PCalc vs Tydlig
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PCalc
A powerful calculator designed for professionals and students, offering advanced features like RPN mode, multi-line display, and extensive unit conversions. It supports various number systems and includes an Apple Watch app for on-the-go calculations.
- Optional RPN mode
- Multi-line display
- Extensive unit conversions
- Paper tape
- Multiple undo/redo
- Hexadecimal, octal, binary support
- Apple Watch app
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PCalc is the powerful choice for scientists, engineers, students, programmers, or indeed anybody looking for a feature rich calculator. It includes an optional RPN mode and multi-line display, a choice of button layouts, an extensive set of unit conversions and constants, a paper tape, multiple undo and redo, engineering and scientific notation, as well as support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations. Includes an Apple Watch app, so you can calculate on your wrist!
Tydlig
This app reimagines the calculator experience with a freeform canvas, dynamic results, and linked numbers. It allows for easy everyday calculations, real-time graphing, and annotation, making complex math visualization intuitive.
- Freeform canvas for calculations
- Responsive and linked results
- Real-time graphing
- Infinite scrolling history
- Annotate numbers with text
- Slider for tweaking values
- Export as PDF or image
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Calculators have changed very little since the 1970s - while phones from that era look ancient. Why should calculators cling to a 40 year old design with a wall of buttons and one row for results in the age of retina displays? We deserve something better. Tydlig brings the calculator to the next level for iPhone & iPad with innovations like freeform canvas, responsive results and linked numbers. Tydlig is perfect for calculating everyday things like tips and discounts, showing the entire history and allowing you to change any number with instant updates. For deeper calculations real-time graphing is an excellent way to explore and visualize things like bank interest rates and trigonometric functions. Features: * Responsive results: Edit any number on the canvas and see all results update automatically. Let your calculator work for you, not the other way around. * Linked numbers: With a result selected, press any operation to create a linked number below. Responsive results will cascade down these links. * All history is stored on an infinite scrolling canvas. Drag numbers around and reuse them as you wish. * Annotate any number with an attached text label, like a freestyle spreadsheet. * Real-time graphing: Link numbers to a graph and any change to the expression will instantly update the graph. Perfect when trying to explore how functions work and behave. * Use the Slider to tweak any number and see results and graphs update in real-time. Combined with the graph it is an excellent way to visualize and teach math. Tap the slider to toggle between discrete and continuous modes. * Share the entire canvas by printing, or exporting as a high quality PDF. You can also copy calculations as text, or save the visible area as an image which can be used in other applications like Pages or Word. * Undo support. * Supports external Bluetooth keyboards for really quick digit and basic operations entry (+, -, *, /). * Tydlig works completely offline, no need to be connected to the internet. * Lots of power under the hood with a lightning fast calculation engine, over 20 mathematical functions and scientific notation formatting options.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Tydlig at $1.99 against PCalc's $9.99. Tydlig also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ratings volume (2.6K vs 770). PCalc's advantage is chart position (#64 vs unranked) and device support (5 vs 3). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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
PCalc costs $9.99 and Tydlig $1.99 up front. PCalc sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Tydlig asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for PCalc against 4.8 for Tydlig. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 770 and 2.6K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of PCalc's written reviews are positive against 91% of Tydlig's.
PCalc ships an update every 6 weeks, Tydlig monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PCalc | Tydlig |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (770 ratings) | 4.8 (2.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.6% of reviews | 91.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 770 | 2.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #64 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 81 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TLA Systems Ltd. | Tydlig Software AB |
Customer experience
PCalc
Tydlig
Bugs and requests
PCalc
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Tydlig
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when trying to use graphing feature
- Calculation history disappears after app restart
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Labeling calculations with non-Latin characters causes display issues
Requested features
6 requests- Add support for multiple canvases/sheets to save and load calculations
- Implement ability to add notes, labels, and annotations to calculations
- Expand math functions to include fractions, combinations, permutations, etc.
- Introduce iCloud/cloud sync to access calculations across devices
- Add option to snap objects to a grid for better organization
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- Implement templates or preset calculation layouts
In-app purchases
PCalc
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$1.99
- Large Tip$4.99
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- Enormous Tip$9.99
Tydlig
No in-app purchases









