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.

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.

addressed to apple staff: Advice to fix the problem with automatic time setting on macbook air m1. Telling people perfunctorily to do what doesn't work - which is why they're on this site in the first place - is worse than useless.

This suggestion doesn't work. My computer keeps showing a Nov 2023 date when set to automatic for date and time! the manual date does not update the following day.

Yesterday I set this to 7 Jan 2024 21:00:00 hours and when logged in this morning it still showed the same time

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'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!

Is apple actually going to sort this? It’s clearly happening to a lot of people and stops a lot of things from working. This is my first switch over from windows to apple and for the money it costs not being able to have the time and date set properly is pretty embarrassing. I have never had anything like this with any other OS.

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.

WHY THE **** DOES NO ONE KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS, MY ISSUE IS OCCURRING ON A MACBOOK PRO

starting to believe we went back in time and we are the select few that get to rewrite history... lol

This is a fault with the Mac OS. Your suggesting fixes that don't fix the problem..just temporary manual work arounds.

date and time on MacBook is off and I can’t set it to update manually

THANK YOU, you have completely solved the problem and I think it is the best method. Oh, also thank you for making me discover the shortcut cmd+shift+. to discover hidden files, wow.

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!

My Mac airbook date shows 9 Dec and my emails will not load past 1.1.24 and it’s now 21.1.24. I have followed all the advice given my Apple to no avail HELP I’m needing to print insurance documents dated 13.1.24 and cannot??