Calendar Time Zone Support

Could someone please explain what time zone support is?
Should I have it on or off if I do a lot of travelling?
And what does it mean when it is on or off?

Worse yet... With iOS 6.1.3 and Exchange, timezone is not displayed for events that were accepted from another person. The option for such events is 'details' instead of 'edit' and the timezone is not displayed. Come on, this is trivial to fix and vital as a basis for handling events.

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Problem caused with appt times by changing calendar time zone support?

I've got a 30Gb iPod Touch, version 4.0.2.
I've always kept the Settings' Date & Time timezone for the correct location, but it was only a while back that I realized that there was also a Time Zone under the Settings, Calendar, and so I changed it so that it was correct (it was previously set to Kabul, AF time, and it was then changed to Ottawa, ON time).
I'm thinking that this may have messed up all my future appointments, as my appointments have been switched to midnight or somewhere near it, for the day prior to when the appointment was supposed to have been. I can't think of anything else that would be causing this, and didn't see this exact problem occurring for anyone else when I did a search of the discussions.
Does anyone have any idea as to why this is happening and what I can do to set it right?

Hi Cindiii,
Time zone support has often been a point of contention and confusion for many users. Unfortunately, there is no simple fix at the present time. Do you have any idea as to why you touch was set to Kabul? Did you buy it new? If not, perhaps the last user had it set to this time?
In any case, Calendar does allow for its own time zone settings. This is to allow the user to create events for his/her home time zone while traveling. Even if your system time zone reflects the current time zone that you are in, appointments added to Cakendar will show up in the time zine that you choose based in the time zone you set in the Calendar settings.
This definitely sets up conflicts if you are trying to schedule an appointment that is outside of your home time zone. Now that you have switched the time zone in your Calendar settings to your home time zone, there is nothing you can do about the events already created. As I see it, you have only two options:
1. Change the time zone back to Kabul time and view your events as though they were your local time, or
2. Leave the time zone in the Calendar settings to your home time zone and either time adjust the events in your head (knowing the time difference), or manually changing them to the correct time one by one.
I'm sorry this doesn't provide you with a magic solution, but I really don't see any other alternatives.
Mac

Cannot completely turn off time zone support in the iPhone calendar

In iOS7 it was possible in settings to turn off time zone support in the calendar. (This is not the same as having the date and time of the phone automatically change to current time zone which is generally what one wants and is not affected by calendar time zone support.) The problem in iOS8 is that Time Zone Override is not the same as Time Zone on/off. Here is an an example.
1) you live in Chicago and central time is your "home" time zone.
2) you find out about a meeting in New York at 1:00pm next week. You want to add the meeting to your calendar. If you add it at 1:00pm, when you arrive in New York (and change time zones), it will change the meeting time to 2:00pm.
Time Zone Override does not turn off the time zone calendar support. It provides two different views (time in current time zone and time in home tine zone). But time zones are irrelevant when I am scheduling an event at a known time. (Time Zone Override ON seems to work only if you are out of your home time zone and schedule something in your home time zone. But this is almost never what I encounter since I am usually at home, and need to schedule an event outside my home time zone.)

It would seem that way. But with "time zone support" on, you'll simply view your events "as if" you were in a certain time zone.
Example: I create an event in California for 6pm. ( A "California event") If I turn "time zone support" on, and select my time zone as Los Angeles, nothing changes. But if I select Oklahoma city, the time WILL change to 8pm, because it assumes I need to view a "California event" in Central Time.
"Time Zone Support" was created for people that have phone conferences in different time zones. The feature allows one standard time to be used in the calendar, and anyone outside the time zone can use "time zone support" to read it in thier respective time zone.
I'm saying this feature is trying to complicatedly simplify the calendar. I can use the organ between my ears to assume the correct time zone. And having to dig into my preferences in order to view my events correctly is completely insane.
All I want is to create an event, set an alarm, and not have to EVER worry about it changing.
I assumed that turning "time zone support" off would accomplish this as it did in the past. But the calendar STILL REMEMBERS WHERE AN EVENT WAS CREATED. So if the time zone ever changes, it will try to view the event according to the time zone you are currently in.
iCloud does the same thing. When you set your time zone on iCloud, it will view an event according to THAT time zone. If you are in Central time and create an event, your iCloud calendar better be set to Central time or else there will be a descrepancy between your phone calendar and your iCloud calendar.
I just want to turn off "time zone support" COMPLETELY.

Calendar time zone on iOS 7

the time zone has disappearead on the calendar after updating to ios 7, how can it be defined? I travel a lot and this feature was very helpful in avoiding errors.

You have to enable Time Zone Support under Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Time Zone Support (in the Calendars section at the bottom). If you enable the setting while you are in the middle of creating an event, you have to cancel and re-create it.
Now, when you create a new Calendar entry, it will have a Time Zone field under the End time setting.

When time zone support is on even when I am on Jerusalem, when i create an appointment the time zone for the appointment is immediately changed to Gaza and even when I change it manually it returns to Gaza.

I have a 4s iPhone on IOS 6.0.1 with an Israeli Cellular provider.
I use Gmail services an exchange to sync my colander contacts and mail.
When the time zone support is set to ON in the Settings->mail, Contacts, Calendars->Time Zone Support
The time zone is showing Jerusalem (I am located in Tel-Aviv)
When I create a new Appointment, It Immediately changes the time zone of the appointment to Gaza.
Even if I change it back to Jerusalem it changes back to Gaza every time.
Only when the time zone support is set to OFF in the Settings->mail, Contacts, Calendars->Time Zone Support
The time zone in Gmail is ok and does not appear on the iPhone. (This is ok)
Dose any one know how do I make the iPhone not change the time zone to Gaza? And still keep the time zone support on?
TNX

they are not always on the same time due to daytime saving time changes twice a year in Israel which are not syncronized with any changes in Gaza, Beirut, etc.

Iphone 4s exchange calendar time zones

I have a user with an iphone 4s and the time zones are not matching up when entering calendar events into Outlook (synching via Exchange on the iphone). all events entered into the outlook calendar are set to eastern time zones and we are in st. louis (central time zone). However, our server is hosted in the eastern time zone. Now, our hosting provider has set the time zone of our server to the central time zone so that should take care of the server side. what other things can we check to determine why the wrong time zone is being set?

FOR CORRECT TIME ON CALENDAR:
Set both the time and your time zone on the Calendar Add Event page.
Set your time zone in Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendar>Time Zone Support.
Set your time zone in Settings>General>Date and Time.

IOS Calendar & Time Zone Choices

I use Time Zone Support on all my devices... Mac, iPhone and iPad. On the iOS devices, to change the calendar to a new time zone, I have to go to System Preferences/Mail, Contacts,Calendars/Time Zone Support and use the search field, going through the whole search proccess with a whole batch of International cities each time. Isn't there a way of having the obviously most used ones -- New York, Chicago, Denver, LA -- just stay there in the menu choice? Or better still, simply Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. How 'bout "Add to Favorites..." Or something. This is in need of some real Apple usability. Or am I missing something?

Please submit your bug report to http://www.apple.com/feedback

With Time Zone Support on Calendar no longer automatically adjust to the local timezone.

Apples support forums are riddled with Discussions about problems with being able to dicate a specific time zone for appointments. Many of these postings, as well as their corresponding solutions, are unnecessarily lenghtly when the root cause of all of this is a one very simple mistake by Apple. Right now to be able to assign a specifc timezone for an appointment using the Calendar app on the iPhone you have to have "Time Zone Support" turned on in Settings. The problem is that when you turn on this feature the Calendar app stops automatically updating the calendar to reflect the local time zone you are in. These are simply two seperate items that have no reason to be tied together. Apple could easily correct almost all of the issues people are having with this topic if it simply split this into two seperate options that users can turn on/off seprately:
1.) Enter time zone for each appointment. YES/NO
2.) Adjust Calendar to the local timezone. YES/NO
It is virturally incomprehensible that Apple has not fixed this. It was clearly a mistake.

I have this problem too and am frustrated - it's not solving no matter what i do. And now Siri is totally bonkers too on this new software update - can't even pull from my contacts when I ask her to look someone up. What the heck is going on at Apple software? Have they been hiring a bunch of arrogant, crap programmers? I am seriously thinking of not buying an iPhone again after having one for 5 years. So disappointed!!

HT4576 "Time Zone Support" in Calendars should be renamed to "Override Time Zone Support"

So, I live on the East coast and notice, while on a trip just outside Cupertino, that my iPhone Calendar wasn't updating to the the local time, even though my iPhone had correctly updated to PST.
Finally, at the end of my trip, oh so nigh to Cupertino, I find out that my Calendar's erroneous display of time was due to the "Time Zone Support" configuration option.
This is a GROSS misnomer.
iOS requires the specification of a timezone - else the time would be set arbitrarily and would waste the time (NTP) service provided by the cellular provider.
Thus, the "Time Zone Support" option under "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" should be relabeled to "Override Time Zone Support" AND the ability to assign an event to a time zone should always be available (though defaulting to the current time zone - unless a 'Default Time Zone' configuration option is added).

The behavior you are seeing is actually inherent in most calendar apps -- the deal is that you are telling your calendar when something happens, not what time. Our company writes a calendaring+task management app for iPhone called Pocket Informant - we get this same question on occassion, so I wrote up a Knowledge Base article discussing some details (keep in mind - this article discusses some features specific to our app that you won't find in iCal/Calendar on MacOS X):
http://webis.kayako.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/123/0/why-do-the-times-change -on-my-appointments-when-i-travel-to-a-different-time-zone
In iCal/Calendar on MacOS X, when you turn on Time Zone support, you then get to choose the time zone that you are entering your appointment for. This helps you not have to do the "time zone math" in your head. Thus, if you are in CST and want to set up an appointment for 6pm PST, you can choose PST in the event editor as you enter 6pm. Note that while you are in CST, your event will display in your calendar at "CST time" (8pm), but when you fly out to PST, it will show the "correct" PST time.
While iCal/Calendar supports "floating time zones", I personally would caution against using them for everything (I mentioned a few reasons why in the above kbase article). Use those for events that truly are "time driven" rather than "point in time" driven (such as "I want to go jogging every morning at 5am no matter what time zone I'm in).
Hope that helps some!

Why is iCal Time Zone Support hidden?

Last week my wife sent me an iCal appointment for 2pm but I received it as 11am. On checking her iPhone she found the same time, 11am. We had both been overseas recently. On our return we had reset our time zones on our iPhone's and laptops to Auto so no problem there. Obviously we were very puzzled.
I then checked the Apple support page and found a lot of people had the same problem with Mountain Lion although I'm running Mavericks.
What I did discover was that in iCal > Preferences> Advanced is hidden a button called Time Zone Support.
Why put it there? And why is it off by default?
We turned it on on my Mac Book and hers then switched it off then on again on our iPhones and low and behold the appointment times changed to 2pm on all our devices.
I don't understand why changing time and date settings or having them on Auto shouldn't adjust all native apps and hiding the setting in advanced preferences just seems ridiculous.
Maybe that's just me?

I'm not sure how putting something in the user Preferences for an app hides it, but...
And why is it off by default?
I got into an argument with someone about using time zones in Calendar. He only wanted the times to show up as local times regardless of which time zone was selected and what time zone had created the event. I think he actuall missed some appointments when travelling overseas. His assistant had set up the appointments, and when he looked at them before he left, they were listed as late in the day because he was looking at his current time zone.
So, I guess that is why it is off by default.

Time zone support help: how do I enter an event and have it keep that time regardless of time zone?

I consistently enter events in one time zone, because that is just easier. I would prefer it KEEP them as entered, not revise them as I travel. IE, I live overseas and constantly travel. It is very difficult to keep track of my schedule if I must always calculate the time zones when entering or viewing events. How do I set it up to leave them as entered, even as I travel, without changing the ipAd clock to stay in one time zone?

Hi karlsf!
It sounds like you may need to adjust your time zone support settings. An article about doing this can be found here:
iOS: How to adjust Time Zone Support for calendars
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4576
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!
-Braden

Time Zone support - checked or unchecked?

I export my iCal claendar to Entourage (for the better printouts) and noticed that some appointments were showing up in the Entourage calendar 1 hour earlier than they should. When I oen up the individual event in Entourage it has the correct time, but in Entourage's daily, weekly or monthly display, it's an hour off.
So I went back to iCal, and checked Time Zone support and made sure that every event had the correct time zone. Then I exported again, and this time Entourage had EVERY event showing at the wrong time. I've looked everywhere, and I cannot find any preference or setting with the wrong time zone checked.
I've posted a note on an Entourage forum, but my question for this forum is as far as this issue is concerned, do you think I'd be better off with iCal's Time Zone Support checked or unchecked?

There's a patch you need to run for Entourage 2004. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930402/en-us?spid=1720
This requires download and install of Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.3 Update. A link to that download is contained on the page above. Be sure you get 11.3.3, because there are other versions referenced.
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Getting the time zone support right

When I take an international trip I can never seem to get this right, and calendar events go slip-sliding all over the place.
I have tried by time zone support on and off, but still previous events seem to get displayed wrong no matter what I do.
Currently I'm in Tokyo. Next Friday I'm going to St. Louis for a couple of months. I have a customer call on June 6th at 10 am central time. I just added it to my calendar by entering "Call with Coaches on June 6 at 10 am CDT" (see screenshot) and it created this event which correctly shows it taking place on June 7th Japan time. And I added a note about the actual time just in case.
So how should I have it set so when I am in St. Louis it shows up as June 6 at 10 am?
And what will happen with all my other events where I typically don't specify a time zone?
Thanks,
Doug

Hey Doug Lerner2,
Thanks for the question and superb details. I can understand how confusing Time Zone support can sometimes be. In my experience, everything is going to relate back to the main Time Zone Support drop down menu at the top left of the Calendar. This is the easiest way to quickly switch the Time Zone you are viewing.
Once you travel to St. Louis, simply switch the time zone of your calendar (if it had not automatically switched) to see all of your events in the local time zone (including events that don’t specify a time zone). So if you had your event set for June 6th at 10am CST, once you switch the Time Zone to central time you’ll see that that event is displayed correctly. All of your events that were created in Japan will move to their respective times, and you can also have “Floating” events that will ignore the time zone, and always be at that set time.
For more information, see these resources:
Calendar: View all your events in a different time zone
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11534
Calendar: Change an event’s time zone
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11531
Thanks,
Matt M.

Time Zone support

I understand the basic gist of time zone support as it is pretty straight forward, but I'm constantly finding myself confused when I use time zone support when I travel. For instance, I use EDT and sometimes put events in my calendar that I know I'll have while I'm traveling. If I put an event in my calendar for 2:00 pm because that is when the event is supposed to start, but the event is taking place in California, the event shows up in my calendar at 11:00 am and I get all confused as to when my events are actually supposed to start.
Is the best policy to figure out what the adjusted time is supposed to be and make the adjustment beforehand, or is it best to turn off time zone support? It gets really confusing when trying to add events to your calendar when the events take place in different time zones.
Any thoughts on this subject would be greatly appreciated
Mac

Simple answer is that the events should not be moving if the setting has stuck, so it's probably a preference file that has been corrupted.
Do you see the time zone at the top right of the iCal window?
If it's there even though you have unchecked the option in preferences, it might be worth going into preferences and rechecking, quitting preferences, going back in and unchecking.
If that fails to get rid of the zone in the window (or it wasn't there in the first place), you probably need to trash the preferences file for iCal:
Quit iCal.
Look for this file ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iCal.plist [That's in the Preferences folder of the Library folder of your home folder in case you don't understand the notation.] Drag it to the desktop - or somewhere convenient (so that you know where it is and can put it back if iCal gets screwed-up).
Restart iCal.
This should start iCal in the default mode - which is with Time Zone support off. You will notice that the position and size of windows, default view (month, week, day), etc have also been reset - so you will need to arrange them to your liking and check that the preferences that you need are set correctly.
You should now be able to change time zone without everything moving. If it works, you can trash the file you moved to the desktop.
If this doesn't fix your problem, you can at least get back to where you started by:
Quitting iCal.
Dragging the original .plist back over the new one.
Restarting iCal.
* Make sure you back-up your data before doing anything. However, I just tried this with my own iCal and it all worked 'as advertised' *

Turning off Time Zone Support

Hi,
I have recently moved countries which are 8 hours apart.
I have had Time Zone Support turned on in iCal and my iOS devices. I also use Google Calendars.
If I try to switch time zones, all my appointments move by 8 hours. I don't need to know what the time is in other zones, I suppose what I want is the "floating" time zone.
I have tried to export and reimport my calendars but the time does not change correctly. Do I need to edit the .ics file in some way?
Thanks!

Hi,
If you need it I have a script to move all events in a calendar by a number of hours. See the script Offset iCal Events here.
Best wishes
John M
<hr />As I sell software on my site and ask for donations, the Apple Discussions Use Agreement requires that I state that I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Calendar Time Zone Support

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