Calcbot - The Smart Calculator 4+

I generally love Tapbots and their apps, but the lack of updates to this one has been extremely frustrating. Since almost 1.0 I have been dealing with a bug where keyboard entry is slow and often results in characters being ignored. This seems like a pretty important feature for a calculator that has never been addressed even though it has been reported as a bug. With High Sierra now, there are a few graphical glitches that are annoying but not deal-breakers. Still, it seems to indicate the lack of interest or care among the developers to even fix basic bugs so I can’t recommend buying this right now.

A great take on the calculator that stays true to the Tapbots way of making apps. The implementation of unit conversions and the various functions available with the calculator history tape are wonderful. They add that extra layer of functionality that makes the purchase worthwhile. Having said that, Tapbots is guilty of neglecting great apps and are generally very slow to update. With the exception of Tweetbot, Tapbots has failed to deliver to their paying customers time and time again. There will be a new version of Calcbot for iOS and in all likelihood people will have to pay again for that. It will have iCloud sync which will be great. I hope to see widget integration in the future, as well as a new versions of Pastebot for all platforms. Considering the fact that Tapbots has 4 apps that were not even updated to support iOS 7 or even the 4” iPhone 5, it is buyer beware. There is an endearing quality and uniqueness to all their apps. Whether it is user facing features that are well thought out, quirky sounds, or icons loaded with personality, Tapbots knows how to get people to buy in. I really hope they don’t let us down this time around.

Update: The reason I bought this app was to sync and favourite transactions between my Mac and my iPhone. For months this has been broken. It has been reported to them via social media and email by numerous people, and “we’re working on it” is all we hear. As brilliant as Tapbots are, they are arrogant, rude, and lazy as developers. They made a killing on Tweetbot (rightfully so), and now they could care less about their customers. They are just cashing in any way they can. This app is junk and doesn’t work as advertised. Very sad to see this attitude from a company I once loved. Even Tweetbot is starting to lag as Twitterrific for iOS has blown them out of the water. The long awaited Tweetbot for Mac update was underwhelming, and the iPad version has been vapourware for 2 years. Stay away and save your money.

Updates could be more frequent but I’ve been using it for years on both my mac and iOS and I love it. Nothing compares to it.