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

One problem with the "All-day on/off" workaround is that appointments late in the day (for US users) become tomorrow GMT time. For example, anything after 7pm eastern, or 4pm pacific, are tomorrow in GMT time. So in those cases, when you turn on All-day the appointment date is set to tomorrow. If, after turning All-day back to off, you merely adjust the start time back to match your local time, without also moving the date back one day, your appointment will be on the wrong day!

This has already happened to me twice.

One other workaround that might be preferable for some people. I installed the Sunrise calendar app (it's free), and linked it to my Google calendars. Appointments created in Sunrise get added to Google, and once in Google it syncs with iOS calendar. Because iOS treats these like an appointment created in Google, and since we've already established that such items do not receive the messed up GMT treatment, everything is fine in iOS. You can then edit/move/etc the appointment in iOS and the problem never appears.

To summarize: I create all new appointments in Sunrise, and then never use Sunrise for anything else. Once the event is created I can use the iOS calendar app the way we always did.

Some people may not want to use a separate app. But I prefer not having to always manually edit every new appointment to remove the GMT, so using a separate app just for creating appointments actually saves me overall time and frustration. And it also removes the risk of forgetting to manually edit, or getting bit by "GMT tomorrow" issue in my previous post.

Hi zak456,

So what you're saying is that you use the sunrise calendar for making appointments, and then that sends the info to your Google calendar, which then forwards that info the standard calendar and doesn't show the GMT bug? And so you don't use iOS calendar at all anymore?

I have been doing the 8-step editing every single appointment every time I do it, and I'm slowly going mad, but it's the only I've been able to guarantee that the appointments actually stay where they are meant to. I use my calendar for my entire business and this has been a very annoying issue for me.

I might give this sunrise calendar a shot. Thanks!

I have a solution of sorts: after I create an event and save it, I wait a few seconds and then edit the event, which by now will have changed to GMT time.  I then change it back to the correct time (and date - remember to check the date, because it could be a day out), correct the am/pm if necessary, and replace the GMT time zone with my own time zone.  I save the changes, and then the entry stays at the correct time and doesn't revert to GMT.  It's a pain, but at least it works.

Yes, I use the Sunrise calendar for making appointments, and then that sends the info to my Google calendar, which then forwards that info the standard iOS calendar and doesn't show the GMT bug. It's the same reason why creating new appointments directly in the google calendar doesn't show the problem in iOS, but using Sunrise on my iPhone is less tedious than entering in the google calendar directly.

But no, it's not true I don't use my iOS calendar at all anymore. Just the opposite -- as I wrote, "I create all new appointments in Sunrise, and then never use Sunrise for anything else." I use iOS calendar for everything except making new appointments, since I like the iOS calendar's interface and features, and if it wasn't for this GMT issue I'd use it exclusively. But you or anyone else may end preferring Sunrise and want to use it exclusively.

Note that this workaround doesn't apply to a calendar app like Fantastical, since Fantastical seems to add appointments directly to the iOS calendar (as compared to Sunrise which adds it to the Google calendar first), and as we all now know, anything that starts from the iOS calendar and then goes to Google will then get the GMT bug when it returns.

zak456 is correct about why creating an appointment in the Sunrise Calendar 3rd party app ends up in clean appointments syncing down to your iOS devices.

Unfortunately, I think that if you subsequently edit those appointments in the native iOS app you will see the GMT come right back.  This is because the subscribed calendar sees an appointment that has been edited in the native iOS app as a "new" appointment "created" in the iOS app....complete with the buggy code that acquires the time zone setting from your server's time clock an then transposes your appointment to that time.

For example, I can create an appointment in Outlook on my PC and it will sync down to both of my iOS devices and there won't be any GMT thing on it nor will the time change to GMT.  But if I edit the appointment on either device (say changing the time from 2:00 PM PST to 2:30 PM PST, the GMT thing will show up on the other iOS device as soon as it syncs over.

I can't comment on how this interacts with Outlook, but using the flow I described (via Sunrise and google calendar) the bug definitely does not re-appear (on any of my iOS devices) when subsequently editing appointments in the native iOS calendar app. I just verified it again.

I'd love others to reproduce what I see, to make sure it's not just me.

Richard

Zak456/Richard-

yes!! The sunrise app works just as you said. Create an appt in sunrise, and it automatically adds it to the iOS calendar with no GMT. Even when you edit the said appt in iOS, the orig time zone is there and does not revert to GMT. The perfect "fix" until this bloody bug is fixed!!

I have been monitoring this thread for weeks and the workaround I've been using is to set my appts in iOS as daily recurring appts ending on the same day as the appt. It works but I'm so tired of doing it. Thank you for sharing!!!!

Awesome! Some RELIEF! Works great and as suggested. Thank you. I'm glad I tried it. Took a few minutes to get used to but its worth it.

I just logged in to Google Calendar on my iPhone and set an appointment which worked fine also thanks for the idea of using a different calendar app that gave me the idea to go to Google Calendar direct and bypass Apple iCal

After reading all 32 pages of this thread and trying the suggested fixes (none of which worked) on my new iPod Touch 5 w/iOS8.1.2, I tried CalenMob 3.6.1. This aftermarket program works without the GMT problem; CalenMob calendar entries made on the iPod are picked up by Google calendar on my PC and eventually, by iCal on the iPod without the GMT problem. So, until Apple fixes the GMT bug, I'll use CalenMob.

Problems like this and Apple's stubborn refusal to admit and fix them are why I have hated Apple ever since they introduced Macintosh and stopped supporting my Apple ][.

Maybr if everyone downloads one of these 3rd party calendar apps Apple will wonder why they've gotten to the top of App Store downloads and do something about solving the cause.

I received a second call today from Apple telling me the GMT functionality is by design. I sent another screenshot and (again) asked tech support  to pass this discussion link to the engineers. I'm losing confidence.

"Maybr if everyone downloads one of these 3rd party calendar apps Apple will wonder why they've gotten to the top of App Store downloads and do something about solving the cause."

If Apple sees everyone start doing that they will say "Problem SOLVED!!  Our customers are perfectly happy to just use a jury rigged chewing gum workaround instead of expecting us to fix our buggy software and/or maintain any quality control!!!!    Awesome, we still have their money and they don't care if we ever fix this.  Whoopie!!!"

It makes me nervous that so many recent participants in this thread are totally OK living with this indefinitely if they can duct-tape fix it with some 3rd party app.  If you want this fixed.....and the next bug fixed....the solution is to put pressure on Apple to do their job and FIX it.  Not say "I can get by indefinitely by using some 3rd party app that I would never have chosen to use if Apple's software worked correctly."

Putting a bucket under your leaky roof is not a solution to the leaky roof problem.......the guy that put the roof on needs to fix the f*****g leak.

From Apple tech support.

""I [the technician] replicated the issue on my iPhone. Took screenshots and sent it to them [the Engineers],"

Apple can't say they don't know about the bug.