Apple iPads could finally get native calculator app in 2024 with iPadOS 18

Unlike the iPhones, the iPads had limited native apps. These include Weather, Compass, Calculator, and more. While Apple incorporated the Weather app in 2022, it is now time for the Calculator app

Apple’s inaugural iPad, launched in 2010, lacked many native applications including a calculator, weather, and more. It has been more than a decade but iPads still do not have native applications for calculator. However, it is set to change this year with iPadOS 18.

The Verge has reported that Apple is planning to introduce a native calculator in iPads with the next-generation operating system, which the company will unveil during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 10.

Why the original iPad did not get a calculator

The first-generation iPad was supposed to get a redesigned version of the iPhone calculator. However, prior to the launch, the then-CEO Steve Jobs noticed the recycled calculator app on the prototype model of the iPad. Jobs did not like the calculator app, which was essentially just an expanded iPhone calculator app, and directed Scott Forstall, the lead iPad developer, to either build a new iPad calculator or remove it from the device. With the iPad launch running close, the developers decided to leave out the calculator app entirely.

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Why iPads still do not have a calculator app

During an interview with the American YouTuber Marques Brownlee, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said that Apple will only include a calculator app if it could do something “distinctly new in that space”. “We want to do it when we can do it well,” he added.

Apart from the calculator app, the iPads also did not have a Weather app. It was in 2022 that Apple finally incorporated it into iPads.

According to media reports, Apple might be redesigning the calculator app for the upcoming macOS. The company will likely add a similarly designed calculator app for the iPads. So by not being impressed by the iPhone’s calculator app on the iPad, Apple may finally be satisfied with the one from the MacBooks