The iPad Needs a Calculator — A Concept

Published in

Bootcamp

8 min readMar 10, 2022

Introduction

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 12 years since Jobs unveiled the original iPad on stage, back in 2010. What’s even harder to believe is that over these twelve years, Apple has never shipped a native, first-party calculator app with the iPad. As strange as it may sound, Apple has been selling a best-selling computing device which in its stock form cannot be used to, well, compute.

In a 2020 interview with MKBHD, Craig Frederighi (Senior VP — Software Engineering at Apple) provided what was perhaps the first “official” statement by the company on this peculiarity (summarised):

While it is easy to build a scaled-up calculator app, we haven’t gotten around to building a truly great iPad calculator app

Rewatching this MKBHD interview in 2022, I asked myself, what would a great calculator app for the iPad look like? This project is my attempt at finding an answer to this question using the Design Thinking Framework.

Problem Statement

Reimagine what a calculator app can be capable of, using the Apple iPad as a platform.

Part 1: Empathising with Users

iPads are immensely versatile devices. With a slew of capable accessories such as the Apple Pencil and smart keyboards, the iPad’s user base spans school children, college students, working professionals, and the aged. With such a diverse user base, it becomes essential to design an app that meets the needs of all, without stepping on anyone’s foot.

Based on these considerations, I have attempted to put together 2 personas of iPad users:

Part 2: Defining the Problems

While thousands of calculator apps exist for the iPad on the App Store, a common string of issues runs across all of them.

Pain Points with Calculator Apps

Most calculator apps for the iPad are just scaled-up versions of the stock iPhone calculator app with bigger buttons and limited functionality
These apps often require in-app-purchases to remove advertisements and unlock all features, leading to a poor user experience
The apps which offer added features often present these in a convoluted layout offering all users too many choices
Third-party apps often lag in aesthetic appeal and don’t blend well with Apple’s design guidelines
Another issue that exists on Apple’s iPhone calculator app as well is the input sequence of operators and operands. For instance, to calculate √2 on Apple’s app, one needs to first type 2 and then press √ which is the opposite of how humans are trained to write and is thus counterintuitive.
Most importantly, these apps don’t leverage any of the iPad’s unique capabilities such as the Apple Pencil, split-screen, AR support with LiDAR etc.

Part 3: Ideating the Solutions

Keeping in mind the different types of users that own an iPad, I have attempted to design an app with the following features:

Features:

Basic calculation for all users.
Advanced calculation for students and academicians.
An input logic that is similar to how humans write and comprehend mathematics.
Calculation history that is synced across all your iCloud devices.
A graphing calculator that leverages the iPad’s massive canvas and can be used by students and teachers.
Apple Pencil scribble support for making handwritten-intuitive calculations without needing to tap buttons.

Design Considerations:

The app should follow Apple’s design guidelines and be cohesive in terms of visual look-and-feel with other Apple apps.
Given the large screen size of the iPad (up to 12.9”), reachability becomes an important factor to consider.
Any new functionalities added should not intimidate users who don’t need them.
Apple pencil input process should feel intuitive. As Apple puts it, “Like putting a physical pencil on paper”.
The app should scale well across full-screen, split-screen and slideover.

Low-fidelity Sketches:

Since this was my first time designing an interface for a device as large as the iPad, I felt the need to sketch out my ideas on paper first, laying out the elements, and figuring out the flows.

Part 4: Designing Prototypes

I used Figma to demonstrate my vision for what this app could be. Throughout the designing process, I have attempted to work efficiently by employing components, interactive components and using auto-layout.

4.1) “What’s New” Welcome Screen

To introduce the new capabilities of the iPad calculator app, a “What’s New” welcome overlay pops up when the user launches the app for the first time.

4.2) Basic Calculator Interface

The fundamental calculator app interface is a natural adaptation of the iPhone’s native calculator app.
The buttons have been enlarged but still span less than 50% of the vertical space available, providing easy reachability.
Users enter the entire calculation they wish to perform at one go. The input sequence of operators & operands is similar to how humans write math.
Pressing “=” keeps the question visible albeit with lesser prominence for context.

Basic calculator interface — portrait orientation

Flipping the iPad over to its landscape orientation opens up the advanced calculation interface, a gesture familiar to seasoned iPhone users.

Advanced calculator interface — landscape orientation

4.3) Calculation History

Swiping down with your finger anywhere above the keys pulls down the history sheet of calculations.
This history is synced across all your iCloud devices for a smooth handoff.
Results can be copied and pasted from the history sheet.

4.4) Scribble Mode

Touching a blank area with the Apple Pencil activates scribble mode.
Users can scribble the calculation they wish to perform and the iPad transcribes it into alphanumeric data.
While users can begin scribbling in any place, after they finish, their input is relocated to a dedicated zone for each calculation.

A floating widget similar to the Apple Notes app holds a pen and an eraser allowing users to edit part of their scribbled input.
2nd Generation Apple Pencil users can also toggle between the pen and eraser with a double-tap on the pencil’s button.

4.5) Graph Mode (2D)

Tapping the graph button at the top right switches to graph mode.
This toggle button is intentionally kept at the top so that unwitting users don’t toggle the mode by mistake while doing calculations.
A micro-interaction switches the graph icon to the calculator icon, indicating that users can go back to calculator mode by tapping it again.
The graph mode keyboard adds additional buttons relevant for plotting graphs along with special functions.

The graph widget auto-collapses after 10 seconds of inactivity or when the user swipes it away.

Points of interest such as intersection points, maxima, minima are highlighted and can be tapped for coordinates.

Apple pencil acts as an annotating tool in graph mode.

Plots can be recoloured or hidden using the palette button.

4.6) Graph Mode (3D)

Switching to 3D mode allows users to visualise complex functions that are difficult to plot manually.

4.7) Graph Mode (AR)

Viewing graphs in augmented reality enables more facile visualisation of concepts such as local and global maxima/minima, topography etc.

4.8) Multitasking

Support for iPad’s multitasking frameworks such as split-screen and slideover.

Part 5: Potential Impact

Of late, Apple has initiated a transformation in the positioning of the iPad as a device. Far from its initial launch 12 years ago as a media consumption device, the iPad today has become a productivity and content-creation powerhouse aimed at students and creative professionals. Thus, it makes more sense than ever for Apple to ship a productivity-focused calculator app tailor-made for the iPad.

This app also supports Apple’s education initiatives. Educators and students at schools and colleges can use the graphing capabilities to augment their learning. Integration of augmented reality makes the learning experience more fun by helping students visualise graphs and slopes in a more tangible fashion.

Part 6: Conclusion

When I first began this project, I asked myself whether designing something as simple as a calculator app was worth my time? Then listening to Craig Frederighi admit that a team as proficient as theirs still considered this as a challenge inspired some humility. It gave me the chance to ideate on how to reimagine something fundamental to provide a better user experience without alienating existing users.

If there is a brand that I admire more than any other in the world, it is Apple. I hold immense respect for the innovation and design that happens at this company and this is my humble attempt to think about design in an “Apple” way — which I perceive as delivering the simplest and most enjoyable user experience for the smallest of tasks.

Thanks for reading! It will be my pleasure to listen to any and every feedback on this work. For any collaborations or communication, please feel free to reach out to me at stymsxn@gmail.com, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

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