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

I have just stumbled onto a solution to this problem in my situation.  It's not something i really understand but for whatever it may or may not be worth, i will share what how the solution came about.  I'm not someone who uses Exchange and as far as i know i'm not using Google Calendars, at least it's not something that has come to my attention.  I just use the iPhone for my personal needs.  My calendar is not shared. i don't have invites. 

Until the last week of November, i was using an iPhone 4s with iOS 5. Calendar always worked normally, nothing weird, easy to use.  Ever since they first started iCloud, phone and computer have synced.   The last week of November, i traded in the 4s in on an iPhone 6 with iOS 8.  I set up my phone.  Calendar worked normally, no different from iOS 5 where i never had any problems. 

A few days ago, 3 or 4 i think, suddenly i encountered three Calendar problems on my iPhone.  One was that it wasn't syncing to the cloud or iCal, so my events were saved on the iPhone but not showing up on iCal, or in iCloud.  To my knowledge, i didn't change any settings. i had the same settings as i had on my 4s. 

The second problem i noticed was that the events i entered in Calendar were showing up in the calendar at the times i entered them but under the name of the event, GMT was given, which was confusing and annoying, and worst of all, a separate entry for that event was showing up before the event, in the early hours of the morning.  More confusing.  i checked settings, i googled the problem. I experimented with time zone override off and on. i rarely travel so i was OK with Time Zone Override being set to On.  But whether it was off or on made no difference, nothing got rid of the GMT info on my entered event.  Something i did, apparently, DID get rid of the second entry on the same day at the GMT of the event, so that only the original local time entry showed up, but it still showed the GMT info under the event name. 

The third problem was that i started noticing that i always had an alert set for 30 minutes before all my events, even though i didn't set an alert for the event.  Before a few days ago, there would be no alert unless i set one.  I checked Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Default Alert Times. All three types were set to None.  When i entered a new event in Calendar, i would still get an alert for 30 minutes before the event, even though in Settings it said None.  Paying closer attention, when i entered a new event, i scrolled down to see how the alert was set in the event.  It said None, as one would expect, since in Settings, it was set to None. I then clicked Add and the event was added to the Calendar. I opened the event and the event had the 30 minute alert.  If i then clicked on Edit and changed the setting back to None, it would change to none and when i clicked Done, it would stay as None.  pretty ridiculously buggy. 

i posted a question to Apple Support Communities about my events not syncing with iCloud.  A guy advised me to check Settings > Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Default Calendar.  What i found was that on the Default Calendar page, there were two headings. The first one was iCLOUD, the second one was my apple ID, which is a gmail email address.  Under the heading, iCLOUD, there were 8 "calendars" to choose from, Pets, Health, Finance, etc.  Any one of those, and ONLY ONE, could be selected as my default calendar.  That made no sense to me. Why would i choose any one of those as my default calendar, when all my events, in all those calendars, are what i consider to be my default calendar?  Why would i want Pets, or Work, or Family, to be my default calendar?  i still don't understand this, but one thing it tells me is that in my settings before iOS 8, i never would've chosen any one of those subcalendars to be my default calendar. It just makes no sense to me.  What was actually checked as my default calendar was the one and only calendar under the second heading, the Apple ID gmail address. That calendar was called my user name, which is my actual name.  That is what had the check mark next to it.  Undoubtedly, that is what i had checked on my previous phone.  i have to guess because i never had any issues that led me to look at these details. i didn't even know there WAS a default calendar setting.  i never had any problems.

what i found in experimenting is that, while i have chosen to leave that non-iCloud Apple ID username calendar checked as my default calendar, when i enter an event, i MUST chose one of the iCLOUD sub calendars in order to get the info to sync to the cloud.  This was not the case before a few days ago. i could just leave the calendar in the event as my Apple ID email address user name calendar and it still synced just fine.  But suddenly it didn't anymore, and the solution has turned out to be just to always choose one of those iCloud  sub calendars when i set up an event, i mean from within the event, i don't have to change it in iPhone settings (default calendar). 

So that problem was solved, but i still had GMT info and i still had the 30 minute alert.

i was just now messing around with creating test events in Calendar, to see if i could fix the 30 minute alert problem.  I tried selecting Free instead of Busy in the event set up.  When i clicked add, my event, named Test, did not have the GMT info.  ???   It also didn't have the 30 minute alert.  I kept experimenting and determined that this effect had nothing to do with setting the event to Free instead of Busy, but sure enough, i was not getting the GMT info in any of my tests as long as i changed the calendar from my Apple ID/Username calendar to one of the various 8 iCloud sub calendars.

i have replicated this "solution" numerous times in the past half hour or so.  What was confusing me for a while is that some of my events, for example a vet appointment for my dog for tomorrow, is set to the iCloud sub calendar, in this case, Pets.  I entered this a few days ago.  That seems to contradict the logic of the solution i discovered tonight which is that i only get GMT if i create the event and add it (save it) using my non-iCloud calendar, the Apple ID/gmail/user name calendar.  But i have just tested this and i am realizing  in retrospect that i must have saved that event in my non-iCloud calendar, and then later i went in and changed the calendar to Pets, an iCloud calendar. What happens is (i have just replicated it a few times) if i save/add the event in the non-iCloud calendar, it will have GMT info, and even if i go back change (edit) that event to an iCloud calendar later, the GMT info will remain. But if, when i set up the event the first time, i set it to one of the iCloud calendars, it will NOT have GMT info.  The only way i can get the GMT information for that event is to go back in and change the calendar to the non iCloud calendar.  Then, if i go back in and change it back to the iCloud calendar, i am stuck with the GMT.  Using the iCloud calendar only gets rid of GMT info if the event is set up that way in the beginning. It can't be edited out after. 

So in this haphazard bizarre way, i have found a solution in which i will no longer get GMT info, as long as i add the event using an iCloud calendar.  If i add an event without first changing the calendar from my non iCloud calendar to an iCloud one, then i will be stuck with the GMT info, even if i later change it to an iCloud calendar, unless i delete the event and re-enter it using an iCloud calendar. 

This has also seemed to be the solution to my 30 minute alert problem.  The test events i set up without changing to an iCloud calendar, where i used my non iCloud calendar, have the 30 minute alerts. The ones i set up using one of the iCloud calendars do not have any alert. 

Maybe there are bits of info in this bizarre story that will help others find a way to a solution for their situation.  or not. 

i just noticed i left out a few words that could have made one part of my above post a little clearer.  I clicked on edit below the post so i could add those few words in, but then she i clicked Reply to submit the edited post, i kept getting a message that said 'your content could not be saves. please try again in a few moments,' which is BS, i could try all night and the edited post is not going to post.  I am guessing that would be because my limited time that Apple allows for editing ran out, all i can do is guess. 

Anyway, so, i'm writing this post to add the few words to make that one part a little more clear.  It's the fourth to the last paragraph which starts out with "I have just replicated this solution numerous times…"   The words i want to add are where it says "...What was confusing me for a while is that some of my events, for example a vet appointment for my dog for tomorrow, is set to the iCloud sub calendar, in this case, Pets."  What i want to add is, " but I was still getting the GMT info under the event name even though the iCloud calendar was used."

This is to share my (slightly different) version of the bug. I have just submitted my bug report to Apple on http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad, thanks JG for the handy template.

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When I create a calendar event on my brand new iPad Air 2 running iOS 8.1.2, the event looks and remains correct when I create it in the standard, local Home or Work calendar. But when I do this in one of my Google calendars, which are synchronised to iCal on my MacBook Pro (Mavericks) and my iPhone (iOS 7), the event will, after a fraction of a second after creation, show an additional GMT time zone time in parentheses on my iPad. When I open the appointment to edit it, the time is actually in GMT time, even though I created it in the CET (GMT+1, Brussels) time zone, which was clearly shown in the panel that appears when clicking on “+” to create a new event.

I can make the GMT mention disappear on my IPad by editing the event: tap “Edit”, tap the time after “Starts”, tap “Time Zone”, remove “GMT”, type “bru” and tap “Brussels”, but that makes the start and end time jump back by an hour, so I also need to add an hour to the start time to keep the event times correct. Needless to say that this is a lot of hassle.

My iPhone 4 running the latest version of iOS 7 shows the same event correctly, without the GMT added, and with my local times showing up when editing, and this is also true for iCal on my MacBook Pro.

If I create an event using the web browser on my laptop <https://www.google.com/calendar>, it syncs to all my iOS devices (7 and 8) and does not transpose to GMT. If I create an event on my iPhone or in iCal on my MacBook Pro, the GMT information is added on my iPad, but nowhere else.

If I edit a previously correct event (created in the Google web interface) on my iPad or iPhone, it remains OK.

Turning "time Zone Override" on or off does not fix this issue. In fact, turning that on or off does not appear to do anything.

It looks as if the sync through the Google server causes a glitch in iOS 8, causing the GMT to be shown on the iPad.

... [the last two paragraphs of the template]

Same issue here. We need as many people to call/chat in to report this issue as possible.

Now chatting with Greg, case # 713968227

StephanieThanks for contacting AppleCare chat support. My name is Stephanie. How can I help you?

StephanieHi Ruslan, I hope you're having an awesome day!
My name is Stephanie and I will assist you in our chat today.
If you need to visit us again in the future regarding this same issue you can visit our support site at support.apple.com and use our case number 713968227.

Me:Thanks

Me:I have a known issue with calendar: it shows GMT

StephanieI’m sorry to hear your Calendar is showing you GMT time. I’m happy to help you with that.

StephanieYou mentioned that this has been a known issue, may I ask if you had an issue like this before?

Me:Only after iOS update. Just like other people

Me:Exactly same time

Your chat support session has ended due to a temporary system issue. Please wait to be reconnected to the next available Advisor.

All AppleCare Advisors are busy taking other chats. An Advisor will join this chat shortly. Thank you for your patience.All AppleCare Advisors are busy taking other chats. An Advisor will join this chat shortly. Thank you for your patience.

DanNow chatting with Dan, case # 713968227

DanThanks for contacting AppleCare chat support. Please give me a moment to look over your information.

Me:I can send you youtube link which perfectly describes issue

DanHi Russian, I see you Calendar is showing GMT time after updating to iOS 8.1.2, is that right?

Me:yes

DanThanks for letting me know, I wish I could view your link, unfortunately I’m not able. I can understand why you would want to get this fixed, I would want the proper info displayed on my phone as well. I’m glad to help you with this.

DanI have a ton of resources and tools. I want to make sure I understand how you use your device and that fully understand. your issue. Would it be okay if I ask you some questions along the way?

Me:yes

DanThanks much there are two thing I want to check right away, are you familiar with the settings app?

Me:yes

DanExcellent, can you navigate to Settings > General > Date and Time for me and verify we are set for the right Time Zone?

Me:Yes. Chicago. Automatically.

Me:Already checked that before

DanGreat, and no if you could go to Settings > Mail Contacts and Calendars, Scroll down to the Calendar section and let me know if Time Zone Override is on or off?

Dan*now

Me:Off

DanThanks much have you tried any other troubleshooting for this?

Me:Yes

Me:Created in my Google calendar event - appears in phone correctly

Me:On server no GMT

Me:Only in Phone

Me:Definitely iOS bug

DanThanks, have you restarted the device?

Me:Started after update

Me:Sure restarted. Reconnected account several times.

Me:Closed all apps - nothing

DanGreat, Have you reset all Settings on the device?

Me:Yes.

Me:Nothing

Me:I do not believe Apple doesn't know about this issue.

DanDefiantly not something I have run into before, I would like to consult with a Senior Advisor on this, would you ming holding the line while I seek one out?

Me:Anyone can google that - a lot of complaining people

Me:yes

DanThanks much, I’ll update you as soon as I can.

Me:thanks

DanThanks for you patience, The average wait for a Senior Advisor is about 8 Minutes, I know holding can be a bit frustrating, but rest assured I’m doing all I can to move this as quickly as I can for you.

Me:ok

DanWhile we are waiting, are you using location services not he device?

Me:Yes

DanCan we try dialing location services and then rearing the device?

Dan*disabling, auto correct is having some fun with me

DanI’d like to try a Hard Reset when we do that, holding down your sleep/wake button at the top of the device, and the home button at the bottom of the screen together, for about 20 seconds or so

Me:done

Me:booting up

Me:same

DanThanks for trying that for me, bear with me while I get that Senior Advisor for you, again, thanks for your patience.

Me:ok

DanThanks again for your patience, I have Greg online, a senior advisor here with Apple. And he will be glad to assist you from here. May I transfer you?

Me:Sure

You are now being connected to another Advisor. Please standby.

DanNow chatting with Dan, case # 713968227

Me:thanks

GregThanks for contacting iOS. My name is Greg. Please give me a moment to look over your information.

Me:ok

GregHi Ruslan, I understand you have events showing the wrong times on your calendar is that accurate?

Me:yes

GregWere these events created while you were in another time zone with your device?

Me:Nope

Me:Its well known issue

Me:All people I know have same problem

Me:Different states, different time zones - same issue

Gregif you create a new event does it schedule it at the correct time?

Me:My wife, my partnter - same

Me:It's difficult to describe it in chat

Me:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgP1zyi_iV8

GregI’m sorry I’m not able to utilize links sent by customers for security reasons Ruslan

Me:okay, what's the solution?

Gregif you create a new event does it schedule it at the correct time?

Me:What do you mean?

Me:Yes

Me:But GMT appears

Gregcan you walk me through step by step where you are seeing GMT>

Greg?

Me:And then I have big problem to edit event

Me:I create event, Add it. After several seconds GMT appears on event

Me:Then if I want to edit it - it's easier to remove and then add it again instead of editing it. Its so long story to just edit time

Me:Lots of people complaining about that

Me:Just google it

Me:It makes no sense to type everything here

Me:Looks like sync issue. Not only with Google in my case - other exchange servers as well

Me:You add Event, it syncs and then appears GMT

Me:It started right after update

GregAhh ok Ruslan I have to be honest with you here we do not provide support for exchange synced calendars my friend. Your best bet to getting resolution on that is to get in touch with your exchange provider most often there is a setting on their end that needs to be changed

Me:Ok. I knew you will tell that

Me:Why events created on different servers appearing OK on iPhone. Not backwards. :-)

Me:And it started right after update.

Me:Dont you think

Me:its wierd?

Me:You blaming right now mail provider even without reading customers complaints!

GregAs we update our software to be compliant with new protocols and such things often we find other companies servers have misconfigured things. In essence things that previously we let go with server configurations are no longer ok. We simply don’t have a way of supporting exchange syncing Ruslan as that is entirely controlled by server configurations and settings my friend

GregI know this is frustrating but we do not have the training or access to fix this type of thing

Me:I'm not talking only about exchange - Google does the same. As I know Google - its MAPI protocol.

Me:Same thing

Me:It wasn't before update.

Me:Please try to search and you'll see how common this issue

GregI understand this is frustrating Ruslan but this is something you will need to reach out to your provider for. As I said we do not have the access to your providers servers to change anything that would fix this. Daniel took you through the only settings in the iPhone that have any effect on calendars

GregThe information showing up on your events is being transmitted by your provider

Me:I create event on provider's calendar - it syncs PERFECT!

Me:Everything is created on iPhone - adds GMT

Me:I can't bring laptop in my pocket to add events :-)

Me:to my iPhone :-)

GregI understand you just want this to work Ruslan however this isn’t something we are going to be able to resolve for you Ruslan you need to contact your provider for further assistance

Me:Okay. Let me ask you: What my provider changed in your update?

GregRuslan my friend I completely understand you think we can fix this and I assure you if we had any further troubleshooting to do we would certainly offer it. Much like bluetooth pairing often exchange servers need to be updated when we perform updates to our devices. I appreciate you taking the time to reach out to us however we do not have any further steps for you at this time. I would encourage you to reach out to your provider for assistance with this issue

I found a thread in the Google Calender forums that might be worth following: https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/calendar/Az4sg4nkDXk/discussion

JG just wanted you to know that I too followed your link and logged an issue with Apple. Like you, we here are seeing this bug with multiple devices, and in some cases both Google mail servers and Exchange servers. It doesn't happen to everyone I deal with, and seems like things can be ok for a while and then the will surface. Definitely IOS 8.1.1 though. Definitely when the IOS device creates the appointment, and never when the servers create the appointment. In my case I sometimes see GMT and at other times the dual zone will show EST and PST (and Cupertino in the appointment).

Thanks for reporting to Apple.  What my host figured out is that the 2nd time zone shown (that iOS 8.x transposes the appointment to) is generated by iOS converting your appointment into whatever time is set as the SYSTEM TIME on the server that is running the subscribed calendar.  So, if your user is in PST, but the server that hosts their account is set to EST, their appointments will show (EST) on them and will transpose to EST.  If the server time is set to GMT, it will show GMT etc.  This is just appointments created on iOS devices and then synced to other iOS devices.

My Exchange account is hosted on a server that has a system time set to GMT, so my appointments transpose to GMT.  If you have access to the server that hosts your user's exchange accounts, you can test this out by switching the system time on the server.  And again, I am not talking about what the user has set on the server in their own user account profile....I am talking about the clock on the server itself.

How Apple managed to screw up such a simple thing like this is....and then for it to be totally missed in months of beta testing.....is incomprehensible.......

FYI:  The user I support who is experiencing this issue has upgraded from an iPhone 5s to an iPhone 6.  He said this problem immediately migrated to the new phone when he transferred his account data.  So, in case we weren't already sure: a new phone WILL NOT fix this.

Gents I am having similar issues w my 6. Also occurs on my iPad 3. I have calendar times showing in my EST zone in which I reside and also in CST. I have contacted the third party exchange server folks we use in our office and this is a known issue at Apple. Calendar invites come in to me all in two zones. This only occurs on the phone and pad. I use outlook, all of my OWA settings are correct; same for my outlook on my pc. I have the correct time zone set on my phone. This issue occurs whether time zone override is on or off. Lets all hope this fix comes out soon as it is extremely aggravating.

Seriously, why do we have to do all these "tricks" and "gimmicks" to get the phone to do what its supposed to do??? I have missed appointments with clients because of this issue. I've tried all these "solutions" and the same thing happens every time, time zone switch to GMT. All this money spent on a phone, that is supposed to assist with daily activities, but instead a big headache. Is there an apple rep who reads these threads and responds? We would appreciate and deserve a solution to this bug.

Thanks

Clearly an iOS 8 bug that still isn't being addressed. None of the recommended superficial fixes correct the issue. It's simply (and sadly) bad code.

Same issue here: Events entered on the iPhone 6 with iOS 8.1 show GMT as well as AEST (Sydney). Edit only shows GMT. Then changing back to Sydney in editing mode seems to keep the change. Outlook and Gmail synced ones from the PC have no such issue.

I left my bug report feedback under http://www.apple.com/feedback and urge everyone who has this issue to do that as well.

Hi.  My iphone 6 just started doing this a couple weeks back.  I'm pretty sure it's a google calendar issue, and NOT an ios issue.  Google is very honest about the apparent difficulty in working with time zones world wide.  My calendar times are fine, they just annoyingly post the GMT (greenwich mean time) time parenthetically as well.  After resetting my iphone, my google calendars still post the GMT time zone as well.  I'll reach out to Google and get back to this conversation with any solutions.

@j-LO:  have you read any of the preceding thread?  Apple has confirmed this is an issue with iOS.  It's great that you are "pretty sure" about your theory...but others of us who have spent extensive time working on this are 100% sure, based on actual confirmable evidence, that this issue is generated by iOS.  Good luck "reaching out to Google."  If you read posts by others who tried that you can get an idea of what you have to look forward to.  Make sure you call from your desk so that you have something to do while you wait on hold for 90+ minutes before giving up.