how to get apple to correct Canadian date format

Question

Level 1

8 points

how to get apple to correct Canadian date format

Apple gets the Canadian Regional date format wrong. It should be the same as the UK dd-mm-yyyy but Apple sets it to the US format mm-dd-yyyy. On my MacBook Pro I can make a custom change but can't do this on either my iPhone nor iPad. Apps that I use like Evernote and iQIF do query the regional formats because my date formats change if I switch countries. Of course, switching countries introduces other problems!

I don't see why Apple would be so relunctant to make this very easy change. It is interesting that Microsoft Windows has never had this problem :-/

I have tried phoning the support line but always get directed to the Apple feedback page which does not seem to do any good given the older complaints I have seen.

Therefore the question is, how do I get Apple's attention on this?

-Bob.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Jan 2, 2014 6:50 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 20, 2017 8:32 AM in response to TObob

It's very rude of Apple. The small endian format is easy to get if you set your devices to UK....but impossible if you set to Canada-English...The macbook display is Dec 20 not 20.12--The iPhone I have to set to UK and simply deal with the 'pound symbol' instead of the dollar sign. Very very frustrating.

If you ever hear of a solution, please let me know. I must have 20 contacts that are looking for the same solution.

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Answer 2

Dec 20, 2017 8:37 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Nope

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Answer 3

Dec 20, 2017 8:34 AM in response to McCarthy Forester

This ISO format is not the Canadian format. It was a compromise solution. Our official format is small endian (dd.mm.yyyy) but the ISO is used by the government to prevent confusion by those who don't know better. So--this is not a fix and apple has not listened to its customers.

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Answer 4

Diavonex

Level 9

67,259 points

Jan 2, 2014 6:53 AM in response to TObob

Settings>General>International>Region Format

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Answer 5

Jan 2, 2014 6:54 AM in response to TObob

Have you set the region format in the device?

Settings app > General > International > Region Format [set to Canada]

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Answer 6

TObob Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 2, 2014 9:49 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

So I guess I wasn't very clear in my post: I did set my regional settings via

Settings app > General > International > Region Format [set to Canada]

and the date format is wrong for Canada.

So my original question stands, how do I get Apple to correct this?

-Bob.

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Answer 7

TObob Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 2, 2014 9:50 AM in response to Diavonex

this didn't work ... see my reply to James Ward4 ....

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Answer 8

Jan 2, 2014 9:54 AM in response to TObob

In what context does the date format not show correctly?

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Answer 9

TObob Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 2, 2014 10:08 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

In apps for instance Evernote or a spreadsheet downloaded fromDropBox will under Canada regional settings display the date as mm/dd/yyyy. If I change my regional date format through settings to the UK the displayed date format changes to dd/mm/yyyy in these apps.

btw, this is the same on the iPhone and my MacBook Pro. Ergo, it is an incorrect choice by Apple generally and not device specific.

-Bob.

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Answer 10

Jan 2, 2014 10:21 AM in response to TObob

Based on a little research, technically neither of those formats is correct for Canada (should be YYYY/MM/DD, or one that includes the month in alpha format), but if one were to be used over the over, it would appear that day first would be more customary).

You can offer Apple feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ and I suppose use UK or Australian in the meantime.

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Answer 11

TObob Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 2, 2014 10:28 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

The international format is yyyy/mm/dd which the Canadian gov't supposedly has adopted but seldom uses. The accepted Canadian format is dd/mm/yyyy which, as I said in a prior post, Microsoft does use.

I have tried the apple.com/feedback but not convinced Apple is "listening" as there are others who tried this a few years back based on posts I have found.

Unfortunately switching to the UK regional format introduces other problems such as web sites quoting prices in pounds sterling and British spellings being used.

-Bob.

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Answer 12

Oct 25, 2014 6:07 AM in response to TObob

Good news. Apple has listened! In IOS 8, if you set the Region/Language to Canada/English, the date format is now the correct yyyy-mm-dd ISO 8601 format used on federal websites and Ontario drivers licenses and OHIP health cards. This works for iPhone 6 and any other device upgradeable to IOS 8.

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