James Barber

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

Hi everyone,

 

Since updating my iPhone 4S to iOS 8, the Calendar app now shows all my newly added events with GMT times, and not the local time (as I am not in GMT, I am +9 hours). All my previous and existing entries are displaying normally. I have not changed any settings at all. However, if I open one of the new events and enter the events details screen, the local times are clearly displayed along with a GMT equivalent time underneath it.

 

I have tried changing settings but nothing shows my events in local time as it did before the upgrade to iOS 8. Any ideas? Is this a bug? Am I missing a new setting? Many thanks in advance for your help or advice.

 

Cheers,

James.

iPhone 4S, iOS 8

Posted on Sep 21, 2014 2:16 AM

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

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  • by sfkmom,

    sfkmom sfkmom Feb 4, 2015 4:16 AM in response to Frank1991
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 4:16 AM in response to Frank1991

    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.

  • by rajshree san francisco,

    rajshree san francisco rajshree san francisco Feb 4, 2015 6:47 AM in response to Frank1991
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 6:47 AM in response to Frank1991

    Yes. That's still happening

  • by INSid,

    INSid INSid Feb 4, 2015 7:08 AM in response to James Barber
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 7:08 AM in response to James Barber

    Clearly Google did this because my non-Google calendars still have the GMT problem while the Google calendars do not.

  • by JG in SB,

    JG in SB JG in SB Feb 4, 2015 8:02 AM in response to INSid
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 8:02 AM in response to INSid

    Here is an article from Forbes that confirms what we figured out yesterday:  that Google fixed this on their back end.

     

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2015/02/04/gmt-bug-ios-8-google-calenda r/

  • by JG in SB,

    JG in SB JG in SB Feb 4, 2015 8:18 AM in response to JG in SB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 8:18 AM in response to JG in SB

    This article confirms reports that the GMT Bug is fixed as of iOS 8.2 Beta 5

     

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ios-8-2-update-scheduled-release-march-ahead-apple-watc h-shipment-april-1486508


    I think it should be pretty clear at this point that this was a bug, because Apple has now "fixed" it.  If this was caused by something done by others outside of Apple, it could not be "fixed" in an iOS beta release.

     

    As of this morning, seems like this is where we are at:

     

    1. If you sync your devices using Google Calendar, you are good to go as of yesterday thanks to the back-end change implemented by Google.
    2. If you sync using MS Exchange (and potentially other server types) you still have the GMT bug.
    3. Multiple reports appear to confirm that the GMT Bug is fixed for EVERYONE as of iOS 8 Beta Release 5
    4. iOS Beta Release 5 is expected out in March ahead of the Apple Watch release expected in April

     

    If you are new to this forum (I expect a lot fewer new visitors now that Google did their fix), it is still helpful for you to submit a bug report to Apple.  Here's the link:

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

     

    Hang in there.  I think the resolution is just over the horizon.

  • by nunyamo,

    nunyamo nunyamo Feb 4, 2015 3:40 PM in response to JG in SB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 3:40 PM in response to JG in SB

    Yay!!!  I just set a new appointment in my phone and then I did what has become my usual waiting for the GMT time to appear so that I could go back and re-set it to the correct time zone (in my case, Central) but this time, nothing happened...the appointment appeared to be staying in the Central time zone!! I rushed to my computer to check out this thread to see if anyone else had discovered that the problem appeared to be fixed...or if this was just a fluke I was experiencing only to return to the aggravating task of re-setting my appointment.  I am SO happy to find that it appears to be fixed (at least for those of us using Google calendars).  Unfortunately, it sounds like no thanks goes to Apple for the fix but, rather, it goes to Google.  THANK YOU, GOOGLE TEAM!!!   YOU'RE THE BEST!

  • by bebopper,

    bebopper bebopper Feb 4, 2015 10:06 PM in response to JG in SB
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 10:06 PM in response to JG in SB

    Whatever happened, we Google Calendar users now have an improved interaction between Google Calendar and Calendar on iOS (and Mac OS, which for me was exhibiting the same GMT problem). However I noticed something rather interesting: my calendars now display PST rather than GMT. After some poking around, this appears to be due to the fact that my Google Calendar is set to PST, while I am currently traveling in the CST time zone, so my iPhone and Mac are both set to CST. If I change the device time zone to PST (same as my Google Calendar time zone), then all the PST times disappear and my calendars look as they did before all of this happened. Same thing if I change my Google Calendar time zone to CST and leave my devices in CST - no alternate time appears. However, if Google Calendar and my local Calendar apps are in different time zones, the Google Calendar time appears in parenthesis.

     

    Ignoring for the moment the infuriating and painful path to get here (I too have been ‘fixing’ every single calendar entry for the past couple of months), I rather like this feature. If I leave my Google Calendar set to PST and my local devices change time zones as I travel, the PST time that appears reminds me of the actual time back in California where some of my reoccurring meetings continue to happen (a nice hint for phone calls or webex meetings with folks back in PST land.)

     

    BUT... I have an issue with this feature as it is currently implemented: Newly scheduled meetings get converted from local device time to Google Calendar time and time zone, which seems counter intuitive (and makes it more confusing to edit the time). When I schedule a local meeting, I want it to keep the local time and time zone. A work around is to change the time and time zone (same pain as the GMT ‘bug’) or switch the Google Calendar to local time, but these are extra steps and you don’t get any benefit from this feature. Maybe you have other expectations for this feature or don’t want or need it. Maybe this will change in iOS 8.2.

     

    Try it! Does it make sense?

  • by JG in SB,

    JG in SB JG in SB Feb 4, 2015 10:35 PM in response to bebopper
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 10:35 PM in response to bebopper

    I don't use Google.  But I am curious, what do you have "Time Zone Override" set to on your iOS device?  The behavior you are describing sounds like how that feature is SUPPOSED to work, but never actually HAS worked so far.  With it set to "on" all events are created in the user set time zone (in your example PST) regardless of what time zone you are in.  With it set to "off" then when you are in CST, any new events you set up will be in CST.  Check on that and let us kniw.  If it's set to "on" turn it off and let us know what if anything changes too.

  • by rajshree san francisco,

    rajshree san francisco rajshree san francisco Feb 4, 2015 10:59 PM in response to JG in SB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 10:59 PM in response to JG in SB

    Go into your Google Calendar settings and add an additional time zone (CST). Later you can manually switch back to PST. You can have both time zones on there if you're traveling a lot.

  • by bebopper,

    bebopper bebopper Feb 5, 2015 8:24 AM in response to JG in SB
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 5, 2015 8:24 AM in response to JG in SB

    Time Zone Override has exactly the same effect as changing the time zone of the iOS device. It just allows the Calendar app to be set to a different time zone than the rest of the device. For example, when I turn on Time Zone Override and set it to EST, while my iPhone is in CST and Google Calendar is in PST, I still see the PST time in each calendar event (or the CST time for events set to CST). When I change the Time Zone Override to PST, the PST times disappear in PST events. When I turn Time Zone Override off, Calendar switches to CST (same as the iPhone’s overall time zone), the PST times re-appear and the CST times disappear.

     

    Apparently what Google did was to change their calendar service so that iOS Calendar points to the time zone setting in the user’s Google Calendar rather than the reference GMT time for the entire service.

     

    As I mentioned in my previous post, when I create an event, it syncs then switches to the Google Calendar time and time zone. However, when I change the time zone for this event, the new time zone is saved (as expected.) I’m hoping that the 8.2 release fixes this apparent bug so that new events adopt the time zone of the Calendar app (whether the time zone comes from iOS or the Time Zone Override) rather than the calendar service. That seems like a more consistent behavior to me anyway. Maybe someone who has the 8.2 beta can give that a try.

     

    Whew… hope this is clear!

  • by squareman,

    squareman squareman Feb 5, 2015 10:20 AM in response to James Barber
    Level 1 (34 points)
    iCloud
    Feb 5, 2015 10:20 AM in response to James Barber

    Google has just fixed this with a workaround on their end: http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2015/02/04/gmt-bug-ios-8-google-calenda r/

     

    It hasn't been fixed for Outlook users. The article states that it appears to be fixed in the upcoming iOS 8.2 per the developer notes.

  • by BNOREGON,

    BNOREGON BNOREGON Feb 5, 2015 12:21 PM in response to JG in SB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 5, 2015 12:21 PM in response to JG in SB

    JG in SB - Thanks for keeping on top of this (somewhat entertaining) debacle.  For the sake of information, I just added an event using the native calendar app and syncing with my Google account on my iphone5 and it is not displaying an additional time zone.  I am still on ios 8.0.2, I stopped updating after my wife contracted the GMT Bug...  -Brian

  • by BobH1.3.4.5,

    BobH1.3.4.5 BobH1.3.4.5 Feb 5, 2015 9:39 PM in response to squareman
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPad
    Feb 5, 2015 9:39 PM in response to squareman

    New events no longer show GMT for me (iOS 8.1.3 w/ Google fix). I hope the Apple fix will display correct event time like it does on OS X Yosmite calendar.

  • by Osmiridium,

    Osmiridium Osmiridium Feb 7, 2015 2:26 PM in response to bebopper
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 7, 2015 2:26 PM in response to bebopper

    I had the same problem and did not read all 54 pages of this thread... but I noticed your mention of Time Zone Override, which I had never heard of. I found it on my iPhone under Settings/Mail-Contacts-CalendarsTime/Zone Support, turned it off, and now everything displays in the current time zone even with Time Zone Support turned on. Thanks!

  • by BigDaddyBTU,

    BigDaddyBTU BigDaddyBTU Feb 7, 2015 5:00 PM in response to James Barber
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 7, 2015 5:00 PM in response to James Barber

    James  the fix must have come from Google....  If you now go to the google calendar (online) the appointment show properly on the grid but above the grid the appointment also show a GMT time....

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