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How do you keep the time zone on your Apple Watch the same as your iPhone?

How do you keep the time zone on your Apple Watch the same as your iPhone?


As soon as I am out of Bluetooth range of my iPhone, my Apple Watch shows me a different time. This is occurring in Airplane mode.


Apple support has verified that as soon as an Apple Watch is not connected to an iPhone the time zone on the Apple Watch is set automatically and separately from the iPhone and you have no control over that action.


So if you’re on a cruise ship, and they tell you to keep your watch on “ship’s time”, you can’t, unless you carry your iPhone at all times.

Apple Watch Ultra

Posted on Feb 7, 2023 12:34 PM

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Posted on Feb 7, 2023 4:20 PM

What’s the point of having to watch if you’re going to keep your phone with you 24 hours a day. Apple is essentially saying we’re gonna make sure that your watch serves no purpose. I need to throw it in the trash. If you want your watch to show the correct time, you need to make sure you have your phone with you; ridiculous.

15 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 7, 2023 4:20 PM in response to markfromlandolakes

What’s the point of having to watch if you’re going to keep your phone with you 24 hours a day. Apple is essentially saying we’re gonna make sure that your watch serves no purpose. I need to throw it in the trash. If you want your watch to show the correct time, you need to make sure you have your phone with you; ridiculous.

Feb 7, 2023 4:17 PM in response to LD150

So just keep your phone in your bathing suit while you’re diving in the ocean, or just realize your watch is never gonna show you the correct time? The most critical time I need to know what time it is, and my Apple Watch will show me the wrong time tricking me into missing my ship and being stuck in a foreign country with nothing except an Apple Watch that doesn’t work.

Feb 7, 2023 7:59 PM in response to markfromlandolakes

I'm saying Apple Watch is not a standalone device and if it isn't connected to anything, the watch doesn't know what time it is. If you want a watch which shows time only and doesn't need to be connected to a network, or an iPhone, then buy a watch which just shows the time.


If you don't want to carry your phone with you, or pay for roaming, there isn't much reason to wear your Apple Watch IF you can't be connected to any networks.


You are the one making this difficult. You could pay for roaming if you're traveling. You could carry your iPhone with you. Not being willing to do either is your choice. And no, I'm not trying to suggest there is no point in owning Apple Watch. If you aren't willing to use it the way it was designed to be used, then the watch doesn't meet your needs/expectations. Again.......your choice.

Feb 7, 2023 5:59 PM in response to markfromlandolakes

It can’t. With WatchOS 9.3 using an Apple Watch Ultra 2022 edition: The Apple Watch will keep the setting in the iPhone “Date & Time” setting for the time zone only as long as the watch is connected to the iPhone. As soon as the connection is broken, the Apple Watch’s setting reverts to “Set Automatically” and the local time zone is set. Regardless of how many hours different from your current time it is. There is no control over time zones at all when the watch is not connected to the iPhone. Any settings on the iPhone regarding time zones, are not maintained on the Apple Watch once disconnected. When the Apple Watch is not connected to the iPhone, the only possible time zone shown on the watch is the local time zone, as perceived by the watch.


If it is vital that your watch is set to the time zone it is required to be set to, don’t use an Apple Watch, because there is no way to know what time zone your watch is set to.

Feb 8, 2023 9:53 AM in response to LD150

This issue for every other thread I have read is people that live near the border of another time zone. These people of had to dispose of their Apple watches. Because every day of their lives, they know the time zone on their Apple Watch is not reliable. It changes constantly all day long without notification. They do not have their iPhone on their person 100% of the time. If they did, there wouldn’t be a problem.


Many commercial Pilots need to keep their watch at all times on UTC, which is always correct everywhere on the planet. It is universal time. It is the universal time on the planet. Potentially every time they look at their watch in a given day at work, it’s going to change by many hours all by itself; this can be totally confusing to a commercial pilot.


My problem was at a single port on a cruise, all of the other threads essentially ended with the person disposing or giving away the Apple Watch. 5 years of history with this problem. If the time zone for the watch is set on the iPhone, and then it should stay set, not randomly changed as soon as the iPhone is disconnected.

Feb 8, 2023 1:22 AM in response to markfromlandolakes

Sorry, had to go to bed in this part of the world - different time zone don't you know. I missed all the fun.


"...Apple support has verified that as soon as an Apple Watch is not connected to an iPhone the time zone on the Apple Watch is set automatically and separately from the iPhone and you have no control over that action. .."


That's where we started and that's where it ends. Go to the ship's shop and get a 20 dollar Timex instead of your next cocktail.

This isn't the complaints department, go to

https://apple.com/feedback


Feb 7, 2023 5:31 PM in response to lobsterghost1

It shouldn’t make any difference since both my iPhone and Apple Watch have been in airplane mode since leaving Tampa. I am on a cruise. Next week when the cruise continues, I will only arrive back to the ship too early. Only the port today could have had a bad outcome if I stayed off the ship for longer and didn’t have another passenger correct me. When we were talking about the time.


I do have international cellular on my new Apple Watch Ultra. But since I didn’t want to pay the $10 per day at least, it’s in airplane mode. Whether I turn my phone off or walk away from my phone my watch will automatically change the time when I did that. When the watch is connected via Bluetooth to my phone, the time on the watch matches the iPhone as soon as it’s not connected anymore to the iPhone, it reverts to set itself to local time via GPS I assume, since there was no WiFi, cellular or Bluetooth connection. GPS can provide the current time. As to the specific method it uses I have no idea, I can only say it switched by one hour every time I left my iPhone. If I wanted my iPhone with me, there wouldn’t have been a problem but I’m not gonna bring a backpack and put my iPhone in it just so I can know what time it is. I don’t like it when my iPhone weights my shorts down and my shorts fall down to the ground. If I had planned to bring my iPhone everywhere, including diving in the ocean, I wouldn’t have bothered buying an Apple Watch. I have been very clear to tell Carnival Cruise Lines the Apple Watch is cannot be made to stay on “ships time”. So they can recommend their passengers to not own Apple watches.

Feb 7, 2023 6:05 PM in response to lobsterghost1

So, why doesn’t it just show all zeros, when it disconnects from your iPhone, that would be better than showing the wrong time. Why can’t it just show the same time as it did, why does it have to change by an hour or two or three, depending on your local time zone. If it doesn’t know what to set the time to why does it set it to the local time. GPS connection provides time. The time zone should come from your setting on your iPhone. The setting for time zone shouldn’t be lost when it disconnects. My car’s clock is updated via GPS.

Feb 7, 2023 6:15 PM in response to markfromlandolakes

It just doesn't or won't show all zeros, but if you want the correct time, what I wrote above is what it needs in order to show the time correctly. You are asking for the watch to operate as a standalone device, without being connected to a network. Apple Watch can't do that. If you don't want to carry your iPhone with you or pay for roaming when traveling, pick up an inexpensive quartz watch to strap to your wrist to know the time. Apple Watch without access to a network of any kind is pretty much useless.

Feb 7, 2023 7:50 PM in response to lobsterghost1

So it just changes automatically to a random time when not connected to a network. I’ve had clocks and watches long before I was connected to any Internet, and they all showed the correct time. Are you’re saying it automatically changes to an incorrect time to punish you for not paying $10 a day for a cellular connection. Even if it was connected to a cellular connection what time is it going to set it to? Since there is no control over your time zone on the watch… all right it’s clear it needs to be with an iphone at all times, if it does not have cellular capability. Otherwise, the time is never going to work; the watch can’t even tell you the time if you don’t have your iPhone with you; this means it serves no purpose if you always have to have your phone with you just to see the time; you don’t need to watch if you have your iPhone with you. Therefore, you’ve made it clear there is no point in owning an Apple Watch. If you need to see the time, look at your phone since you’re required to have it with you anyway if you’re wearing a wrist watch now. And even in airplane mode with cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned off your iPhone can still show you the correct time. But a watch cannot do that. Ridiculous. If you are trying to make sure people understand they should not own an Apple Watch, you are succeeding.

Feb 8, 2023 2:43 AM in response to lobsterghost1

I'm not sure roaming will help - it would just show the correct time where the OP wants it to show the wrong time, ship's time, fictitious time.

iPhone has the ability to turn off auto time & Date to suit the Captain, where Watch insists on showing the correct time.

Markfromlandolakes make sure you put in the feedback that you want the watch to show a time of your choosing, not the correct time.



How do you keep the time zone on your Apple Watch the same as your iPhone?

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