1st Calc vs Math Tablet
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
1st Calc
This app provides a visual abacus-style bead frame to help primary school children learn numbers up to 100. It supports addition and subtraction practice, making math more engaging and helping to prevent learning disabilities.
- Abacus-style bead frame
- Learn numbers up to 100
- Addition and subtraction practice
- Customizable bead colors
- Optional live cam background
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„1st Calc“ is an Abacus-style bead frame, that helps primary school children to discover numbers up to 100. It provides them with a visual tool to play with numbers and lets them solve addition and subtraction problems. It is based on the latest math-teaching knowledge and its use contributes significantly to avoid any mathematical disabilities at an early stage and counteract this. „1st Calc“ is an invaluable tool harvesting the children's motivation to use the iPad or iPhone and makes up with a more fun learning experience. FEATURES · Selectable range of numbers: 0 - 20 or 0 - 100 · Bead frame for children · Choose between 4 different colors · Optional live cam view as background We will provide you with further updates. "1st Calc" will then be able to generate addition and subtraction problems, to guide the child through the solution process and to control and diagnose the child's input.
Math Tablet
This virtual manipulative helps children develop number sense and arithmetic skills through interactive exploration of addition and subtraction. Users can create, move, and manipulate tokens on a digital tablet to understand part-whole relationships and basic math concepts.
- Virtual token manipulation
- Addition and subtraction exploration
- Part-whole concept visualization
- Number sorting
- Hide/show numbers
- Tablet shutters for hiding sections
- Shake to clear tablet
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Free only in November. This is a virtual manipulative to support developing number sence and arithmetic concepts. Watch a video of the app: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bPtA8lkXt4 Two (sub-)quantities together result in a new total quantity. This is called addition. And if you take away a subquantity, another subquantity remains. This is called subtraction. With this virtual manipulative kids kann explore and learn the relationsships between subsets and total sets. This is how it works: Touch the screen with your fingers to produce token. You can also move these tokens with your fingers. Move the tokens out to the top to delete it. Tap on a number to sort the token. Spipe over a number to hide it or to show it again. Pull down the shutters to hide one half of the tablet. Shake the tablet to empty it. The basic operations addition and subtraction are based on the concept that a quantity can be split into subsets and you can join the subsets again (part-whole concept). If kids understood the relationsship beetween partial and total quantities, an essential cornerstone has been laid for successful mathematical learning. This virtual manipulative is an tool to explore and experience these concept. This app does not include tasks. For successfull and effective learning kids use this app to solve tasks that callange them to experiment and reflect. Here are some examples: How can I quickly produce 8 token with my fingers? How do I have to sort the tokens to see the number without counting? On one side there are 4 token, on the other side 3 token. How many token are this in total? What happens, if I move 1 (2, 3, ...) token from one side to the other? What happens, if I remove 1 (2, 3, ...) token from the tablet? How many configurations are possible to split 10 token on the two sides? On one Side of the tablet are 3 token. How many token do I have to put on the other side to have 7 token in total? On the tablet are 10 token. You can only see a part of it. How many token are hidden? I put 8 token on one side of the tablet. Then I take 5 token to the other side. How many token are left?
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Math Tablet at 4.3 against 1st Calc's 3.3. Math Tablet also leads on iOS requirement (6.0 vs 15.6). 1st Calc's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 60%). On price, ratings volume, 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
1st Calc costs $0.99 and Math Tablet $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Math Tablet holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 4 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of 1st Calc's written reviews are positive against 60% of Math Tablet's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
1st Calc ships an update every 50 months, Math Tablet every 28 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | 1st Calc | Math Tablet |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | $0.99 |
| Rating | 3.3 (3 ratings) | 4.3 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 60.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 50 months | Every 28 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 6.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | medienwerkstatt | Christian Urff |
Customer experience
1st Calc
Math Tablet
In-app purchases
1st Calc
No in-app purchases
Math Tablet
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is 1st Calc free?
Is Math Tablet free?
Which has better reviews, 1st Calc or Math Tablet?
Do 1st Calc or Math Tablet have ads?
Which is updated more often, 1st Calc or Math Tablet?
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