this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
174 points (97.8% liked)

Privacy

37245 readers
953 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 21 hours 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.

[–] liliumstar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

yetCalc?

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

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 1 points 6 hours ago

I'll give it a go.

[–] perviouslyiner@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 1 day ago

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

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 4 points 1 day ago

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

[–] underscores@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 22 hours 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.

[–] ystael@beehaw.org 2 points 22 hours ago

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