Comparison

Calctan vs TextJam

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Calctan

This app offers a high-precision scientific and financial calculator with a smart formula workspace and an auditable tape for tracking calculations. It's designed for students and professionals needing to edit complex expressions, manage finances, and export reports.

Highlights
  • Smart formula editing with tap-to-edit cursor
  • Undo/Redo functionality
  • Advanced scientific math functions
  • Auditable calculation tape
  • Exportable reports via AirPrint/PDF
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Calctan is a high-precision scientific and financial tape calculator designed for iPhone and iPad. Built for students, engineers, accountants, and business professionals, Calctan bridges the gap between scientific computing and practical everyday finance. Edit complex formulas with ease, audit running totals on a printable tape, and enjoy a distraction-free workspace with zero ads. KEY FEATURES 1. SMART FORMULA WORKSPACE • Tap-to-Edit Cursor: Tap anywhere in your expression to fix numbers, operators, or parentheses instantly—no need to clear your work and start over. • Dedicated Undo & Redo: Step backward and forward through previous edits effortlessly with intuitive controls. • Live Syntax & Instant Preview: Real-time calculation results with automatic balancing of parentheses as you type. • Fluid Multi-Line Display: Dynamic scaling ensures long, complex formulas are never cut off. 2. ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC ENGINE • Complete Math Suite: Trigonometric functions (radians/degrees, inverse, hyperbolic), factorials, permutations, powers, roots, modulo, and logarithms. • True Order of Operations: Context-aware order of operations with high-precision calculations that eliminate floating-point rounding errors. • Built-in & Custom Constants: Standard libraries for mathematics, physics, and chemistry, plus custom slots for tax rates, currency multipliers, or business margins. 3. ACCOUNTING TAPE & REPORT EXPORT • Auditable Calculation History: Every calculation is automatically logged on a persistent digital paper tape. • Label & Categorize: Add custom notes, tags, and project labels to organize expenses, homework sets, or client billing. • Batch Operations: Select multiple past entries to calculate running totals on the fly. • AirPrint & PDF Export: Generate clean, itemized calculation sheets ready to print, save, or share. 4. DESIGNED FOR PRODUCTIVITY • Haptic Feedback & Precision Control: Smooth cursor dragging and tactile feedback optimized for high-speed input. • iPad Multitasking: Full support for Split View, Slide Over, external keyboards, and trackpads. • Seamless iCloud Sync: Keep your saved formulas, custom constants, and calculation tapes synchronized across all your devices. • High-Contrast Themes: Handcrafted color palettes engineered to minimize eye strain during long study or work sessions. • Private & Ad-Free: Zero tracking, no telemetry, and no ads. Your calculations remain strictly on your device and private iCloud storage. PERFECT FOR: • STEM & College Students: Algebra, calculus, physics, and lab assignments with clear, step-by-step editing. • Finance & Accounting: Tax prep, budgeting, invoice balancing, and expense verification with itemized logs. • Retail & Small Business: Fast customer totals, margin/discount calculations, and printable audit trails.

About

TextJam

This app offers a vast array of text manipulation tools to reformat, encode, and stylize your words. Easily transform text for social media, messaging, or any other application with over 80 unique functions. Save your favorites and enjoy a seamless experience across devices.

Highlights
  • Over 80 text transformations
  • One-tap text copy
  • Save favorite transformations
  • Support for chat and social apps
  • Night/Light mode support
  • Cross-device copy
  • Language conversion
Features
Read full description

HOT TIP: Copy a transformed text back into the textfield to double, triple and even quadruple stack your transforms! Now includes a range of crypto currency logos and new ascii weapons. New emoji faces now available **********AVAILABLE TEXT TRANSFORMATIONS********** >> Lists >> Hashtag prefixer >> Random Case >> Lower Case >> Upper Case >> New Line >> Punctuation Omitted >> Spaces Omitted >> Follow With Plus + >> Follow With Claps >> Extra Space >> Follow With dash - >> Follow With underscore _ >> Follow With vertical bar | >> Follow With period . >> Follow With period >> Follow With Red Heart >> Follow With Broken Heart >> Follow With Orange Heart >> Follow With Black Heart >> Follow With Two Hearts >> ROT47 >> ROT13 >> Character Count >> Word Count >> Binary >> Hex >> Octal >> Reverse String >> Reverse Odd Words >> Reverse Third Word >> Reverse Second Word >> Reverse Word >> Enclose Letter With Rounded Brackets >> Enclose Letter With Square Brackets >> Enclose Letter With Curly Brackets >> Enclose Letter With Asterick >> Enclose Letter With Heart >> Enclose Letter With Plus >> Enclose Word With Rounded Brackets ( >> Enclose Word With Square Brackets [ >> Enclose Words With Curly Brackets { >> Enclose Words With Plus + >> Enclose Words With Asterick * >> Enclose Words With Dollar $ >> Surround With plus + >> Surround With curly braces {} >> Surround With square braces [] >> Surround With kisses >> Surround With clovers >> Surround With clovers >> Surround With clovers >> Surround With clovers >> Surround With ribbon >> Surround With chequered flag >> Surround With racing blocks >> Surround With Steps >> Surround With Light block >> Surround With Medium block >> Surround With Heavy block >> Surround With Heart >> Surround With Broken Hearts >> Surround With Red Heart >> Surround With orange Hearts >> Surround With Black Hearts >> Letters in Circles >> Letters in Squares >> Letters on top >> Letters and Top Paranthesis >> Letters and Top Curly Paranthesis >> Strip HTML >> Base64 encoding/decoding AND MORE **********FEATURES********** 1. One Tap text copy 2. Filter through 8+ categories of text transformations 3. Save your favorite transformations! 4. Fonts can be used in any app you like 5. 80+ text transformations to try out 6. Support for popular chat apps and messager like Signal, WhatsApp, WeChat, Messenger, iMessage 7. Support for popular social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Line, Kik, TikTok 8. No additional additional IAP to unlock more texts. One time purchase unlocks everything! 9. No subscriptions 10. Highly performant 11. Night/Light Mode Support 12. iPhone/iPad Support 13. Privacy user focused. No data mined 14. Uses Apple frameworks exclusively. 15. Language conversion to Hangul, Katakana, Hiragana and Thai! 16. Copy between devices. 17. Splash of colors to represent upcoming World Wide events such as Australia Day and Chinese New Year! Send feedback at @markhmwong on Twitter or email me at hello@whizbangapps.xyz.

Screenshots

Calctan4 screens
TextJam4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: TextJam at 100% against Calctan's 29%. TextJam also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 months). Calctan's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ratings volume (61 vs 2). On price, ads, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. TextJam sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Calctan asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TextJam holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calctan has 61 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 29% of Calctan's written reviews are positive against 100% of TextJam's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calctan ships an update every 3 months, TextJam every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Calctan versus TextJam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalctanTextJam
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (61 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews28.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings61 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJorge LozadaWhizbang

Customer experience

Calctan

All ratings61 ratings
Positive88.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.5%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive28.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative71.4%

TextJam

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Calctan

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

TextJam

One-time10
  • Bitcoin Logo 1$0.99
  • Banner 1$0.99
  • Doge Logo$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Doge dog - remove app promo$0.99
  • Doge Logo Boxed$0.99
  • Bitcoin Heavy$0.99
  • Dogecoin Logo Heavy$0.99
  • Bitcoin Boxed$0.99
  • Unscramble All Text$2.99
  • Unscrambler$2.99

Questions

Is Calctan free?
Calctan is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TextJam free?
TextJam is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Calctan or TextJam?
TextJam is rated higher. Calctan averages 4.5 out of 5 from 61 ratings, while TextJam averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Calctan or TextJam have ads?
Neither Calctan nor TextJam shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Calctan or TextJam?
Calctan ships an update every 3 months, and TextJam every 2 days. Most recently, Calctan was updated on November 6, 2026 and TextJam on November 3, 2026.

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