PCalc

Name: PCalc
Price: 9.99 USD
Rating: 4.7 (757 reviews)
Author: TLA Systems Ltd.

The Best Calculator

$9.99 · In‑App Purchases

757 Ratings
Awards

Editors’ Choice

Apps
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Utilities
Developer

TLA Systems Ltd.
Language

EN
English
Size

84.6
MB

PCalc is the powerful choice for scientists, engineers, students, programmers, or indeed anybody looking for a feature rich calculator. It includes an optional RPN mode and multi-line display, a choice of button layouts, an extensive set of unit conversions and constants, a paper tape, multiple undo and redo, engineering and scientific notation, as well as support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations. Includes an Apple Watch app, so you can calculate on your wrist!

Ratings & Reviews

4.7

out of 5

757 Ratings

Editors’ Choice

Let’s be honest: It’s not always easy to get excited about a calculator. But PCalc is well more than the sum of its parts; this beautifully designed utility is filled with high-powered features and functions that will appeal to everyone from engineers to programmers to students going to, well, pre-calc. If you’re a fan of scientific notation, trigonometry, and/or unit conversion, add this to your home screen.

Editors’ Choice

Let’s be honest: It’s not always easy to get excited about a calculator. But PCalc is well more than the sum of its parts; this beautifully designed utility is filled with high-powered features and functions that will appeal to everyone from engineers to programmers to students going to, well, pre-calc. If you’re a fan of scientific notation, trigonometry, and/or unit conversion, add this to your home screen.
It can be anything you want it to be
02/13/2019

Frank Hellwig
I have downloaded (and bought) many iPhone calculators and PCalc is by far the best. The depth and breadth of this app is a true labor of love by the author who has spend decades perfecting it (see his website). As an RPN lover and HP calculator addict, I have searched for and tried most of the offerings in the app store only to be disapointed by the rediculous skeuomorphic designs that abound.With PCalc, the amount of custimization possibilities is dizzyingly vast but, once the shock of available options wears off, you are rewarded with a true sense of empowerment. Case in point: I love the elegance and simplicity of the original HP35 from 1972. I was able to duplicate this keyboard layout and, with the appropriate theme, I was able get it looking very nice. This took me a while but my layout is automatically saved to iCloud where it syncs with my other iOS devices.The layout customization is very sophisticated, allowing you to have keys that are hidden until the 2nd key is pressed. All the labels for each key can be set to whatever you want. I'll stop here not because there is not more to say, but because this calculator shines once you start exploring the many options available. The point being, if you don't like what you see in the default layouts, you can make it be anything you want it to be.
It can be anything you want it to be
02/13/2019

Frank Hellwig

I have downloaded (and bought) many iPhone calculators and PCalc is by far the best. The depth and breadth of this app is a true labor of love by the author who has spend decades perfecting it (see his website). As an RPN lover and HP calculator addict, I have searched for and tried most of the offerings in the app store only to be disapointed by the rediculous skeuomorphic designs that abound.With PCalc, the amount of custimization possibilities is dizzyingly vast but, once the shock of available options wears off, you are rewarded with a true sense of empowerment. Case in point: I love the elegance and simplicity of the original HP35 from 1972. I was able to duplicate this keyboard layout and, with the appropriate theme, I was able get it looking very nice. This took me a while but my layout is automatically saved to iCloud where it syncs with my other iOS devices.The layout customization is very sophisticated, allowing you to have keys that are hidden until the 2nd key is pressed. All the labels for each key can be set to whatever you want. I'll stop here not because there is not more to say, but because this calculator shines once you start exploring the many options available. The point being, if you don't like what you see in the default layouts, you can make it be anything you want it to be.
Terrible calculator for the price
05/25/2024

JBadzer
I got this calculator years ago but deleted it because I didn’t like it. I downloaded it again to give it another try but still left disappointed. The iPhone is much more powerful than a Casio scientific calculator yet this app acts like an HP calculator made 20 years ago and doesn’t work as efficiently as a Casio calculator built in the last 5 years. I cannot input long calculations in one go, you must input everything one register at a time which is time consuming and outdated. Also the calculations are very limited. If the fraction has a square root then the answer will be either given in decimal or an approximated fraction instead of an exact value with the square root still intact in the answer. Also the multiline support is very limited. I can’t show my previous calculations except on the outdated tape mode instead of displaying it right on the multiline display like a normal modern Casio calculator. Furthermore, unless I specifically go into complex mode and input data in an inefficient way I can’t do complex calculations. Typing in root(-1) results in an error instead of the calculator outputting “i” like it should. While this layout and methodology might have been impressive 20 years ago, it is very lacking in our modern time and fails to properly utilize the power of modern smartphone processors and massive memory availability.Note: I am better used to the interface now, and while it takes more input time for long calculations, it’s still quite handy in its own way. I changed my rating to 4 stars
Terrible calculator for the price
05/25/2024

JBadzer

I got this calculator years ago but deleted it because I didn’t like it. I downloaded it again to give it another try but still left disappointed. The iPhone is much more powerful than a Casio scientific calculator yet this app acts like an HP calculator made 20 years ago and doesn’t work as efficiently as a Casio calculator built in the last 5 years. I cannot input long calculations in one go, you must input everything one register at a time which is time consuming and outdated. Also the calculations are very limited. If the fraction has a square root then the answer will be either given in decimal or an approximated fraction instead of an exact value with the square root still intact in the answer. Also the multiline support is very limited. I can’t show my previous calculations except on the outdated tape mode instead of displaying it right on the multiline display like a normal modern Casio calculator. Furthermore, unless I specifically go into complex mode and input data in an inefficient way I can’t do complex calculations. Typing in root(-1) results in an error instead of the calculator outputting “i” like it should. While this layout and methodology might have been impressive 20 years ago, it is very lacking in our modern time and fails to properly utilize the power of modern smartphone processors and massive memory availability.Note: I am better used to the interface now, and while it takes more input time for long calculations, it’s still quite handy in its own way. I changed my rating to 4 stars
I know calculators
11/03/2022

Lennyhpiv
this is by a wide margin the best ‘quick’ calculator software ever developed. i love how it allows me to obsess over fine-tuning my layout exactly how i like it. with any program that invites the user to invest this level energy into of customizing their experience, there will always be things i start to notice that i just really wish were present. with this app, the one thing i would like to point out to the developer is that most classic RPN calculators allow the user to combine a STO/RCL operation with plus/minus/times/divide. for instance, you can do things like STO * 2 or RCL / 7. i use these types of operations a lot on my calculators and i find them to be intuitive and convenient. although the multiple memory in this app has a pretty good and authentic interface, it’s missing this one feature I like, and there doesn’t seem to be a good workaround. I’ve tried writing macros and putting custom buttons in my layouts but i can’t really see any good way to replicate this feature. the storied development of this app is obviously a labor of love and i look forward to see what features come out next.
I know calculators
11/03/2022

Lennyhpiv

this is by a wide margin the best ‘quick’ calculator software ever developed. i love how it allows me to obsess over fine-tuning my layout exactly how i like it. with any program that invites the user to invest this level energy into of customizing their experience, there will always be things i start to notice that i just really wish were present. with this app, the one thing i would like to point out to the developer is that most classic RPN calculators allow the user to combine a STO/RCL operation with plus/minus/times/divide. for instance, you can do things like STO * 2 or RCL / 7. i use these types of operations a lot on my calculators and i find them to be intuitive and convenient. although the multiple memory in this app has a pretty good and authentic interface, it’s missing this one feature I like, and there doesn’t seem to be a good workaround. I’ve tried writing macros and putting custom buttons in my layouts but i can’t really see any good way to replicate this feature. the storied development of this app is obviously a labor of love and i look forward to see what features come out next.

Added an option to use woodworking fractions, in the Advanced settings. Added an option to use the Indian numbering system for thousands separators, in the Advanced settings. Added an option to ignore trailing operators, on by default, in the Advanced settings. Added an option to automatically press Equals before "M+" and "M in" operations, on by default, in the Advanced settings. Added an option to allow all themes for dark or light mode, in the Theme settings. Added an option to hide any gloss effects on the display, in the Theme settings. Added "Flow Rate", "Jewelry", and "Typography" sections to the conversions. Added "norm", "sci", "eng", "acc", "frac", "nCr", "nPr", and "tau" buttons to the layout editor. Added "tau" to the constants, and as a 2nd function of "pi" in most layouts. Improved the layout editor with all the commands and keyboard shortcuts from the macOS version. The "Clear on Open" option will now only trigger if you haven't used PCalc in the last five minutes. You can now use combinations and permutations in user functions and conversions. You can now edit buttons to display any SF Symbol as an image. Now show a preview image when picking an SF Symbol. Menus are more consistent with the macOS version. The user interface mode setting is now independent of the theme mode setting. Fixed a problem speaking negative numbers. Fixed a problem displaying overflows. Fixed a problem with the user interface dark mode settings.