IOS Alarms Don’t Adapt to Time Zone Change

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Level 1

48 points

IOS Alarms Don’t Adapt to Time Zone Change

If I set an alarm on my iPhone to (for example) wake me at 7:00am, and I am in Los Angeles (PDT), the alarm works great when I am on the west coast. However, if I travel to Atlanta (EDT), then if I set that existing 7:00am alarm, it doesn’t go off at 7:00am EDT - it still goes off at 7:00am PDT (which is 10:00am EDT).

Since I like to have my iPhone (and Apple Watch, for that matter) show me the time where I am (not where I live if I am traveling), this is a real nuisance. In the above example, to have it actually make sense, I need to do the following on my iPhone whenever I travel to a different time zone:

Delete the 7:00am alarm (so I don't accidentally have it go off at the wrong time where I am).
Create ‘another’ 7:00am alarm (which will now work in the time zone where I currently am)
when I get home, ‘delete’ that alarm I created in step 2 (so it doesn’t go off at 4:00am if I accidentally set it)
Create ‘another’ 7:00am alarm (so that it reflects PDT in the above example).

Sure would be nice if the alarm would just work at the time wherever I may be - regardless of the time zone.

iPhone 12 Pro

Posted on Apr 18, 2023 6:07 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Zbo_77

Level 1

14 points

Aug 7, 2023 1:32 PM in response to rckingsley

This doesn’t happen to me when using the Sleep Alarm system; it will do 7am local time anywhere I am.

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Answer 2

Jul 7, 2023 8:04 AM in response to rckingsley

I think it is good to keep time zones as where they set. I need to take medicine during travels and my alarms remind me. If time zoner change was in effect with the alarms then my meds timings would be a mess. At least in your case you can rearrange your alarms.

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Answer 3

ammoun

Level 1

32 points

Jan 22, 2024 12:33 PM in response to WojtekZbirek

Time zone override will show events at the correct time but the alarm will go off as per the home zone which is different from where you are traveling! A 7:00am ET alarm will sound at 4:00am PT!

a very stupid system this timezone changing of calendar! Anyone with recurring events will tell you it is useless!

what I do is I keep my iPhone set to my home timezone and I manually change the clock back and forth! Of course some Authenticator apps and the Apple Store will not connect until I set the timezone to the place I am at!

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Answer 4

Mar 18, 2024 6:27 AM in response to dranzture

An excellent reply - for medications that are hourly based. If only one medicine, I prefer a timer that I have to repeat. But what about multiple timers. Well, along comes time zones based alarms.

Apple - suggesting this alarm option

Alarm - as is

With an option for align to a time zone- while you could select from any time zone, the default timezone would be your current timezone.

Yes, that would restore alarm functionality to other products popular in the 1990s. Yes, agree with the original poster. An alarm that I set in California at noon for a repeating phone call or meeting should remind me of the California alarm independent of the timezone I’m in. The iPhone is timezone aware right! So alarms and calendars should follow that awareness - if the user so chooses.

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Answer 5

Aug 15, 2023 11:23 AM in response to Zbo_77

Turning on Time Zone Override will fix the problem. In my case (I'm from Poland) and I also had to change region to USA.

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Answer 6

Jul 5, 2023 9:15 PM in response to rckingsley

Is the new with the last update as of July 2023? I never used to have this problem when traveling and now it’s driving me crazy!

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IOS Alarms Don’t Adapt to Time Zone Change

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