iOS 8 Calendar on iPhone showing GMT times for new events.

All fixed as well. Iphone 6, 8.1.3, synching Google Calander on EST. Started suddenly about one month ago with no warning and began working today just as quick as it stopped. Hope those of you who are still dealing with the issue have relief soon. I will still be following this discussion.

The bug in iOS that caused the GMT error is fixed in 8.1.3!

After MUCH testing between an iPhone3GS running iOS 6.1.3 and an iPad Mini running iOS 8.x (all iOS 8s previous to 8.1.3), the GMT error only and always occurred when creating a new GCalendar event on the iPad (iOS 8.x). The iPhone (iOS 6.1.3) never saw any GMT problem, it was only seen on events that were newly created on the iPad (iOS 8.x).

Now, with iOS 8.1.3, all is good again. Thanks to everyone that suffered through the rough days of early iOS 8.x and complained long and loud to get the problem raised with enough visibility so that it got fixed - FINALLY!

I am glad to hear this is fixed for you. However, 8.1.3 is not what fixed it. Do you use Google Calendar to sync? If you take a look at the couple preceding pages you will see that many users of Google Calendar reported today that this was fixed for them also....and that they did not do anything to their devices to fix it. This would indicate Google made a change on its servers that blocks the bug from acquiring the information it uses to transpose the events you enter to different times than you entered them for. And for Backgammoner's benefit let me clarify: that's my THEORY.

Can you confirm whether you are syncing using Google Calendar? Or if not, what service you are using? Thanks.

I can confirm (for the moment... being overly cautious here) that the GMT bug has disappeared from my iDevices. I have an iPhone 5s and iPad Air using Google calendars to sync with the Calendar app.

But, I don't think the latest iOS update (8.1.3) fixed the problem. The day that it was released, I updated and tested and I *still* had the GMT problem. I was still having to manually fix appointments until TODAY. So, something else fixed the problem and I'd hazard a guess to conclude that it was thanks to Google.

JG in SB, sorry that you are still having problems with Exchange. You've been the official leader of this months-long charge against Apple and I want to thank you for your tireless advocacy!!! I'm hoping for a swift resolution from Microsoft for you and all the other Outlook users. If I was still managing multiple calendars for Executives traveling around the world, I might have jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. As it was, my own personal calendar was such a pain in the *** to keep straight (and I don't have that much of a life these days!!!).

The problem is NOT fixed for me. Using an iPhone 5, on 8.1.3, syncing with google calendar. Still seeing the GMT when it shouldn't be there.

I have a public calendar on my iPad which, unfortunately, is still showing the GMT issue. This calendar, I believe, is syncing with Google. However, when I manually enter an event into my iphone 6 + or IPad Air 2 the GMT issue is gone. This is great, however I am somewhat upset my public calendar is still showing GMT.

Again, there is no evidence that Apple "intentionally" made a change aimed at disrupting their customers and therefore were not in a position to communicate anything neither to their customers nor to Google or Microsoft. They may have been taken by surprise (just like anyone else) by the non-desired GMT side effect of the change they made in iOS 8. They should have caught it in regression testing but did not. By the time it was noticed by customers it was too late for them. Lameduck is right in calling this a "chicken and egg situation". From here on they had to analyze the new behavior and may have concluded that it is not their issue, but indeed it is a Google problem, and it took Google such a long time to fix it. I don't think we will ever know the full story behind this. You have no choice but to cut them a slack and let them enjoy from the benefit of doubt. You did not show or share any evidence leading to a conclusive decision that it is a bug introduced by Apple.

Now let me address your language. Here is what you wrote:

"I don't have time to get into an argument about the obvious today. If you can't understand what is happening, then you are never going to understand it. I believe what has happened here is obvious to just about everyone with any programming experience. I am not even a programmer, but I have enough experience to quickly identify what likely happened here."

Unlike you I am a programmer and have been for many years. Unlike you I engaged in a purely technical discussion and was never dragged by emotion towards an opposing point of view. At no point did I say to you "If you can't understand...." or "...you are never going to understand it" Who are you to dare say that?

The quote also includes "...I believe what has happened here is obvious to just about everyone..." all of your argumentation is based on belief not on facts or knowledge. Obviously, you are entitled to your opinion but you are in no position to put blame on Apple based solely on your belief.

You have previously argued, extensively and consistently, that it is correct behavior for a calendar to arbitrarily convert users' appointments to GMT (or some other time zone), depending upon what their server clock is set to.

I have argued consistently that it is not correct behavior for a calendar to arbitrarily convert users' appointments to GMT (or some other time zone), depending upon what their server clock is set to.

The above two sentences sum up our alternative views of how people use devices, how the world works and how software should work. You are entitled to your opinion, and I am entitled to mine.

Also, neither of us is a statistician (that I know of anyway) but what do you think the odds are that most users of Apple products agree with your idea of how a Calendar is supposed to work?

And I can place blame on Apple, Congress, the Easter Bunny, or whoever else I feel like placing blame on for something based upon what information I am able to gather and then use to form an opinion with. Once again, I BELEIVE, that I am probably just one of thousands of people who, based on what they know, also blame Apple for this.

Another oddity is that the previous appointments that had the GMT "barnacle" still exhibit the strange behavior of only showing the GMT time (as opposed to the time that was used to set the original event) when the event is edited. That, to my mind, is the perfect example of buggy behavior.

Hoping for resolution for you soon JG in SB!

Your GMT "barnacle" analogy is excellent!! Here's a re-statement of my THEORY about what causes the GMT bug using your fantastic analogy:

The "barnacle" goes out on all appointments created on any iOS device running iOS 8 (maybe even earlier iOS versions). The "barnacle" attempts to acquire the time zone setting of the server you are syncing through. If that server publishes its clock time zone setting, the "barnacle" acquires it.

When the appointment with the "barnacle" attached to it syncs down to any other iOS 8 device, iOS 8 checks in with the barnacle. If iOS 8 sees that the "barnacle" has acquired the server's time zone setting, then it transposes the appointment to which the "barnacle" is attached into that time zone and displays the time zone (i.e. "(GMT)") on the user's calendar.

I hypothesize (can't confirm as absolute fact, but I can deduct this based on what I have learned from AppRiver etc.) that Google did something to its servers today to BLOCK the publishing of the server time clock time zone setting to clients (your iPhone etc.). The "barnacle" is still attached to any appointment created on any device running iOS 8.x, but when the appointment with the "barnacle" hits the Google server now, it doesn't find a time zone setting to acquire. It's "starved" of the data. So when the appointment syncs down to other iOS devices from Google, those devices still check in with the "barnacle" but the "barnacle" doesn't have any data: it just reports "NA" or "blank" or something. So iOS 8 on the receiving device leaves the appointment at the time the user intended to set it up for.

MS Exchange Servers remain unchanged (GMT alive and well) on this very same day that the Google servers changed to deprive the "barnacle" of the time zone setting. That is why, on this very same day, Google users report that the bug is gone, and MS Exchange users all report that they still see it. Nothing changed in iOS. There's also the substantial fact that Apple does not secretly push software updates out to iOS devices and does not install said updates without user's consent or acknowledgement (at least not that I or anyone else is aware of).

There are a few early reports back from people running iOS 8.2 Beta 5 that this bug is fixed as of that release. I believe (again, just what I can deduct based on what others have reported) that Apple has either: 1) removed the "barnacle-generating" code; or 2) changed the iOS 8 code so that data acquired by the "barnacle" is simply ignored by the receiving iOS device, and events are no longer transposed based on the data acquired by the "barnacle". I HYPOTHESIZE that previous versions of iOS either didn't generate the "barnacle" or they ignored it.

That's my THEORY 🙂 OK Backgammoner...... I can't 100% confirm this but it certainly would be a plausible explanation for what we have all seen, and it easily explains why the bug is gone from Google accounts yet remains on Exchange accounts on the very same day. It would also explain why users of some services (Google Exchange) that publish server clock time zone settings to clients experienced the bug, while users of other services (Yahoo!, Hotmail) that don't publish this information never experienced it.

And let me ask you this Backgammoner, since you are a programmer: although there may be other potential reasons/causes etc., the scenario I have described above is also totally plausible is it not?

When iOS 8.2 is released to the public some day, maybe we will be able to confirm this 100%. In the meantime, based on information you can find doing Google searches, I'm pretty optimistic that this bug is fixed in iOS 8.2 and that in fact, it is BUG that Apple never planned for or intended to inflict upon us.

Nice explanation via the barnacle analogy; curious to see how iOS Beta 8.2 handles things.

Also sounds like the "barnacles" would make a great transport mechanism for malware (or worse)... grab "fake TZ" (binecode" and then what...

The problem is fixed for me (spontaneously, no user update) and no longer affects any calendar items, new or old, edited or not. Thank goodness, that was getting old.

It looks like my problem is resolved also. New appointments do not get the GMT designation. Any appointments already tagged with GMT still have it, but moving the appointment to a different time and then back causes the GMT to disappear.

I will check back if anything changes.

I appreciate your work and evenness at presenting your findings, JG in SB. You have been the voice of reason and are a credit to this forum. Thank you for your work here.

ANyone else still experiencing the GMT issue when downloading a public calendar?

Appears to be fixed for me for new appointments. Appointments created on my phone during the GMT bug phase that I had not edited still show the GMT time. If I go in and edit, they no longer show the GMT time.

To be clear there is no way iOS 8.1.3 fixed this - I have an iPhone 6 Plus and have not loaded this software update.

Also wanted to give a shout out to JG for all his hard work on this. Sorry for the Exchange users who are still suffering with their Outlook calendars.