Comparison

Halcyon Calc vs CMCalc

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

Head to head
About

Halcyon Calc

A powerful calculator app for students, engineers, and scientists. It handles complex numbers, symbolic expressions, unit conversions, and matrix operations, with advanced plotting and programming capabilities.

Highlights
  • Complex number calculations
  • Symbolic expression manipulation
  • Unit conversion with custom units
  • Matrix and vector operations
  • Symbolic plotting
  • Programming of custom operations
  • Statistical data analysis
Features
Read full description

For students, engineers, scientists or people who fondly remember classic calculators, Halcyon Calc is a great application for manipulating numbers and even symbolic expressions. Features: - Use this calculator on an iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad - Use your finger to quickly scroll through the stack to review intermediate results - Copy and paste support - Over 225 built-in operations, including trig, logarithms, real functions, complex operations and more - Allows you to work with real, complex and integer numbers. - Real and complex numbers can be displayed in standard, fixed, scientific and engineering format - Use over 120 built-in units to perform unit conversion or create your own units if the one you want is not already there - Integer numbers can be displayed in decimal, hexadecimal, octal and binary bases - Work with real and complex matrices and vectors. - Enter symbolic expressions and solve them for different values. Even better, solve quadratic formulas, collect and expand factors and terms, find minima, maxima and roots of any expression. - Plot symbolic expressions in X/Y coordinates. Pan the coordinate space by dragging the plot in any direction. Zoom in and out using a pinch gesture. - Determine symbolic derivative, taylor series or numeric integral of an expression. - Store numbers, lists, strings and expressions in symbols. Create hierarchies of symbols to allow you to organize your calculations. - Create sequences of calculator commands into programs, creating your own operations which you can then include in expressions. - Store statistical data and calculate totals, averages, standard deviations, linear regressions, etc over that data. - Calculate the probabilities associated with standard distributions like the normal, F and T distributions.

About

CMCalc

This app emulates a classic 1980s computer math calculator, offering decimal arithmetic, binary conversions, and logic functions. It supports parentheses for complex calculations and includes modern features like copy/paste and landscape mode.

Highlights
  • Decimal arithmetic
  • Binary conversions (decimal, binary, octal, hexadecimal)
  • Binary logic functions
  • Operator grouping with parentheses
  • Hexadecimal input (A-F)
  • Copy and paste results/functions
  • Landscape mode
Features
Read full description

The CMCalc application is a replica of the Casio CM-100 Computer Math Calc solar powered calculator that was sold in the mid 1980’s. It performs simple decimal arithmetic and basic binary conversions (decimal - binary - octal - hexadecimal) and binary logic functions. While it is a standard infix calculator, it supports operator grouping with parentheses. For hexadecimal calculations, the input keys include A through F. CMCalc application performs all the same functions as the calculator, and has the same look as the original. There are a couple features that were not conceivable in the 1980’s on a calculator … such as the ability to copy and paste the results or the entered function, and a landscape mode for devices with 4 inch or larger screens. The face of the calculator can be viewed in two modes including a traditional application style, and a photo replica of the original calculator face.

Screenshots

Halcyon Calc4 screens
CMCalc4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: CMCalc at Free against Halcyon Calc's $4.99. CMCalc also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.6). Halcyon Calc's advantage is update cadence (every 4 months vs every 45 months) and rating (4.9 vs 4.5). On ads, in-app purchases 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

CMCalc is free to download; Halcyon Calc costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Halcyon Calc holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Halcyon Calc's written reviews are positive against 75% of CMCalc's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Halcyon Calc ships an update every 4 months, CMCalc every 45 months. Both last shipped on October 9, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Halcyon Calc versus CMCalc: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHalcyon CalcCMCalc
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (18 ratings) — better4.5 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better75.0% of reviews
Number of ratings18 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 45 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHalcyon Touch SoftwareWilliam David

Customer experience

Halcyon Calc

All ratings18 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

CMCalc

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Halcyon Calc

No in-app purchases

None

CMCalc

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Halcyon Calc free?
Halcyon Calc costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is CMCalc free?
CMCalc is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Halcyon Calc or CMCalc?
Halcyon Calc is rated higher. Halcyon Calc averages 4.9 out of 5 from 18 ratings, while CMCalc averages 4.5 from 6 ratings.
Do Halcyon Calc or CMCalc have ads?
Neither Halcyon Calc nor CMCalc shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Halcyon Calc or CMCalc?
Halcyon Calc ships an update every 4 months, and CMCalc every 45 months. Most recently, Halcyon Calc was updated on October 9, 2026 and CMCalc on October 9, 2026.

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