iOS Calendar event minutes and time zone

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iOS Calendar event minutes and time zone

Two questions:

1. Can the start and end times for events in Calendar using iOS 6.1 be set to specific individual minutes (like setting the Alarm) rather than being constrained to 5-minute intervals?

2. Can the start and end times for events in Calendar using iOS 6.1 be set to different local time zones on the same display, such as airline flight departure and arrival time being shown in the respective local time instead of "forcing" both to be displayed for a single time zone?

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1

Posted on Feb 2, 2013 8:57 PM

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Answer 1

sberman

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Feb 2, 2013 9:19 PM in response to viclorentz

Hopefully this answers your second question (from the iPhone User Manual):

Set whether iPhone updates the date and time automatically: Go to Settings > General > Date & Time, then turn Set Automatically on or off. If you set iPhone to update the time automatically, it gets the correct time over the cellular network and updates it for the time zone you’re in. Some carriers don’t support network time, so in some areas iPhone may not be able to automatically determine the local time.

Set the date and time manually: Go to Settings > General > Date & Time, then turn Set Automatically off. Tap Time Zone to set your time zone. Tap the Date & Time button, then tap Set Date & Time.

Regarding the first question about five minute intervals, when I edit an appointment on my calendar (which is in iCloud, but on my iPhone), I see this. So I could do one minute intervals. I guess it depends on your underlying calendar source (mine is iCloud, as I said):

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Answer 2

viclorentz Author

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Feb 3, 2013 4:00 PM in response to sberman

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions.

My quandry regards the displayed start and end times for any single event being treated as if they are in the same time zone, whatever that time zone may be.

Toggling Time Zone Support on/off in Settings selects "Time Zone" to appear/not appear below "Starts" and "Ends" so that the appropriate time zone is designated by the user or by the local phone signal.

However, "Starts" and "Ends" cannot be independently selected to different time zones from one another. I would like to be able to show "Starts" in local time in one time zone and "Ends" in local time in another time zone. This would avoid mental math when communicating with parties at various locations around the world, and the dual Time Zone identification would preserve the proper interval between "Starts" and "Ends."

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Answer 3

sberman

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Feb 3, 2013 4:19 PM in response to viclorentz

I've worked with many computer systems and calendars. I've never seen, and would guess you won't find, a calendar that displays a start time in one time zone and an end time in another. Yes, I've seen calendars that can display two time zones side by side, but the iPhone calendar does not do that.

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Answer 4

viclorentz Author

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Feb 3, 2013 4:23 PM in response to sberman

Looks like an opportunity to create an app.

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Answer 5

sberman

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Feb 3, 2013 4:40 PM in response to viclorentz

Respectfully, I disagree. I don't think there would be much demand for it.

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Answer 6

viclorentz Author

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Feb 3, 2013 5:52 PM in response to sberman

"I don't think there would be much demand for it." - In comparison with the overall iOS user population, I concur. However, there may be a market.

I practically live on airliners. I am a pilot for a major international airline. Like many of my colleagues, I reside in a different city from where I am based, so I "commute" to and from work as an airline passenger, regularly sitting next to and conversing with frequent fliers ("road warriors," in journalistic parlance) from all over the world. iOS products have become their preferred platform.

Airline schedules and travel itineraries normally show local departure and arrivals times, mostly in different time zones. To be able to migrate this information easily, yet meaningfully, into iOS Calendar would be a boon to these users.

Again, I agree with you that iOS users whose business and personal affairs do not cross time zones are unlikely to be interested.

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Answer 7

sberman

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Feb 3, 2013 8:10 PM in response to viclorentz

Thanks for your remarks. I understand just what you're saying.

I'm a newly retired computer progreammer/analyst who has been working in the field for over 40 years. Yes, I was thinking in terms of the overall iOS market. But you make a good point about the utility of airline travel schedules which do show local arrival and departure times, etc. admittedly for a specialized market. Given there are already apps aimed at trravelers such as flight trackers, etc. for the iOS market, perhaps someday someone will come up with such an app.

Regards.

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Answer 8

viclorentz Author

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Feb 3, 2013 8:39 PM in response to sberman

Thank you for your thoughtful discussion.

I just searched Apple Support Communities and discovered several related discussions. All conclude with the same frustration over iOS linking Calendar Event Starts and Ends to the same time zone, and convoluted schemes to get iCloud Calendar and Mac OS Calendar to account for this same issue.

Several posters comment that Microsoft Outlook, which targets enterprise users, solved this problems several versions ago with the option to tag Event Starts and Ends with individual time zone attributes.

As Apple becomes more serious about courting enterprise clients, iOS and Mac OS will need similar capability. This is an important feature to enterprise/business/government users, whose interests and activities routinely cross multiple time zones.

I hope that your retirement is healthy, secure, and pleasurable, and allows you to do as you wish.

Best regards.

Vic

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Answer 9

viclorentz Author

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Feb 8, 2013 8:51 PM in response to sberman

FYI - Serendipitous discovery in regard to the scrolling 5-minute versus individual-minute clock selections for event times:

I discovered that toggling "All-day" ON and then then back OFF switches the 5-minute selections to individual-minute selections. Leaving that screen and then returning to it switches the minute selection wheel back to 5-minute intervals.

Best regards,

Vic

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