Google is somehow the only company that is able to completely ruin a calculator app. Even before installing, Google outs themselves with how much data they collect:
- App info and performance: Crash logs and Diagnostics
- Personal info: Email address
- Device or other IDs
- App activity: App interactions
And of course the encouraging message:
Data can’t be deleted
The developer doesn’t provide a way for you to request that your data be deleted
As soon as you try to install it, the app requests network access. I’m glad to be using GrapheneOS where this can be restricted.
The app doesn’t crash on launch, which is a new concept for Google, since most of their apps won’t even start without Google Play Services installed. Maybe that means the calculator app can calculate 1+1 without requiring installing the most invasive software known to man, right?
Of course it can’t. It crashes the moment you press the plus sign. Thank you, Google, for requiring Google Play Services for your calculator app to do basic addition. You know what calculator doesn’t require Google Play services to do math?
In all seriousness, OpenCalc is a near 1:1 match to Google Calculator, so I suggest anyone use that instead.
The cherry on top is Google’s calculator app is bundled with a privacy policy, which on its own is a treat to read through: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Congratulations, Google, you can spy on math now.
They need to spy on math. To see if the User is stupid enough to fall for scam ads, or is a math student which cant fall for numbers.
Thanks I’ve uninstalled Google’s calculator and installed OpenCalc
Funnily enough, calculator is one of the few proprietary apps I’ve paid for and still happily lose. Wolfram alpha just does many things that other calculators don’t.
I’ve been looking for a calculator app for years now that fits what I need I need it for and have yet to find a good one. There was a good one a few years ago called function-something which allowed you to create your own mathematic expressions and it was super awesome, but it’s been discontinued… :(
RealCalc is nice - it emulates a scientific calculator, and doesn’t ask for any permissions.
yetCalc?
I don’t know if it’s on the play store.
I’ll give it a go.
Congratulations, Google, you can spy on math now.
5318008
Clear.
5318008
Clear.
5318008
etc
On the cli my favorite calculator of all time is Qalc. It’s fucking amazing.
You can be like “1 km to mi” and it will give it to you.
For some reason the screenshots show the gui but imo the cli is where it’s at
2 plus 2 is 4 minus 1. That’s 3. Quick maths.
How many lights do you see?
Also nice GeoGebra, OpenSource from Austria (EU), online, Android, iPhone
Not FOSS but great, OmniCalculator from Poland (EU), online, free, a collection of 3718 calculators for every task.
GeoGebra! Our school used it for demonstration on the lessons and had us do homework in there! Have good memories of it.
I use this one. It isn’t FOSS, but it’s a one-time purchase to remove ads. It has a lot of added features, like algebra and unit conversions, and requires no permissions.
The last time I wanted to do something for privacy, someone laughed at me saying “They don’t want to make a google mail because google spies on us”. Eh I wish you could read all this shit but you’re old and you don’t care about privacy ig
Why does a calculator need my fucking email address? We’re not pen pals, just do this arithmetic.
Welcome to 2025 where we discuss FOSS Calculators that don’t collect your data… how did we get here again?
Data can’t be deleted
The developer doesn’t provide a way for you to request that your data be deleted
Not big fans of the GDRP I assume 😂
Nowadays even calculators have terms of service and a privacy policy that is longer than many novels. Some probably have forced arbitration also.
fossify calculator ☞ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fossify.math
