It happens to everyone eventually. You land in a new city, pull your phone out of your pocket, and the time is just… wrong. Or maybe you’re trying to get an edge in a mobile game like Candy Crush by skipping ahead a few hours to refill your lives. Whatever the reason, knowing how to change clock on iphone is one of those basic digital literacy skills that feels simple until you’re digging through layers of menus in the Settings app. Honestly, Apple doesn't make it difficult, but they do hide it behind a few toggles that can be grayed out if you have certain restrictions turned on.
Most of us just assume the iPhone is a perfect timekeeper. It usually is. By default, iOS uses the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to sync with atomic clocks via the internet. It's incredibly precise. But sometimes, cellular towers give bad data, or your GPS gets confused about which side of a time zone border you're standing on. That's when you have to take the reins.
The manual override: getting into the settings
To get started, you’re going to want to find that silver gear icon on your home screen. Open Settings. From there, you need to scroll down a bit until you see General. Tap that. Inside the General menu, look for Date & Time.
This is where the magic happens.
You’ll likely see a toggle labeled Set Automatically. If that switch is green, your iPhone is basically saying, "I got this, don't worry about it." To change the time manually, you have to kill that automation. Flip the switch to off. Suddenly, a new row appears with the current date and time. Tap that blue-tinted text. Now, you can spin the wheels to whatever hour or minute your heart desires.
It’s weirdly satisfying to watch the digital clock in the top left corner of your screen jump around as you move the dial. Just remember that if you're doing this to trick an app, you might mess up your Photo library's organization or cause issues with your calendar invites.
Why is my "Set Automatically" grayed out?
Sometimes you get into that menu and realize you’re locked out. The toggle is gray, and no matter how hard you tap, nothing changes. This is almost always due to Screen Time settings or a corporate management profile.
If you have a "Screen Time" passcode enabled—maybe to keep yourself off TikTok or because your parents set it up—Apple often restricts the ability to change the time to prevent people from bypassing app limits. To fix this, you have to go back to the main Settings page, tap Screen Time, and then look for Content & Privacy Restrictions. If it’s on, you might need to toggle it off or specifically allow changes to the system clock.
Another culprit? Your job. If you have a work email set up on your phone, your employer might have installed a configuration profile. These profiles can force the phone to stay on network time to ensure that security tokens and emails are timestamped correctly. If that's the case, you're basically stuck with the real time unless you want to delete your work profile—which probably isn't worth the hassle.
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Dealing with the 24-hour clock vs. AM/PM
While you're in there messing with the time, you might notice the 24-Hour Time toggle at the very top of the Date & Time screen. Military time. Some people love it because it eliminates any "did I set my alarm for 6 AM or 6 PM?" anxiety.
If you toggle this on, your 1:00 PM becomes 13:00. It’s a cleaner look, especially for the lock screen. Many users in Europe and Asia use this by default, while Americans tend to stick to the 12-hour format. Switching back and forth takes a second, and it’s a good way to train your brain to do quick mental math if you aren't used to it.
When the time zone is the actual problem
Sometimes the time is "correct" for the wrong place. You might be in New York, but your phone thinks you're still in Los Angeles. This usually means the Time Zone setting is stuck.
When you turn off "Set Automatically," you can tap the Time Zone field and type in any major city in the world. Want to know what time it is in Tokyo? Just type it in. Your whole phone will shift to that local time.
However, if you want it to be automatic but it’s failing, you need to check your privacy settings. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Scroll all the way to the bottom to System Services. Make sure Setting Time Zone is toggled on. If the phone isn't allowed to use its GPS to check where it is, it can't update the clock when you cross state lines. It’s a common oversight that leads to a lot of missed flights and confused travelers.
The "Time Skipping" phenomenon in gaming
Let's be real for a second. A huge percentage of people searching for how to change clock on iPhone are just trying to get more "energy" in a game. Developers have caught on to this.
Back in the day, you could just move your clock forward two hours, open your game, get your rewards, and then move the clock back. Now, many games check their own servers to verify the time. If your phone says it’s Tuesday but the server says it’s Monday, the game might lock you out or even ban your account.
If you are going to use the "time travel" trick, do it with the phone in Airplane Mode. This prevents the app from "calling home" and realizing you're cheating the system. Just be warned: when you finally do turn the time back to normal, you might find that your game tells you that you have to wait 43,000 hours for your next reward. Use this power wisely.
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iPad and Apple Watch considerations
The process is virtually identical on an iPad. Since iPadOS and iOS share the same DNA, the menus are in the exact same spots. However, the Apple Watch is a different beast.
Your Apple Watch usually just mirrors whatever your iPhone is doing. If you change the time on your phone, the watch follows suit almost instantly. But, you can actually set the watch face to show a "fast" time without changing the actual system time. This is great for people who are chronically late.
On the watch itself, go to Settings > Clock. You can choose to set the watch face ahead by up to 59 minutes. The internal system time, notifications, and alarms will still happen at the "real" time, but the hands on the watch will show you the "fast" time. It’s a clever psychological trick that Apple built-in specifically for people who need a little extra push to get out the door.
Troubleshooting weird glitches
Every once in a blue moon, the clock just won't behave. You'll set it, and it'll jump back. Or the date will be stuck in 1970 (a classic Unix bug).
- The Restart: It sounds cliché, but a hard restart fixes 90% of clock sync issues.
- The Update: Check Settings > General > Software Update. Apple occasionally releases patches for "Location Services" and "Time Zone" databases.
- Reset Network Settings: This is the "nuclear option" before a full restore. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This wipes your Wi-Fi passwords and Bluetooth pairings, but it also clears out the junk in your cellular connection that might be feeding your phone bad time data.
Practical steps for a permanent fix
If you've been struggling with your iPhone's clock, follow this specific sequence to ensure it stays accurate for the long haul:
- Verify Location Permissions: Go to Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and ensure "Setting Time Zone" is active. This allows the hardware to talk to the software about where you actually are.
- Toggle Networking: If the time is wrong while on "Set Automatically," toggle Airplane Mode on for 30 seconds and then off. This forces a fresh handshake with the nearest cell tower.
- Check for Profile Interference: Look in Settings > General > VPN & Device Management. If there is a "Management Profile" there, contact your IT department, as they likely have a "Global Time" lock on the device.
- The Manual Guardrail: If you must set the time manually for a specific task, always remember to toggle "Set Automatically" back on before opening apps like Mail, Safari, or your Banking app. Modern web security relies on "SSL certificates," and if your phone's clock is off by more than a few minutes, these websites will refuse to load because they think you're under a cyberattack.
Accurate timekeeping is more than just a convenience; it’s a core component of how the internet stays secure. Whether you're adjusting for a trip or just trying to get an extra life in a game, knowing how to navigate these settings ensures your iPhone remains the tool it's meant to be rather than a source of frustration.
If you still find that your clock is drifting—meaning it loses a few minutes every day even when set manually—this is likely a hardware issue with the crystal oscillator on the logic board. In that specific case, no amount of software toggling will fix it, and a trip to the Genius Bar or an authorized repair shop is your only real path forward. Otherwise, these software tweaks should keep you perfectly on schedule.