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Time Zone Support is STUPID!!!!!

I've tried all kinds of combinations between my MacBook Pro iCal and my iPhone and it just doesn't work.


First, with iCal on my laptop, turning time zone support on gives the option of selecting which time zone to display and set events on the calendar. With support off, the calendar updates times depending on which time zone you're in. This makes no sense!!! If anything, the calendar times should stay fixed and not change at all if support is off. Turning support on should make the calendar adjust times.


Second, what's the point for entering times in different time zones anyway? If I have a meeting or a flight anywhere in the world, the time is the time no matter what. If I have travel to a different time zone and I set an event for 2 PM, that event will change time when I go to another time zone giving me the wrong time. If I set the event for 2 PM in a different time zone, it will diplay the wrong time in my current time zone.


Third, there is no option to start in one time zone and end in another. I fly all the time. If I turn time zone support on and set a time for a departing flight at 4 PM Eastern, there is no option to arrive at a time in another time zone, so the arrival time will be wrong when the calendar updates in the arriving time zone. If I turn support off, and set an event to start at 4 PM and travel an hour ahead, the calendar will then say the event is at 5 PM when it updates in the new time zone, which is wrong and I'll miss that event.


If I turn my laptop calendar time zone support and iPhone TZS both on or off, times keep getting screwed up. If one is on and one is off, it gets screwed up. Just as an example, to keep my laptop calendar to have the actual time of all my events no matter where I am, I turned time zone support on and set to Central time, where I live. With TZS off, all my times would change to one hour ahead when I go to the Eastern time zone which would screw up any event I would need to refer to. My iPhone has TZS on as well. I have a flight at 3:30 eastern arriving home at 4:30 central, but if I create the event in eastern at 3:30 there is no option to finish in central, so I would have to mark my arrival as 5:30 eastern. When I get home, my calendar would say I left at 2:30 and arrived at 4:30. If I had looked at my calendar before my trip to the eastern time zone, my calendar would say I'm leaving at 2:30, which is wrong for the zone I would leave from, but the arrival time is correct.


Now, with all TZS turned on, and my calendar set to central, and a 3:30 PM Eastern flight with a 24 hour advance alert, my phone alerted me at 4:30 Eastern of my 3:30 Eastern flight because my calendar was set to Central time, not Eastern. Had I had TZS turned off and entered the flight as 3:30, it would display at 4:30 when I arrived in Eastern and my departure and arrival time would be wrong when my calendar updated once in returned to Central and, while still in the Eastern zone, every single event in my calendar would be advance by one hour to reflect the Eastern zone and would be wrong for the actual time those events were to take place in Central, or any other time zone.


If I lived in New York and I traveled to Los Angeles and had an 8 AM meeting in LA, while in NY my calendar would say I had a 11 AM meeting if TZS was on and set to Eastern and wouldn't change to 8 until I manually selected the Pacific time zone. If TZS was off, my 8 AM meeting would display as 5 AM when I arrived in LA and the calendar updated automatically.


The whole system just makes no sense at all and serves no purpose that I can see. The time is the time regardless of where I am or what time zone I'm in. I will always be where I am and the time will always be the time. Why make it change? I want to look at my calendar and have the right time no matter where I am. Apple needs to fix this thing to either add multiple time zones for a single event's start and end time and display the time zone in the calendar or they need to get rid of time zone support altogether.


If anybody knows of a way to keep the calendar on both the computer and the iPhone to actually work in a manner that doesn't change times and will alert me to the actual time of events regardless of time zones I'd love to hear it. Outside of turning off location services, which will screw up every other app, I don't see a fix. Unless Apple give the option to turn of location services for iCal on the iPhone.

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.1, Aslo MacBook Pro 15 inch Early 2008

Posted on Jun 21, 2012 12:09 PM

Reply
148 replies

Sep 27, 2015 9:28 AM in response to chalsall

No sir, that's NOT what I want. I want it to act like a paper calendar. If I put in 2PM THAT is what I want it to say. If I get on an airplane and fly halfway around the world, it will change. If I choose "floating" it won't change on the mac, but it will on the iPad because there is no "floating" choice there. It is hideous. I missed a flight because of this bs, I've missed appointments, it's changed DATES on me when I've traveled to Asia. Other solutions suggested, like "Sunrise" don't work unless you enter things from your phone; you can't enter to in from the Mac, and if you do, it changes the time. This is BEYOND frustrating, and it's not just Apple. Google calendars acts the same way.


Once again, I am connecting several devices. I simply want the times I put in to remain the same as what I enter. Is that really that difficult to understand, Apple?

Nov 16, 2015 8:55 AM in response to pinkfloyd1969

Ok, here's my solution to this vexing little issue:


1. Turn on time zone support in iCal

2. Enter all events in your home time zone.

3. When you are traveling, go ahead and set the sytem clock / time zone to the local, so your computer / phone / pad shows the correct local time

4. Set the iCal time zone (in upper right of iCal) to your home time zone.


Seems to work.

Nov 16, 2015 9:05 AM in response to roberto

Addendum:


In addition to the OSX settings above, the following settings on mobile device, OS9...


1. Settings ―> General ―> Date & Time ―> Set Automatically (or set manually to the local zone you're in)

2. Settings ―> Mail, Contacts, Calendars ―> Calendars / Time Zone Override ―> Set manually to your home time zone (where you are when you schedule events)

Jan 2, 2016 10:36 AM in response to pinkfloyd1969

This seems to be working in iOS and OS X for me. The only problem is that the OS X Calendar doesn't allow me to set the start and end times in different timezones, but the iOS Calendar does. Both display correctly with Timezone support switched on.


In the screen grab below, I have created a flight event that leaves UK time at 06:25 and lands in Paris time at 10:25. The times are displayed with their timezone code in the info panel, but look at the event block.... the start and finish times are correctly shown in UK Time (as that is where my Mac is). Thus the event block is a bit over 2.5 hours long, which is the duration of the flight. On my iOS devices, when I get to the destination, all calendar events are adjusted, so I just make sure for any events taking place in the new timezone have their start and finish times bound to that timezone.


I still don't understand why OS X calendar doesn't allow me to create events like this, but hey ho.


User uploaded file

Jan 2, 2016 2:09 PM in response to m0thr4

I simply would like to have the option to use this calendar the same way I'd use a paper calendar, so that it doesn't change times and dates as I travel. There should be a way to do that, or something that will do that on the mac and the iPhone. Anyone? Anything? Thanks.


There is no longer a "floating" option. Whether or not timezone support is checked, the times (and sometimes dates) change as I travel. I understand that others like this feature, but there should be a way to turn it off and allow for "absolute time" in both the iOS and OSX.

Time Zone Support is STUPID!!!!!

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