iPhone 8 shows incorrect time

[frank44]

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.

[Korth]

@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.

[techrider]

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.

[Korth]

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.

[frank44]

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.

[Korth]

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.

[LurganIeUk]

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. 

[LurganIeUk]

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

[techrider]

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.

[gpixel]

@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

[frank44]

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.

[JK8]

@frank44 

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

[computergeek541]

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@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.

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

[frank44]

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.

[LurganIeUk]

[computergeek541]

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@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.