PCalc Lite vs Tydlig
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PCalc Lite
This free scientific calculator offers essential features like RPN mode, unit conversions, and multiple undo/redo. It provides a taste of a more powerful version, with optional in-app purchases for expanded functionality.
- Optional RPN mode
- Multiple undo and redo
- Unit conversions and constants
- Two stylish themes
- 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.PCalc Lite is a fully functional and free taste of our very popular scientific calculator. It includes an optional RPN mode, multiple undo and redo, unit conversions and constants, as well as two stylish themes and our highly praised design. A great choice for your new iPad! If you like what you see, the full version has many more settings and themes, a paper tape, engineering and scientific notation, and full support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations. You can also now purchase extra features directly from inside PCalc Lite. Buy them individually, or buy everything. 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: PCalc Lite at Free against Tydlig's $1.99. Tydlig's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11) and rating (4.8 vs 4.4). On update cadence, ads 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
PCalc Lite is free to download; Tydlig costs $1.99 up front. PCalc Lite sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Tydlig asks for nothing beyond the download.
Tydlig holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tydlig has 2.6K ratings behind it against 214, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of PCalc Lite's written reviews are positive against 91% of Tydlig's.
PCalc Lite ships an update every 2 months, Tydlig monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PCalc Lite | Tydlig |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.4 (214 ratings) | 4.8 (2.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 82.6% of reviews | 91.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 214 | 2.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 76 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TLA Systems Ltd. | Tydlig Software AB |
Customer experience
PCalc Lite
Tydlig
User reviews
PCalc Lite
From 214 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and responsive
- 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
- 💡 Customizable themes and settings
- 🚀 Efficient performance
- 👍 Useful conversion tools
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional lags and crashes
- 🔒 Lack of dark mode support
- 🔒 Inconsistent icon appearance after upgrades
- 🔒 Limitations in RPN mode on Apple Watch
- 🔒 Lack of financial calculator functions
Tydlig
From 2.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 🚀 Powerful and flexible
- 💡 Innovative approach to calculations
- 🔍 Ability to see calculation history
- 📊 Helpful graphing capabilities
Room to improve
- 🔀 Lack of ability to save/load multiple canvases
- 🔀 No way to organize calculations into separate sheets/pages
- 🔀 Inability to add notes or labels to calculations
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
- 🔀 No support for fractions or complex math functions
Bugs and requests
PCalc Lite
Reported bugs
3 issues- Calculations sometimes produce unexpected results
- Upside-down text censorship feature is problematic
- Purchased features not always accessible on Apple Watch
Requested features
4 requests- Add option to display thousands separators
- Implement a history function to review past calculations
- Provide more customization options for the widget
- Add support for sexagesimal angle input and conversion
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 Lite
- Theme Pack$0.99
- Power User Pack$0.99
- Multiple Line Pack$0.99
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- Conversion Pack$0.99
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$1.99
- Programmer Pack$2.99
- Engineer Pack$2.99
- Large Tip$4.99
- Complete Pack$9.99
- Enormous Tip$9.99
Tydlig
No in-app purchases







