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

So, for now I'm trying Sunrise. So far so good.

I, too, am using Sunrise as an alternative until the Apple fixes the GMT problem. It is mostly good, with a few cons. Since Sunrise is often mentioned here as either a stop-gap or a replacement, I wanted to add a few notes about it, even though this is an Apple forum.

PRO

• Sunrise does not have the GMT issue. It enters events only in my local time-zone (I haven't traveled with it), and events are editable without switching time zones. That Sunrise's engineers have solved that proves it is Apple's problem and not Google's.

CON

• You cannot set or change a calendar's color. Sunrise randomly sets a color for each calendar, with no connection to the existing color you've set at the source, and it is not editable. In my case, Sunrise set my Home calendar to light blue, my Work calendar to blue, and the current day highlight is a shade of blue between those two. Not good. (Also, the colors set in the iPhone app do not match those set in the iPad add.)
• You cannot move an event from one parent calendar to another. That is, if you create an event in a Google calendar, you can only move it to another Google calendar, NOT to an Exchange or iCloud calendar.

For me, the native iOS Calendar still wins in most categories, although I am actually using both to keep myself covered and to test which I like better in the long run. That may ultimately depend on who updates their app first and best.

At the (very real) risk of getting off-topic: the reason Sunrise avoids the GMT issue, I believe, is that it logs into the external calendar service to create the event, rather than doing so via iOS calendar. A bonus is that if that calendar then syncs to iOS calendar, the correct time zone info stays intact. Sunrise doesn't let you explicitly set the event time zone, but it uses the local time zone of the location you set for the event. (For an event like an airline flight that starts in one time zone and ends in another, you need to use Google/Exchange, I guess.)

I have been suffering from this issue since the day that iOS 8 came out; yes this was happening on my 5S running iOS 8.  This isn't an iPhone 6 issue, it's an iOS 8 issue.  I have found that if I create the event in Google, in any way, it shows on my iOS devise correctly.  Mobile or not.  So, I still use my iOS 8 calendar app on both my iPad and iPhone 6+ but I never add any events through this beccause it will display the GMT thing.  It shows up in the correct time slot on my calendar but because it shows the GMT thing I fear that the calendar will switch the event or the "alert" will not sound at the correct time.  So to answer your question as to will someone try this, I have tried it and it works fine.  The error occurs when the event is created on an iOS device, uploaded to Google, then synced back to the iOS device.  If you watch after adding the event, the event will show in the correct time slot and there will be no GMT label as your "progress" dial spins while the event is sent to Google and back to the iOS device but once the sync has completed, violá you have a GMT tag.  Something in the upload/download or "sync" is getting corrupt and defaulting to GMT (Google's Master Time, haha). 

My fix for this, go to calendar.google.com and create an icon on the home screen, with the share button, then you have quick access to your mobile version of the calendar and if you add something this way, it will display correctly and without the GMT tag on the iOS devise (at least it does for me so I add all new events from my phone in this manner).  If I add the event through my laptop using Safari, Chrome or FireFox it will display correctly on my iOS device.  If I use the mobile version of my calendar in Safari or Chrome on my both my iPad and iPhone, the event will display correctly.  If I use the desktop version on my iPad using Safari or Chrome, it will display correctly on my iOS device.  The only time I experience this problem is when I add the event in the native iOS Calendar, from either device.  So it's a giant pain in the rear (and time consuming to some degree) to be looking at my calendar in iOS and then having to flip over to the Google mobile version to add the event and then back to the calendar to go on but since Apple and Google can't play nice on this issue, it's a neccesary evil to ensure I am not late or miss a client meeting all together.

I have also gone to Google Calendar as a fix and it works just find. But I need to thank you I did not know you can make an icon for your home screen to take you right to the Google Calendar. With the icon I am not sure there is a reason to go back to Apples piece of crap calendar.

Gordon Kelly, a technology reporter at Forbes published a writeup about this today:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/01/23/apple-ios-8-gmt-bug/

It's succinct, references this thread, and explains the cause of the bug and the major problems it creates for users.

What a shame for Apple to take such a long time to solve this major issue. 

For me this is happening on entries made in Calendar in Yosemite OS X. While Pacific Time is selected as the overall time zone at the top of Calendar, the individual entries in Calendar attempt to default to GMT. A pain.

Maybe my iOS devices/GoogleCal are interfering via sync? (Fantastical on iPhone and iPad.) I've checked across all the calendars including Google and GMT is not selected anywhere though I do spend chunks of time in both time zones and have to adjust accordingly. Reading this article I think the problem started about the time of updating devices to iOS 8 - though not sure.

But @Ryan Bartels comment below about List View is a relevation.

I'd like to add another piece of evidence. I'm not sure what to make of it. Events initially created on my computer will not exhibit this behavior. Even if I use my iPhone to edit the start and end times. Here's a screenshot of two events. After creation, both of them had their start and end times modified on my iPhone and on my computer.

Here is what I know:

This problem only happens on the iPhone and not on a iPad even if it is linked to the same account.  It only happens after upgrading to 8.1.2.  It also only happens if you save your calendar events to an external application such as Gmail (as in my case), or Outlook, etc.  A total reboot (where you lose all your data) does NOT fix the problem.  Do NOT do this.  It will only make matters worse.  MUCH WORSE.  I am getting old emails repeating and repeating.

It is very messy but all I can see to do right now is to save all my new events in the "Home" or "Work" folders.  And NOT in my external gmail folder. 

Hope it helps.

Farnarkler this problem is happening on my iPad. The only reason it doesn't also happen on my iPhone is because I left it on iOS 7, and only upgraded my iPad. I cant speak for 2 devices both running iOS 8, but this definitely happens across devices running that software.

Interesting.  Thanks for the update.  I upgraded both my iPhone and my iPad but only had a problem with my iPhone.  Apple have been trying to blame Google but it clearly is a problem with the latest software upgrade from Apple.  I am not impressed.

Apple engineers are aware and working on a solution

Thank you fouse for the idea to create an icon for Google Calendar on my phone!  I just created an appointment directly on the Google calendar on my phone and it showed in my iPhone calendar with the correct time. It gives me a work around for the GMT bug. The down side is I don't see a way to create alerts from the google calendar. And if I go into the iphone calendar to create the alert - it has the alert bug - the time I enter for the first alert shows in the second alert and the time I enter for the second alert shows in the first alert.

For others who aren't sure how to do that. Open Safari, navigate to calendar.google.com, at the bottom of the page is the rectangle with the arrow pointing up - click that, press the icon that says "add to home screen" - icon will now be shown with your apps

By the way, Apple Support was clueless - first they tried to tell me it was expected behavior and was Google's problem. Once I explained his flawed logic, he wanted me to create a new calendar - not a solution for me - the calendar I use is shared by 7 people and I need to continue to use that one.  Then he had me reset my settings - did nothing except wipe out all my phone customizations, which I now have to redo. Don't let them do that if you call!

Apple Support was useless for me as well.  I went to my local Apple store yesterday and they had simply never heard of the problem.  I told them it was on several blogs (this was moments before it hit the main news sites) but they told me to ignore all that "chatter" and (sadly) convinced me to wipe my iPhone telling me it was a Google problem.  All my notes then came back to me as emails which I promptly deleted.  They are now all gone forever.

The first big problem here is the "it just works" marketing from Apple.  I had believed that but now know that they don't test their software before release.  It is shocking to me that such a major bug can slip through.  Secondly, there seems no communication between Apple support groups.  My Apple shop should have been all over this assuring me that a fix was on the way but they were clueless.  "If in doubt - wipe it". seems the mantra.

I am so angry.  My faith in Apple has been shattered.

I have this same issue. I've been trying to remember to then go into Google calendar (via the browser on my phone, or on my computer) & remove the time zone. (Click the blue "Time Zone" to the right of the peach colored box listing GMT.) Very annoying, but I'm just trying to not miss a meeting!