Best Calculator App for Android: Free Picks Without Ads

For adding up a bill or working out a discount, the calculator that came with your phone is enough. Another app earns its place when you need something that one lacks, such as graphs, fractions, loan sums or a tape you can scroll back through.

We read how Google, Samsung and Xiaomi describe their own calculators, then went through the Google Play listings of the rest. Most of the good ones are free, and several show no ads.

What your phone’s calculator already does

Google’s Calculator is a free install on Google Play, with no ads label and no in-app purchases. Its listing runs to two bullet points: basic sums, and scientific operations such as trigonometric, logarithmic and exponential functions. That is a fair length for a calculator’s description.

Samsung’s Calculator goes a step further. Samsung’s support site says it has basic and scientific functions and a unit converter. Tap the clock icon for a history of past calculations, the ruler icon for the unit converter, and the scientific mode icon for the extra function keys.

Xiaomi’s Calculator packs in the most. Its Google Play listing names regular, scientific and mortgage calculators, currency and unit converters, age, BMI, discount and date calculators, and a GST calculator for India. The listing says it also works on Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Realme and OnePlus phones, and it carries no ads label.

If yours already has a history and a unit converter, there is little reason to install another everyday calculator. The apps below are for the jobs it cannot do.

Calculator apps compared

Everyday calculators without ads

OpenCalc is the simplest swap for a stock calculator. Its listing describes a scientific calculator with roots, powers, factorials and trigonometry, a choice of themes, no ads and no unnecessary permissions. It is fully open source, and there is nothing to buy.

FlexCalc and CalcTape both fix the oldest annoyance of a calculator, which is spotting a wrong figure halfway through a long sum. In FlexCalc you tap any number or result, change it, and the linked results update. CalcTape keeps every number and operator on a tape. You correct a figure in place and everything after it recalculates. CalcTape’s listing admits it is not a scientific calculator. Its Pro upgrade adds saving, exporting and printing.

Scientific calculators

RealCalc is built to look and work like the calculator in a school bag. It has the standard scientific functions, a result history, ten memories, unit conversions, a table of constants, and an RPN mode for people who want one. It has no ads label and no in-app purchases. Fractions, a landscape mode and a home screen widget are in RealCalc Plus, a separate paid app.

HiPER Scientific Calculator goes further into algebra. Its listing covers symbolic computation, equations and systems of equations, derivatives and integrals, graphs including 3D, matrices, complex numbers and numbers of up to 100 digits. The free app shows ads. Entering a problem from a photo and the more detailed step-by-step solutions are marked premium, and HiPER Calc Pro is sold as a separate paid app.

Two more are worth knowing. Desmos Scientific Calculator is free with no ads, works offline and keeps all your earlier lines on screen. Casio’s ClassWiz Calc App QR behaves like its ClassWiz calculators, including the fx-991CW and fx-991EX. It is free to install with in-app purchases, and the listing does not spell out which parts are paid.

Graphing calculators

Desmos is the one to install first. It plots cartesian, polar and parametric graphs, with no limit on how many expressions you graph at once. Sliders let you change a value and watch the curve move. It also does tables, best-fit lines and inequalities. Touch a curve and it shows the maximums, minimums and intersections. It needs no internet connection, has no ads and has nothing to buy.

GeoGebra Calculator Suite covers more ground. One app switches between graphing, geometry, 3D and a CAS mode that solves equations and finds derivatives and integrals. It is free with no ads too. NumWorks Graphing Calculator is the phone version of the NumWorks school calculator, and it can be programmed in Python.

People often search for a TI-84 app. A Google Play search for it turns up guides, emulators and look-alikes from other developers, and we found none published by Texas Instruments. What the company sells is the TI-84 Plus CE online calculator, a yearly subscription that its site lists for Chromebook, Windows and Mac.

All-in-one calculators with converters

These bundle a calculator with a drawer of small tools. Both of the ones below show ads and have in-app purchases.

Calculator Plus with History combines a basic and scientific calculator with percentage, tax and tip sums, currency and unit converters, a date calculator and a home screen widget. You can attach notes to saved calculations. ClevCalc is a longer list of single-purpose tools: discount, loan, fuel cost, GPA, sales tax, unit price, a tip calculator that splits the bill, and a currency converter covering 135 currencies.

If your phone’s own calculator already converts units, as Samsung’s and Xiaomi’s do, these add less than they seem to.

Fractions, finance and handwriting

Fraction Calculator Plus works in fractions and mixed numbers from start to finish. Results are reduced to their simplest form, the decimal equivalent is shown alongside, and it can explain each step. A Pro version rounds to the nearest fraction of an inch for woodwork and building.

Financial Calculators is a long menu of money tools: time value of money, loan and mortgage payments, loan comparison, compound interest, return on investment, bonds and credit card payoff. The listing says it has no in-app purchases, asks for no permissions and works offline apart from the currency converter. It does show ads. The retirement and tax tools are American, built around 401k plans, IRAs and US paycheck tax.

MyScript Calculator 2 lets you write a sum on the screen by hand and gives the result as you write. You scratch out a number to erase it. It is a paid app. MyScript’s newer MyScript Math adds graphs and worked steps, and its listing describes a seven-day free trial followed by a subscription or a purchase.

For homework there is also Photomath, now published by Google. You point the camera at a problem and it shows the working. Basic step-by-step explanations are free, and a Plus subscription adds more.

Which one to pick

• Everyday sums: the calculator already on your phone. If you want a different one with no ads, OpenCalc.
• Long sums you need to check: CalcTape or FlexCalc.
• School or university science: RealCalc for a familiar keypad, HiPER if you need algebra and can live with ads.
• Graphs: Desmos. GeoGebra if you also need geometry or 3D.
• Loans and mortgages: Financial Calculators.
• Recipes, woodwork and anything in fractions: Fraction Calculator Plus.

What happened to the old list

This article listed ten entries in 2019, and most of the apps are still on Google Play. Calcu is now listed as CALCU Stylish Basic Calculator, free with ads. The old Calc entry came from the makers of Today Weather, and that developer’s calculator on the store today is FlexCalc. HiEdu now has a whole family of listings. The nearest to the old entry is Scientific Calculator He-580, free with ads.

Wabbitemu, the Texas Instruments emulator, no longer turns up under its original developer. A re-release from another developer is on the store. We have left emulators out, because Desmos, GeoGebra and NumWorks do the same job without one.

Quick answers

Which calculator app has no ads?

Google’s Calculator, Samsung’s and Xiaomi’s carry no ads label on Google Play. Among the others, the same goes for Desmos, GeoGebra, RealCalc, OpenCalc, FlexCalc, CalcTape and NumWorks.

What is the best scientific calculator app for Android?

RealCalc if you want something that works like a handheld calculator with no ads. HiPER Scientific Calculator if you need equations, integrals and symbolic algebra, with ads in the free app.

Is there a TI-84 calculator app for Android?

We found none from Texas Instruments on Google Play. Its own TI-84 Plus CE online calculator is listed for Chromebook, Windows and Mac. Desmos and GeoGebra are free graphing calculators that run on a phone.

Is there a Casio calculator app for Android?

Yes. ClassWiz Calc App QR is published by Casio and works like its ClassWiz scientific calculators. It is free to install with in-app purchases.

How do I see my calculator history on a Samsung phone?

Open Calculator and tap the History icon, which looks like a clock. To close the history, tap the keypad icon.

What about calculator apps that hide photos or apps?

Those are vaults dressed up as calculators, and they are a different kind of app. We cover them in our guide to hiding apps on Android.