this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
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Privacy

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Google Calculator is so funny (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Google is somehow the only company that is able to completely ruin a calculator app. Even before installing, Google outs themselves with how much data they collect:

  • App info and performance: Crash logs and Diagnostics
  • Personal info: Email address
  • Device or other IDs
  • App activity: App interactions

And of course the encouraging message:

Data can’t be deleted

The developer doesn’t provide a way for you to request that your data be deleted

As soon as you try to install it, the app requests network access. I'm glad to be using GrapheneOS where this can be restricted.

The app doesn't crash on launch, which is a new concept for Google, since most of their apps won't even start without Google Play Services installed. Maybe that means the calculator app can calculate 1+1 without requiring installing the most invasive software known to man, right?

Of course it can't. It crashes the moment you press the plus sign. Thank you, Google, for requiring Google Play Services for your calculator app to do basic addition. You know what calculator doesn't require Google Play services to do math?

In all seriousness, OpenCalc is a near 1:1 match to Google Calculator, so I suggest anyone use that instead.

The cherry on top is Google's calculator app is bundled with a privacy policy, which on its own is a treat to read through: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Congratulations, Google, you can spy on math now.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 month ago

Thanks I've uninstalled Google's calculator and installed OpenCalc

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago

Why does a calculator need my fucking email address? We're not pen pals, just do this arithmetic.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago

Data can’t be deleted

The developer doesn’t provide a way for you to request that your data be deleted

Not big fans of the GDRP I assume 😂

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

Congratulations, Google, you can spy on math now.

5318008

Clear.

5318008

Clear.

5318008

etc

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

Welcome to 2025 where we discuss FOSS Calculators that don't collect your data... how did we get here again?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

fossify calculator ☞ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fossify.math

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Nowadays even calculators have terms of service and a privacy policy that is longer than many novels. Some probably have forced arbitration also.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

I've been looking for a calculator app for years now that fits what I need I need it for and have yet to find a good one. There was a good one a few years ago called function-something which allowed you to create your own mathematic expressions and it was super awesome, but it's been discontinued... :(

EDIT: To those asking, I've essentially tried the first 50 that show up under "calculator" in Google Play. If you posted it, I've very likely tried it and found it lacking.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

RealCalc is nice - it emulates a scientific calculator, and doesn't ask for any permissions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

That's the one I use. I even paid for mine since I like it so much.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

did you try calculator++? on fdroid. it has a lots of operations, a function plotter and a floating window mode

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

There's also Arity. It isn't the best interface, but it has functions, variables, and graphs.

I was also using Unitto for unit conversions, but apparently the creator doesn't want forks or for f-droid to host it, so I'm looking for another one.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

If you have ever used an HP RPN calculator (which are clearly the best calculators), there is Droid48, which emulates the HP 48GX.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

yetCalc?

I don't know if it's on the play store.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I'll give it a go.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

2 plus 2 is 4 minus 1. That's 3. Quick maths.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

How many lights do you see?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

On the cli my favorite calculator of all time is Qalc. It's fucking amazing.

You can be like "1 km to mi" and it will give it to you.

For some reason the screenshots show the gui but imo the cli is where it's at

https://qalculate.github.io/

https://github.com/Qalculate/libqalculate

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

rofi-calc is awesome. It's so convenient to just press a keyboard shortcut you have defined and instantly being able to type or paste your equation, no having to wait for a complicated GUI to load, no clicking required. You can just pop it in whenever you need. Also it does unit conversions, instead of a math equation you can just type 10 inches to cm or 10 eur to usd or 100 celsius to fahrenheit or 100 to binary which is a huge time saver.

https://github.com/svenstaro/rofi-calc

Besides, it's rofi and rofi rules 😎

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Rofi is cool but don't forget about qalculate (the backend)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

wow, great program! I've been using bc for some simple calculations before, but this just replaced it!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah I should have mentioned it, the day I stumbled on rofi-calc and learned that it could deal with natural language thanks to qalculate I was floored ! I don't know who came up with the idea by hat off to them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I didn't know about this! I already use rofi for a few different things, so I'm going to get rofi-calc working too, it'll fit perfectly into my workflow. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

There's so many cool rofi plugins 🤩

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

What's wrong with GrapheneOS calc app?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It's terrible to use, and it has no themes, so using it at night is a death sentence for your eyes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fair point

What is u calculating in the middle of the night tho 🤣

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

How many hours of sleep I'll be losing /s

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

It's "com.android.calculator2" which suggests it's the AOSP calculator or a close fork of it.

I have no issues with it. It calculates. That's all I need it to do.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

The last time I wanted to do something for privacy, someone laughed at me saying "They don't want to make a google mail because google spies on us". Eh I wish you could read all this shit but you're old and you don't care about privacy ig

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Also nice GeoGebra, OpenSource from Austria (EU), online, Android, iPhone

Not FOSS but great, OmniCalculator from Poland (EU), online, free, a collection of 3718 calculators for every task.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

GeoGebra! Our school used it for demonstration on the lessons and had us do homework in there! Have good memories of it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I have a good experience with CalcYou.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I've personally found the behavior of 'clear', spacing of buttons, and lack of customization capable of fixing those to be rather annoying. They're the same complaints I have with Fossify's calculator app. I'm currently using OpenCalc since they don't have those issues.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

You mean the margins between the rounded buttons?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Desmos scientific calculator isn't open source but it is what I end up using most of the time. It just does float stuff though, it can't handle something like (10^100+1)-10^100

It also doesn't support nearly as many features as the graphing calculator does, for some reason. But it formats everything very nicely and you can copy and paste as latex

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I use this one. It isn't FOSS, but it's a one-time purchase to remove ads. It has a lot of added features, like algebra and unit conversions, and requires no permissions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I mean, there are a gazilion of calculator apps around?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

They need to spy on math. To see if the User is stupid enough to fall for scam ads, or is a math student which cant fall for numbers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I don't understand. If I am using Android already, how does calculator make privacy worse? Calculations are not exactly revealing.

And if I am using graphene, why would I consider using any Google app?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Graphene is basically android too. If you install lineage without gapps for example, I think you'll have great privacy. About the second, I don't know..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If you install lineage without gapps for example, I think you'll have great privacy.

Lineage or Graphene, yes?

I just bought a second Pixel 4a and can therefore now afford the slight bricking risk to install Graphene or Lineage.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Lineage and grpahene do different things. Research and find the right for yourself. And instead of lineage you could find a crdroid on if you for example want more customization

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Funnily enough, calculator is one of the few proprietary apps I've paid for and still happily lose. Wolfram alpha just does many things that other calculators don't.