Key Takeaways
- iPadOS 18 will at long last include native Calculator app, featuring Math Notes, a history, and unit conversion.
- Math Notes will support drawing graphs and expressions using an Apple Pencil, with results generated when you draw or type an equals sign.
- The OS update is due sometime this fall, mostly likely in September.
In unveiling iPadOS 18 during Monday’s WWDC 2024 keynote, Apple included a small but significant addition — a native Calculator app for the iPad. The app has long been present on iPhones, Macs, and even Apple Watches, but has been strangely missing on the company’s tablets, despite them sometimes being marketed as laptop replacements. Users have complained since the first-generation iPad, which was announced by Steve Jobs way back in 2010.
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Apple’s usual response has been that it wanted to come up with unique iPad features, and that seems to have come to fruition. On top of extra screen space making it easier to access scientific calculator functions (for algebra, calculus, etc.), the big news is Math Notes. Using an Apple Pencil, you can hand-draw graphs and expressions, and the app will attempt to answer equations once you write an equals sign. Results are integrated into your notes using simulated handwriting. Notes can also be saved for later, which could potentially be a big boon for students. You can view them in Calculator or the separate Notes app.
The app further includes built-in history and unit conversion tools. Such features have long been present in third-party calculators on the App Store, but having them preloaded in iPadOS should increase convenience.
When is the new Calculator app coming?
iPadOS 18 and its Calculator app are due to launch sometime this fall, most likely in September alongside iOS 18 for the iPhone. Some other upgrades will include an enhanced Control Center, and more homescreen customization options, such as color shading and the ability to anchor app icons in different ways. System-wide the most significant change will be Apple Intelligence — generative AI for writing, image generation, and controlling app functions like searching through Photos content. Much of this should be handled on-device, but Apple is building in hooks for outside AI platforms, starting with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
You’ll need a relatively recent iPad to take advantage of Apple Intelligence. While iPadOS 18 as a whole will be compatible with devices as old as the 7th gen iPad, 5th gen iPad mini, and 3rd gen iPad Air, you’ll need an iPad with an M-series processor for Intelligence capabilities. That could prompt a wave of device upgrades — something Apple is likely counting on, particularly to boost sales of its new M4-equipped iPad Pros and M2-equipped iPad Airs.
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