iPhone Calculator app
Shares rank 6 of 7 calculator apps by recommenders
Free built-in iPhone calculator; people note its history and correct keypresses. Critics cite hidden history, lag on fast taps and wrong results.
Free built-in iPhone calculator; people note its history and correct keypresses. Critics cite hidden history, lag on fast taps and wrong results.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 33%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Shows too little calculation history
“the main beef I have with Calculator.app is that on a screen this big, I ought to be able to see several previous calculations”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “My thousand dollar iPhone can't do math” “I want that history visible on the screen”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “My thousand dollar iPhone can't do math” Misreads fast or repeated taps
“that wouldn't accept the next digit until the last press was done animating”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Every Frame Perfect” “calculator app showing false results when tapped quickly”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “If you're a button, you have one job”
Other calculator apps people recommend
The four most recommended other calculator apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SpeedCrunch | 13 | 7 | 65% | 4 | — | — |
| Windows Calculator | 9 | 34 | 21% | 5 | — | — |
| Qalculate | 9 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Can I Run AI locally? | 9 | 14 | 39% | 1 | — | — |
| iPhone Calculator appThis page | 6 | 12 | 33% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“calculator app showing false results when tapped quickly”
“that wouldn't accept the next digit until the last press was done animating”
“Biggest gripe on iOS is a single memory.”
“you can't open 2 instances of Calculator.app side by side”
“I have never had to force quit the calculator before Tahoe.”
“I want that history visible on the screen”
“Calculator.app does have history now FWIW, it goes back to 2025 on my device.”
“the main beef I have with Calculator.app is that on a screen this big, I ought to be able to see several previous calculations”
“Have you heard of the Calculator app?”
“I agree it's unexpected, though.”
“When I do those exact keypresses I get the correct answer.”
“The answer should not be negative, but the app says "-4".”
“The calculator one is actually pretty good.”
“they buried it in a menu in the Calculator app?”
“calculator requires 32 GB of ram”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.