You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

How to change lock screen language

Although I changed my phone to US English, my calendar's icon and my lock screen date still have Chinese characters. How can I fix this?


I followed the instructions in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8197213?language=en, which for some reason is now locked, confirming that Settings | Calendar was properly set to English, but the problem persists.

iPhone 6s, iOS 11.2.5

Posted on Apr 7, 2018 7:46 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 8, 2018 7:59 AM

Good morning Shichimi!


It sounds like your iPhone is showing Chinese characters in your Calendar and Lock screen, even though your language is set to English. I’ll be happy to look into this with you.


You mentioned that you followed the steps in the discussion post you linked, but just to confirm, did you also restart the iPhone? If not, do that now:


Restart your iPhone 8 or earlier, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to turn your device completely off.*
  3. After the device turns off, press and hold the Top (or Side) button again until you see the Apple logo.

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


If you’ve already restarted, check your time and date settings next to make sure they’re accurate. For example, make sure the time zone is set correctly. Here’s the steps: Get help with the date and time on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support


Cheers!

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 8, 2018 7:59 AM in response to Shichimi

Good morning Shichimi!


It sounds like your iPhone is showing Chinese characters in your Calendar and Lock screen, even though your language is set to English. I’ll be happy to look into this with you.


You mentioned that you followed the steps in the discussion post you linked, but just to confirm, did you also restart the iPhone? If not, do that now:


Restart your iPhone 8 or earlier, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to turn your device completely off.*
  3. After the device turns off, press and hold the Top (or Side) button again until you see the Apple logo.

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


If you’ve already restarted, check your time and date settings next to make sure they’re accurate. For example, make sure the time zone is set correctly. Here’s the steps: Get help with the date and time on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support


Cheers!

Apr 9, 2018 4:26 PM in response to Shichimi

Hey Shichimi,


Thanks for the additional information about the settings that you’ve checked on your iPhone.


In this case, go ahead and reinstall the iOS on your iPhone. Before you proceed, please back up your data using the steps below. Reinstalling the iOS only creates a new copy of the iOS on the device and should not affect any personal data, but it’s always recommended to have a known good backup:
How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support


Once you've verified that your backup is current, follow the steps below to reinstall iOS on your iPhone. Keep in mind that this article was written for a different issue, but these steps will still be helpful.

If your device turns on but gets stuck during start up

If you see the Apple logo or a red or blue screen during startup, try these steps:

  1. Connect your device to a computer and open iTunes. If you don't have a computer, try to borrow one, or go to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for help.
  2. While your device is connected, force it to restart.
    • On an iPhone X, iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Then, press and hold the Side button until you see the recovery-mode screen.
    • On an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold the Side and Volume Down buttons at the same time. Keep holding them until you see the recovery-mode screen.
    • On an iPhone 6s and earlier, iPad, or iPod touch: Press and hold both the Home and the Top (or Side) buttons at the same time. Keep holding them until you see the recovery-mode screen.
  3. Don't release the buttons when you see the Apple logo. Keep holding until you see the recovery mode screen.
    User uploaded file
  4. When you get the option to restore or update, choose Update. iTunes will try to reinstall iOS without erasing your data.
    User uploaded file

iTunes will download the software for your device. If it takes more than 15 minutes, your device will exit recovery mode and you'll need to repeat steps 2 and 3.



Let us know how this goes. Take care.

Apr 9, 2018 4:38 PM in response to MoonJ.

Thank you for the help. I spent two hours with tech support by chat and phone yesterday. The thing that fixed two problems was installing iOS 11.3. It fixed the lock screen and Calendar icon problems. As a bonus, it also fixed the problem of not being able to use a 24hr clock in Calendar.


They promised to figure out why two-factor pop-ups are still coming in the wrong language. And I just got an autobot confirmation in the wrong language.


I will post again when there is more progress.

How to change lock screen language

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.