topic Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time in Get Support

iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

frank44 — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 21:08:30 GMT

Yesterday November 15 I noticed my iPhone 8 was showing incorrect time, 1 hour ahead. For example it shows 10am when it is actually 9am. It was previously showing correct time, even during the switchover from Pacific Daylight Savings Time to Pacific Standard Time a couple of weeks ago (November 1). Problem still happening now (noon November 16)

I had the phone set to automatically get the proper time (Settings / General / Date & Time / Set Automatically). Since Automatically now does not work I set manually Time Zone to Vancouver (my nearest big city), and that gives me correct time.

So I am wondering, does Public Mobile (or Telus), supply the time that my phone uses with Set Automatically, and is that supplied time incorrect??? Maybe someone accidentally set the supplied automatic time back to Pacific Daylight Saving Time?

Same problem is happening with my phone on iOS 13.7 and latest iOS 14.2.

Minor problem, but the 1 hour error messed up my schedule yesterday.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

computergeek541 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:02:03 GMT

@frank44 wrote:
I had the phone set to automatically get the proper time (Settings / General / Date & Time / Set Automatically). Since Automatically now does not work I set manually Time Zone to Vancouver (my nearest big city), and that gives me correct time.

So I am wondering, does Public Mobile (or Telus), supply the time that my phone uses with Set Automatically, and is that supplied time incorrect??? Maybe someone accidentally set the supplied automatic time back to Pacific Daylight Saving Time?

Yes, the Telus network does supply a time. You can test this out by turning off all internet connections (both Wi-Fi and cellluar data) and then deliberately setting an incorrect time. Switch back to automatic time and you'll see that you'll once again have the correct time shown on your device. However, it is possible that cell phones these days could also be programmed to use the internet to sync to an atomic clock for increased acccuracy.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

LurganIeUk — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:02:13 GMT

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

frank44 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:35:43 GMT

ComputerGeek, I tried setting my phone manually to incorrect time, then turned off wi-fi/cellular and set to Set Automatically and it does show my correct time, but when I turn wi-fi/cellular back on the time is again incorrect, 1 hour ahead.

Maybe it is an Apple iPhone issue. I will check further, trying to contact a local friend with an iPhone 6 on Telus.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

computergeek541 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:37:01 GMT

@frank44 wrote:
ComputerGeek, I tried setting my phone manually to incorrect time, then turned off wi-fi/cellular and set to Set Automatically and it does show my correct time, but when I turn wi-fi/cellular back on the time is again incorrect, 1 hour ahead.

Maybe it is an Apple iPhone issue. I will check further, trying to contact a local friend with an iPhone 6 on Telus.

This means that your device is using the internet to set the time and this likely isn't a Public Mobile issue.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

JK8 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:45:53 GMT

@frank44

https://appletoolbox.com/theres-a-widespread-time-zone-bug-in-ios-11-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

frank44 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:15:34 GMT

Yes it looks like it could be a bug in the iPhone iOS. Although it seems to be an uncommon problem as I don't find many very recent mentions of it. I will leave my iPhone on Automatic time for a few days and maybe the issue will get fixed without my taking any action, if not I will manually set to Vancouver.

I have not travelled across time zones so that's not a factor. Although I have turned wi-fi on and off every few days. Recently reset some Privacy / Location settings so I will check in there too.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

gpixel — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:27:32 GMT

@frank44 if it's causing you issues, I would just leave automatic off. the only time I turn automatic on is to sync the time to the internet. then I turn it back off.

the scenario you went through is the main reason I don't leave automatic date and time on

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

techrider — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 04:03:40 GMT

I posted a longer version of this but I don't see it published, so here's the short rewrite.

Hopefully you have another iPhone or a cellular iPad (or any other cellular device). If you do, try moving your SIM to that device, wait for it to connect to Public Mobile (with signal bars), then remove the SIM and put it back in your iPhone.

This worked for me. My time starting showing wrong (+1hr) this morning (16-Nov) and doing this resolved the issue.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

LurganIeUk — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 05:50:27 GMT

My iPhone SE is + 1 hour too. But wife’s is correct.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

LurganIeUk — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 05:57:52 GMT

Fixed it. Go to settings, general, date and time. Then reset the time zone. I just typed in Vancouver BC. I left it on automatic.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

Korth — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 06:32:55 GMT

Dunno iPhones ... but I've seen a few Android devices which randomly set themselves onto whatever default timezone clock the factory provided. Weird that they timesync from internet reference clocks without noticing which timezone the local network uses, lol.

The fix (manually setting time, date, and timezone, restarting, then setting to "automatic network time") usually persists for a while. But sooner or later the device battery gets too low and it all happens again.

It really sucks when you rely on the thing as your wake-up-go-to-work alarm.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

frank44 — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 01:23:19 GMT

Problem still there. I will just put it on the manual setting where I specify nearest city. Anyway thanks for all the replies. If I feel ambitious I might try to ask Apple.

I think my phone / iOS might have a bug in figuring out my location for the purpose of identifying my Time Zone. Although the phone accurately knows my location for map and other purposes.

When I set it on Date & Time menu to Set Automatically it pauses for about 15 seconds (a long time, maybe it's having a problem), then indicates the incorrect time 1 hour ahead and indicates my Time Zone is "Etc/GMT+7". According to data tables I have seen on computer technology for time zones it should have been able to determine I'm in the Pacific Standard Time zone and show that formal name, not "Etc".

I'm guessing the phone first goes to an internet time standard to get the current GMT date/time and that step succeeds, and then it figures out my location to look in a table to find my time zone that it uses to adjust the GMT date/time. Maybe it somehow figures I'm in Alberta.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

Korth — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 02:05:52 GMT

Maybe you can use an approach I've found effective ...

The clock on my oven has proven utterly impossible to program. It defies all logic.

Yeah, I carefully read the manual. Yeah, I looked up the model (and similar models) online. Yeah, I read the reddits. Yeah, I contacted the manufacturer. Yeah, I methodically (obsessively) attempted every combination of buttons and timings I could devise. I build programmable modules, I've worked in appliance repair, I'm usually pretty good with these things.

But nothing I tried worked and the (flashing) 1200 was annoying.

So I unplugged the oven. I plugged it back on at exactly midnight. It's displayed the correct time ever since.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

techrider — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 04:59:13 GMT

The solution I posted on 16-Nov did not last. After a day, the time reverted back to being +1 hour ahead. I don't have the option to turn off Set Automatically because this iPhone (my child's) is managed with a Screen Time password, as described in footnote 2 at https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203483. Turning off Screen Time is not workable, so turning off Set Automatically isn't an option.

Smoking Gun

If I remove the SIM and turn on Airplane mode (i.e. turn off cellular/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth radios), then turn off Airplane mode (iPhone is Internet-connected via Wi-Fi), the timezone in Date & Time is correctly detected and shown as Vancouver and the time is correctly shown.

As soon as I re-insert the SIM and "Public Mobile" appears with signal bars, the time jumps ahead +1hr, and in Date & Time the timezone is detected and shown incorrectly as Etc/GMT+7 (not even a city's name).

What hasn't worked

My iPhone has been running 14.2 since 5-Nov and this issue started on 16-Nov. These troubleshooting steps did not resolve the issue:

Removing/re-inserting the SIM
Power off/on
Soft reset (vol up, vol down, hold power button until logo appears)
Airplane mode on/off
Cellular data off/on
add to the list move SIM other device, then back to original device

Past experience

Years ago I had a similar issue on another carrier. The time would incorrectly change +1hr only when I was in the same specific location. After months of back and forth, the carrier resolved it, explaining that a firmware update to a network component in that location caused the issue... until they resolved it with the maker of that component.

I'm disappointed that this issue was not permanently resolved by the steps I posted on the 16th. That they worked for awhile, and then the issue returned, suggests to me this issue is Public Mobile's, not Apple's to investigate and resolve.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

Korth — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 05:37:43 GMT

@techrider

Seems to be a fairly common problem

https://www.imyfone.com/iphone-issues/fix-iphone-time-wrong/

The most successful fix (from what I've read) is to connect the iPhone to iTunes on Mac/iOS, this supposedly timesyncs all the devices with internet timeservers. It might even work through a PC, lol.

A full factory hard-reset would probably welcome you with prompts to setup your "new" iPhone settings, including regional stuff like language and timezone, stuff you might not be able to change afterwards.

@CalgaryBen is our local iPhone expert, though I haven't seem him around lately.

I've never had these clock issues on any Android phone I've connected to PM. (Well, I have, but they were due to software misconfigurations I fixed, not due to network.)

My two iPhone-using friends on PM haven't ever complained about this problem.

If it is something caused by your local network machinery then it should affect all iPhones in that area exactly the same way. Look for someone using the same model iPhone, ask them which network they use, ask them what time their phone says - if it's same network and different time than your phone then it's something on the phone, nothing from the network.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

CalgaryBen — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 06:40:41 GMT

Forgive my not having read through this thread; hopefully I'm not covering stuff already contemplated/tried.

@techrider while I've never personally observed/experienced this issue, a few things come to mind:

The cellular network broadcasts the current time (in the local time) plus the UTC/GMT offset (which should be negative, i.e. GMT-8 hours for most of BC right now), so seeing GMT+7 is bizarre; are you able to test/toggle the "Set Automatically" setting somewhere else (so you're on a different cell tower)? While rare/unlikely, perhaps something in the cell site is misconfigured.
Ensure location services is enabled for the auto TZ setting: Settings --> Privacy --> Location Services --> System Services (at the very bottom) --> Setting Time Zone --> Enable, and then toggle the "Set Automatically" setting.
If you have access to another iPhone, I'd be very interested in seeing if it's a reproducible issue with the same Time/Date settings (automatic/location services enabled).

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

techrider — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 15:38:07 GMT

@Korth

Thanks for the suggestions.

the article applies to people who have jailbroken their phone, or have travelled - neither apply in my case (phone goes from home to nearby school and back)
tried connecting the iPhone to my Mac (trusted it, it's visible in Finder), but that didn't make a difference
haven't tried your factory restore suggestion yet, because I just did a factory restore before joining PM in September (factory restore, not just factory reset) - I'm skeptical about needing to do this, but will consider trying it

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

techrider — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 15:36:20 GMT

@CalgaryBen

Thanks for your suggestions.

Etc/GMT+7 is bizarre - I have disabled Screen Time to try to turn off Set Automatically and of course that works, but I need Screen Time to be enabled so this isn't a solution.
Because I've experienced a similar issue before on another network that took months for that carrier to investigate and resolve, I do think something in the cell site in my area may be misconfigured.
I can confirm Location Services is enabled for TZ, thanks for pointing that out as I hadn't checked before
I will try to get my hands on another iPhone that I can leave the SIM in for an hour or two as this will be a good test for sure.

I'm new to PM and using Community. I tried to start a chat and turn it into a Moderator ticket, but when taken to a new browser tab and asked to sign in with my Community credentials, they didn't work ("Error signing in"). Going to try to call PM to arrange a call back to solve the issue with the time and my access to a Moderator.

Re: iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

Gigi2019 — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 18:52:02 GMT

Try on yours to turn off wifi and cellular data and then turn off and turn on your phone again. Start wifi, put automatic and it should work like your wife's phone.

If still not working, check location settings and match as corresponding.

Good luck