Apple Tells PCalc Developer Its iOS 8 Calculator Widget Must Be Removed

PCalc developer James Thomson from Glasgow, Scotland, took to Twitter this morning to announce his popular app’s iOS 8 widget will no longer be allowed, as Apple has told him to remove it in the next 2-3 weeks:

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Image via 37prime

After sharing this news, Thomson explained more on Twitter, saying the news is “extremely disappointing” and that he’s not angry, just sad, since he spent a lot of time working on PCalc’s widgets:

Needless to say, this is extremely disappointing news, and I am very sorry for all PCalc users, including me, who love the feature.

I’m going to try to escalate the decision, but it sounds like it was made high up and won’t be changed.

I’ve basically got 2-3 weeks to remove it, barring a miracle.

I spent a really long time working on the PCalc widgets and making them perfect, so this is pretty crushing news.

I would be allowed to make a widget that let you to “enter a formula” but it couldn’t perform the calculation in the widget.

And yes, Apple is currently featuring PCalc in the “Great apps for iOS 8” section, under Notification Center widgets.

I’m not angry, I’m just really really sad. Sorry if I can’t reply to everybody tonight.

Thomson says his revised widget would allow users to ‘enter a formula’ but not actually use it as a calculator. Maybe this decision was made to push the iOS calculator shortcut found via Control Center?

Oddly enough, PCalc is currently featured under ‘Great Apps & Games for iOS 8’ and is prominently displayed as a suggested app under the Notification Center Widgets section in the App Store:

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Not sure what Apple is thinking with this one, but it’s removing functionality of a widget that’s making people’s lives easier. But again, if you want to be in the App Store, you have to live by Apple’s rules, despite how random and arbitrary some may seem.

Click here to download PCalc for $9.99 in the App Store.

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