to the periods of time I needed. Now I either have to type them in (a lot more keystrokes) or use the scientific which is also more cumbersome.

Nice job Apple you’ve forced me to use the scientific mode even for the most basic calculations.

Nanalsh wrote:

Why is it when you do an upgrade (iOS 18.1.1) that’s for security issue you mess with everything else? I.e. calculator, calendar and photos to name a few!!!

I didn’t mess with anything; I’m just another user like you, and like everyone else in this user-to-user forum..

and 18.1.1 didn’t mess up anything on any of my family’s iPhones, so you need to find out what you did to break stuff.

Let’s imagine that the way the calculator works in iOS 18 was the way it always worked, then Apple issued a new update that changed it to the way it worked previously. I’m certain there would be just as many complaints about THAT change as there is this change. The single common element is CHANGE. Some people don’t like change in anything, regardless of what the change brings. But following that philosophy we would still all be using IBM PCs from 1980, because there were screams of anguish when Windows was first released; why had Microsoft ruined the perfectly good MS-DOS? I remember; I was there, and my first thought was exactly that.

Cats don’t like change either.

Of all of the inevitable (and often petty) user-specific grievances regarding UI/UX changes with any major interface update on any device/platform, this is the first one I’ve ever commented upon. We need answers here: what specific user data/feedback/IP considerations led you to disallow users from “using the calculator to keep hitting the equals sign to calculate compounding interest”?

Resa3 wrote:

No thx. My question was to Apple .

You weren’t helpful.

plz take me off your responses.

thx

I will post wherever and whenever I want. You are not going to get a response from Apple in this user-to-user forum if you wait 100 years.

Whether helpful or not, everything you need to know has already been posted hundreds of times in this thread alone.

Here is how to contact Apple.

Apple’s formal support can be reached several ways:

• You can provide feedback to Apple at→ Product Feedback - Apple where your issue or suggestion will be recorded, but you will not get a reply

For personalized support:

Best way: 

• Install the Apple Support app on your iPhone or iPad - you can contact support directly from the app, and the tech will have (with your permission) access to diagnostic data on your phone

Other options:

• • Click on “Support” at the top or bottom of this page
  • Go to Contact Official Apple Support

(Note that both of the above have options to receive a callback or chat)

• • Call Apple Support; the phone numbers are in this link→Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support
  • Make a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple Store→Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple
  • Find an Apple store or Apple partner service provider→Find Locations

About the only communications methods not used by Apple support is inbound

It doesn’t matter what anyone is saying in this thread defending Apples choice.

What Apple have done here is break the functionality of a basic calculator.

EVERY calculator works the same way - except Apples now.

You can go out and buy the cheapest calculator. You Press 1+1, you will see “2” no need to press =.

you can then keep pressing “=“ to keep repeating your sum.

everyone has been able to do that since school. On any calculator they pick up.

This change by Apple has no benefit - and I do not believe anybody has asked Apple to break this functionality. There is no benefit.

I have also looked for an alternative calculator app - but it’s now a case of having to pay for an app I already had as default that had nothing wrong with it.

I’m completely unable to use this new calculator & I’m so frustrated. I have no idea what the people at Apple were thinking. Or maybe they weren’t thinking at all. It’s not a viable option for a calculator at all.