iPhone Clock Sync? [Archive] - MacRumors Forums

qubex

Apr 2, 2009, 04:38 AM

Hello.

I have an iPhone 3G running 2.2.1 (5H11) and a PowerMacG5 running 10.5.6 and iTunes 8.1. Basically the latest official versions of everything.

Problem: my iPhone's clock is drifting from my Mac's NTP-synced clock, and it's annoying me. Syncing the iPhone against iTunes does not correct the clock, nor does Restoring. Fiddling around in the Settings -> General -> Date & Time control panel is hit-and-miss (mostly miss).

Does anybody know how to force the clock to sync? I have the excellent Atomic Clock application installed but that's limited to checking the NTP time reference.

(Note to those of you who intend to respond for the sole purpose of stating I'm being fussy and/or suffer from OCD: I have perfectly valid reasons to desire a synchronised clock. Please respect that.)

Thanks for any help proffered.

qubex

Apr 14, 2009, 05:55 AM

Has anybody at least noticed if iPhone 3.0 allows clock synchronising versus the phone network or against the host computer?

iFerd

Apr 14, 2009, 07:10 AM

I think your second post is asking if you can sync the time to the cell phone network. That you can do. Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically > On.

I don't know a way to sync with your desktop computer, though.

qubex

Apr 14, 2009, 07:17 AM

Settings > General > Date & Time only has "24-Hour Time" (on), "Time Zone" (Rome) and "Set Date & Time". There's no option to set network time. I seem to remember from my first iPhone that they removed that when they released 2.0.

iFerd

Apr 14, 2009, 08:31 AM

Yours is different from mine then. In Date & Time there are only two settings. One is for 24-Hour Time. The other is Set Automatically. If it's on, it takes time from the cellular network. I don't see any option for time zone. I'm in the US.

I'm on firmware version 2.2.1.

qubex

Apr 14, 2009, 08:51 AM

Yours is different from mine then. In Date & Time there are only two settings. One is for 24-Hour Time. The other is Set Automatically. If it's on, it takes time from the cellular network.

I'm on firmware version 2.2.1.

How weird.

http://homepage.mac.com/james.junghanns/iPhoneScreenShot1.PNG
http://homepage.mac.com/james.junghanns/iPhoneScreenShot2.PNG

iFerd

Apr 14, 2009, 01:03 PM

Here is mine. I have the same About page as you do, except for a difference in carriers and size. I have an 8GB phone.

What is in the menu to Set Date and Time on your phone?

qubex

Apr 14, 2009, 01:04 PM

That's completely infuriating. :mad: I envy you profoundly.

iFerd

Apr 14, 2009, 02:31 PM

What options do you have when you tap the item to Set Date & Time? Is your automatic option there by some chance?

Blue Fox

Apr 14, 2009, 02:53 PM

My clock seems to sync up fine, but sometimes it's off by an hour because it switches itself to a different time zone. It's happened a couple of times. But when it does happen, my other roommates' iPhones do the same.....so I'm thinking it's more of a carrier thing.

jocamero

Apr 14, 2009, 03:23 PM

I had this same problem when I was near my home city the time would synchronize from the cell tower up to 2 minutes off from NTP standards. Whenever I would travel to another major city it would be accurate. I reported the issue to AT&T and after several calls, and a call back from someone fairly knowledgeable, it was determined this deviation was acceptable to AT&T. This continued in my home city until DST when it magically became accurate. My guess is someone finally fixed my local cell towers clock when they updated the DST. The time on my iPhone is now +/- 2 seconds of NTP.

iFerd

Apr 14, 2009, 04:38 PM

I don't know exactly why this has made me curious. I guess it just seems really weird that the menus are different in different countries, if the versions are the same and the language is the same. So, I turned the option to set time automatically to Off. This screen is the result. Behind the Set Date & Time option is a click wheel to set these manually.

Maybe Vodaphone Italy doesn't provide time syncing services to its customers?

qubex

Apr 15, 2009, 12:41 PM

What options do you have when you tap the item to Set Date & Time? Is your automatic option there by some chance? Just the scroll-wheels to set Date and Time. Hardly instruments of precise synchronisation.

I've reached the conclusion this is probably controlled by Carrier configuration. If a carrier's settings file includes parameters that indicate time information is available, the iPhone allows you to automatically set the time. If not, it doesn't.

That's a pure guesstimate. I'm using Vodafone in Italy.

wackymacky

Apr 16, 2009, 06:12 AM

Here in New Zealand there is no automatic either:

qubex

Apr 16, 2009, 07:11 AM

Has this gone unnoticed until today?

iSimon

Apr 16, 2009, 10:10 AM

Never really noticed before either, but here in UK on O2 no automatic option either.

Marecki

May 12, 2009, 07:47 AM