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Calculator App Issues in iOS 18

Is anyone at Apple addressing the issues with the iOS 18 calculator app on iPhone? Pressing equal after entering an equation and solving at once doesn’t allow you to calculate again without retyping everything. I use the calculator multiple times a week as a counter at work and losing this functionality is incredibly impactful.


I’ve also found that the calculator will move to scientific notation in the six figure range in vertical mode. This seems excessive, considering the old calculator would display millions without switching to scientific notation. I’m really confused why these “features” were added to the new calculator as opposed to leaving actual working features from before.


iPhone 14 Pro

Posted on Sep 28, 2024 7:00 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 30, 2024 3:39 PM

Quite literally the most pointless change to what was a decent working calculator - it is now utterly unuseable. It’s like a child’s speak and spell.

Once more pointless and unnecessary changes ruining a once great app.

why change it if it worked? It’s like it was designed by someone who never actually uses a calculator. 😡


34 replies

Oct 10, 2024 2:12 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

For many (if not most) financial users, the HP-12C, originally released in 1981(!) is still being manufactured, and is still considered the best programmable financial calculator ever made. I have 3 of them in different locations around the house, and also one on my iPhone. Fortunately, there are several HP-12C emulators in the App Store, many with additional features than the original HP-12C had. It is far more powerful than the built in Apple Calculator.

Oct 11, 2024 7:48 AM in response to AlWeir

AlWeir wrote:

Don't bother using the Calculator in iOS 18. It gives you wrong numbers for totals. The Calculator on Mac's are accurate.

This is not my experience at all. We're also not seeing a lot of posts to that effect. Could it possibly be that it's easier to type accurately on a real keyboard than on a tiny screen and so you make fewer errors on the Mac?

Oct 11, 2024 8:20 AM in response to AlWeir

AlWeir wrote:

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.

Again, a single thread doesn't mean there is a problem with the Calculator app on that phone, let alone one an all phones. The vast majority of problems people have with phones, computers and tablets are the result of people not understanding how things work or making mistakes. And I include myself in that.


Did you test it on your iPhone?


ETA - The iPhone calculator is not wrong. The basic calculator only shows to one number after the decimal so it rounds. If you enter that calculation and switch to the scientific calculator, you'll see the two digits after the decimal.

Nov 23, 2024 10:30 AM in response to ltborg

There is an old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.


The iOS 17 calculator was definitely “not broken” (as evidenced by so many people griping about it — Me too). So Why did some genius? “fix it“?


Please make the iOS 17 calculator an option within your next revision … PLEASE.


Particularly, I enjoyed the basic calculator when my telephone is in the portrait position, but it automatically converted to the scientific calculator when I turned my phone to the landscape position. (Plus not ever having to hit the = between each set of numbers, to see my running total — no matter which calculator method I was using).


(Then, please stop Fixing things that don’t have a problem)

Calculator App Issues in iOS 18

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