The powerful and popular advanced calculator PCalc has gotten a valuable update today. Arriving for all Apple devices, the release brings the ability for user functions and conversions to call other functions and conversions, the option to reference constants within user functions and conversions, and more.
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The popular PCalc calculator app has received a great update for Mac today. The latest version brings a full-on button layout editor to create the exact calculator you want on your Mac – including customization of the menu bar widget. Other new changes include widget layouts available to use in the main app, the ability to resize button layouts, and more.
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TLA Systems has brought is popular calculator app to the Apple Watch today through the latest version of PCalc for iPhone. The PCalc Apple Watch app features a fully functional calculator for quickly crunching numbers from your watch — 1985 Casio-style like the similar Calcbot app — and similarly features a clever tip calculator that makes splitting the bill a cinch.
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Update: Thompson has verified the policy change.
We learned yesterday from developer James Thompson that Apple had informed him that the calculator widget for his app PCalc, which had already been approved and even featured by the App Store, would have to remove the widget from the app to remain available for sale. The reason Apple gave, according to Thompson’s tweets, is that “widgets on iOS cannot perform any calculations” which his PCalc calculator widget obviously did, but it seems Apple has since reversed that decision, according to iMore and TechCrunch. TC reports that an Apple spokesperson has confirmed that PCalc’s widget can now remain as well as any other similar calculator widgets.
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Developer James Thomson of popular calculator app PCalc announced today via his Twitter account that Apple is forcing him to remove the app’s Today Widget due to a restriction that iOS widgets “cannot perform any calculations.”
Apple’s new Today Widgets feature in iOS 8, which allows developers to build functions into the system-wide Notification Center, does have some limitations that Apple outlines in developer documentation. For example, Apple encourages developers not to use Today Widgets for multistep tasks: “If you want to create an app extension that enables a multistep task or helps users perform a lengthy task, such as uploading or downloading content, the Today extension point is not the right choice.” There doesn’t, however, appear to be specific references to apps that perform calculations in Apple’s developer guidelines.
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Popular scientific calculator app PCalc was updated today with new features including 64-bit support for the iPhone 5s and new iPads. The updated app also includes a new nighttime theme on iOS 7 called “Samurai Night” that can automatically switch on when it’s dark.
Along with PCalc, we’re also huge fans of Digits Calculator in iOS.
Version 3.1 of PCalc for iPhone and iPad also includes a long list of other new features and fixes:
Added 64-bit support for the iPhone 5s and new iPads.
Added a new darker iOS 7 theme, “Samurai Night”.
Added an option to automatically switch to “Samurai Night” when it’s dark outside.
Added an accounting mode that automatically enters a decimal point and rounds the display to two decimal places.
Added an option to make the text on the keys bold.
Added new commands to the user functions and conversions.
Now display dark menus on an iPhone when using a dark theme.
Now disable the deg / rad buttons when not in decimal mode.
Now support touch typing using VoiceOver.
Fixed a problem adjusting sliders using VoiceOver.
Fixed a problem displaying the tape and registers in certain themes.
Fixed a problem hiding the status bar.
Fixed a problem with double-height status bars.
Fixed the sorting in the “Density” section of the conversions.
PCalc 3.0 is available for $9.99 on the App Store.