PCalc - The Best Calculator for iOS

Offering advanced calculation functions, PCalc targets students, engineers, programmers, and anyone else who needs an advanced calculator on their mobile device.

Pros

Extensive features and custom functions: PCalc provides a comprehensive range of basic and advanced calculation features -- much more than the standard scientific calculator. Also, it lets you add functions and conversions that can even be synchronized with other iOS devices, as well as conveniently import custom function files from other users.

Customizable calculator display and ticker tape: The multiline "calculator display" can be configured to display items according to your preference; you can quickly adjust how many lines you want to see, change background colors, and choose from among 13 themes and 18 key layouts. Additionally, there's a "ticker tape" showing recent calculations that can be positioned at the bottom or on top of the calculator's display. PCalc's calculator display is arguably one of the best around.

Intuitive design: The blinking cursor is particularly useful when doing long calculations. The keys you press, on the other hand, can optionally pop out and get magnified to enhance typing precision (similar to the iOS keyboard). Little things like the "frac" key for making fractions, the added "cents decimals" when using the calculator in accounting mode, and undo/redo through dedicated buttons, make the app even better.

Cons

Somewhat expensive: At $9.99, PCalc isn't cheap in app price standards.

No graphing ability: The ability to generate graphs would have made the $9.99 price more acceptable.

Bottom Line

With its extensive range of functions and many customization options, PCalc is a definite improvement on the default iOS calculator. Whether you're a student, engineer, or scientist, this well-designed app makes it easier for you to do advanced calculations on the go. We give it a big thumbs up.

Added links for downloading the manual to the Help section.

Did we mention there's now a manualkwscnmrk! Yes, after nearly twenty-five years, there finally is. Written by one Glenn Fleishman, it's a general introduction to the app, as well as an extensive list of all the settings and buttons and what they actually do.

Added an option to stop themes being applied to menus, in the Advanced section of the settings.

Fixed a crash when importing settings from an iPhone onto an iPad, or vice versa.