Automatic date and time problem on Mac Book air M1

Here is how to fix it for good! Go to Settings>General>Date & Time and turn off set time and date automatically. Go to Macintosh HD in finder (you might have to enable it to show in the sidebar in Finder settings), press command + shift + . in the folder to show hidden folders. Click var>db look for timed folder. To unlock timed folder right click on it to Get info, unlock at the bottom right to make changes, then change Privilege for everyone to Read & Write. In timed folder delete com.apple.timed.plist file. Restart your computer and turn auto time back on and it's fixed! This can happen on any computer not just he Macbook Air.

Here is how to fix it for good! Go to Settings>General>Date & Time and turn off set time and date automatically. Go to Macintosh HD in finder (you might have to enable it to show in the sidebar in Finder settings), press command + shift + . in the folder to show hidden folders. Click var>db look for timed folder. To unlock timed folder right click on it to Get info, unlock at the bottom right to make changes, then change Privilege for everyone to Read & Write. In timed folder delete com.apple.timed.plist file. Restart your computer and turn auto time back on and it's fixed! This can happen on any computer not just he Macbook Air.

Here is how to fix it for good! Go to Settings>General>Date & Time and turn off set time and date automatically. Go to Macintosh HD in finder (you might have to enable it to show in the sidebar in Finder settings), press command + shift + . in the folder to show hidden folders. Click var>db look for timed folder. To unlock timed folder right click on it to Get info, unlock at the bottom right to make changes, then change Privilege for everyone to Read & Write. In timed folder delete com.apple.timed.plist file. Restart your computer and turn auto time back on and it's fixed! This can happen on any computer not just he Macbook Air.

I know this is kind of an older problem but I just ran into it myself after my Mac automatically updated to macOS Sonoma 4.1 and ran out of battery because it hadn't been used for a while. I figured out a way to solve it after Apple Support was no help, so I thought I'd share it here in case it might still help someone. What fixed it for me was turning off the automatic date and time adjustment and setting the time manually (exactly to the second) which allowed me to connect to the internet again and subsequently download and install the macOS Sonoma 4.4 Update which seems to fix the bug. After that, I just turned the automatic time adjustment back on and it worked fine.

Go to Settings/General/Date & Time and switch off the set time and date automatically. To view the hidden folders, navigate to Macintosh HD in Finder and press (command + shift +.). Navigate to var, then to db, then to timed, right-click on "get info", unlock at the bottom right to make changes, and set the Privilege to everyone to read and write. In the timed folder, remove the com.apple.timed.plist file. restart your computer and switch ON the set time and date

Hello Clock_Failure_macbook,

Isolating what is blocking the ability to change that setting to automatic would be our next step.

We would suggest starting up the system in what is called safe mode. Safe mode only loads what is needed to run the computer. This can help isolate what is causing issues.

To start in safe mode, follow these steps:

1. Turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up.

2. Release the key when you see the login window, then log in to your Mac. 

3. You might be asked to log in again. On either the first or second login window, you should see ”Safe Boot” in the upper-right corner of the window.

More information is available here: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

The computer will take longer to start in safe mode, and the screen may have some distorted video as it starts up. This is normal. Once you are logged in, use the system and test to see if you can change the setting.

If everything seems to work as expected, go ahead and restart the computer normally and test again. There are steps outlined on what to do if the issue does or does not continue in safe mode.

Starting in safe mode also forces the computer to run some disk checks similar to First Aid. This can actually resolve some issues.

Have a good day.

This actually works guys, my boyfriend had the same issue on his MacBook Pro and nothing worked (restarting, turning location on and off, typing in the date manually, we even tried to rewrite some code on the laptop and reset the NVRAM - recommended by Apple staff). As a final attempt, we visited this page and tried to update the laptop's OS from Sonoma 4.1 to 4.5, which finally did the trick!

I reckon it's a bug with the software that could easily be resolved by updating the laptop. It is funny that Apple Support didn't think to recommend that option even after asking about the device's macOS.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion user1305 🫶

Here's an easy fix that worked for my MacBook M1 (3/10/24)

Open System Settings > General > Date and Time. Make sure the 'Set automatically' button is toggled on, and where it says 'Source' click 'Set". Here you should see the default 'Apple (time.apple.com)'. Here you want to delete the source and re-type it exactly as it was, then hit the 'Default' button. It should update with the correct date and time then. Hope this helps!

Update: MacOS 14.3 corrects this problem.

I had same problem after last daylight saving. In Date&Time settings I have turn off automatic time and then turn it back. Now I have correct time.

Had this issue for over an hour now... Found out if you just either set manually then reeboot or just reboot and then toggle on and off the automatic time really fast 3-6x it'll finally connect to the server and reset.

Hello Clock_Failure_macbook,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities!

For help with the date and time on your Mac being incorrect we recommend following the steps below to see if we can get it corrected to the correct time.

1. "Make sure that your Mac is connected to the internet.
2. Open Location Services settings and make sure that Location Services is turned on. Then scroll to the bottom of the list of apps and services and click the Details button next to System Services. Make sure that "Time zone and system customization" is turned on.
3. Open Date & Time settings and make sure that the option to set time and date automatically, as well as the option to set time zone automatically, are turned on.
4. Restart your Mac.

Set the date and time manually

If your device still shows an incorrect date, time, or time zone, change each setting manually instead of using Set Automatically. For example, you might have iOS 9 or earlier, and your country or region, or government changes the time zone or the observance of daylight saving time.

On your Mac

Open Date & Time settings and turn off the option to set time and date automatically, as well as the option to set time zone automatically. You can then set time, date, and time zone manually."

If you can't change the time or time zone on your Apple device

Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Take care!

Update - needed to click the padlock first! Completed the steps and now happy to report that time updated and I can now use the internet! Thanks so much for sharing as no way I would have resolved this on my own.

Having the same issue - I found out that using this command in terminal work for some time but i have to do it on a regular basis : sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com

I had this issue on Easter 2024. The solution doesn't work if you open anything or make the Mac go to sleep prior to restarting. I accidentally hit sleep after removing the .plist file and reappeared when I turn the screen back on. The automatic time and date sent me back to May 2023,,,

When I deleted the file again but correctly hit restart right after, the fix worked like a charm.

Hope it helps!