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Setting your iPad to the correct time may be harder than you think

by Mel Martin Dec 21st 2010 at 3:30PM

Setting a computer to the correct time should be the simplest of tasks. It can easily be done by hitting a time server on the internet. Your home computers do it. Your iPhone gets the current local time from AT&T here in the states. It's a built-in feature of just about every computer OS.

For iPad users, it's a different story. I noticed it the other day with my 3G iPad, when I saw that the tablet was six minutes ahead of my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I checked my desktop, and it was ahead of that too. It was equally ahead of my wall mounted Atomic Clock that gets the time from the National Bureau of Standards. My iPhone, the government clocks, and my desktop and laptops all matched. The iPad was clearly out of sync. I restarted the iPad but that didn't solve it. So I explored the iPad preferences, dutifully went to Date and Time, and guess what? There is no 'set automatically' option. There is one on the 3G iPad, but hitting a time server when connected to Wi-Fi is not exactly rocket science, so why isn't it an option on the Wi-Fi iPad? All you get is the manual setting option. Not exactly high tech.



Turns out there are quite a few threads on this problem at the Apple support boards. Even some people with 3G iPads are getting wacky times, often off by hours, not minutes. Some are reporting that the iPad resets its time to match your computer when you do a sync, but I did that a couple of days ago and my time is still off several minutes.

Some people who visited the Genius Bar were told it's a known problem, but it's hard to be sure if the 3G issues and the Wi-Fi issues are at all related. It may not seem like a big deal, but if you are using your iPad as an alarm, you could ruin your whole day with a missed meeting or call.

How are you doing with the iPad as a clock? If you have experiences, good or bad, let us know.



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Setting a computer to the correct time should be the simplest of tasks. It can easily be done by hitting a time server on the internet....
 

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37 Comments

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Buzz

One more iPad with BS time. This one was purchased in May, 2010, so it may be from one of the earliest batches.

No ability to set the clock internally zeros out the seconds, either.

Both NIST and an atomic clock/receiver on the wall agree, and there is zero ability to make the iPad track exact time.

Brr.

February 14 2011 at 9:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ho4th


I was having a similar problem with my iPad WiFi+3G, but thought of a recent "Settings" change I had made... which turned out to be the culprit:

I went back into Settings, Cellular Data, and turned Cellular Data back to "On". My clock corrected itself in about 5 seconds... to within 1-second of NNTP.

To be clear: I don't pay for cellular data, and never have. I'm guessing the wifi+3g model gets the correct time from local cell towers passively.

Hope that helps.

Dan

February 06 2011 at 5:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
crab430

An inaccurate clock in this day and age is absurd!! Wall clocks, wrist watches, alarm clocks, etc. are often equipped with the ability to keep accurate time. Apple makes its desktop computers and laptops with accurate clocks. But apparently they cannot be bothered to add that feature to iPads for some reason. If they don't wish to provide that feature on the iPad, they should provide the capability to hide the clock so you are not misled by its inaccuracy!!

January 16 2011 at 12:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
iPadOriginal

Mine usually drifts forward by 2-10 minutes. I have a first-batch (April 3, 2010 delivery) iPad WiFi 16 GB model. My mac and my Airport Extreme are both set to sync to time.apple.com

I just called Apple Support about this, and they could not help at all. The only suggestion was to manually set/sync it when I notice that the drift is there.

I hope the next update has an NTP sync option in Settings.




December 30 2010 at 4:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Maccrow

Always I sync my iPad , he adjust the time in one hour ahead.

December 27 2010 at 10:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sol

I've been seeing this too

December 22 2010 at 5:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
btblomberg

Does anybody really know what time it is?

December 22 2010 at 12:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kreilein

I have a "Set Automatically" option under General - Date & Time. Do you have to be on a data plan to get it or something?

I actually found it to be a pain when on vacation because I was VERY close to the EST/CST line and the iPad determined it's location too far easy by a few miles and was an hour ahead.

I'd say if you don't have "Set Automatically", maybe a trip to the Apple Store or a phone call to tech support or a Restore of the iOS, perhaps.

December 22 2010 at 10:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patrick

You have an atomic clock on your wall? Wow. But why then does it have to get it's time from another source? ;)

December 22 2010 at 9:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Patrick's comment
MikeWard1701

I'm guessing by "atomic clock" they mean a radio-controlled clock which receives its time signal from an actual atomic clock.

It's a common misnomer, primarily because radio clock manufacturers often market them as "atomic clocks" because the time source is an atomic clock.

When I read it in the article my brain auto-translated it to radio clock, as very few people own actual atomic clocks.

December 23 2010 at 8:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patrick

I know, I was just kidding (or maybe giving a hint that one should watch what he's posting ;) )

December 24 2010 at 7:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
umijin

Just started noticing this as well. I can't for the life of me understand why Apple didn't get this right.

December 22 2010 at 1:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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