How Do I Manually Set the Date and Time on My iPhone?
While it’s easier and better to have your iPhone automatically set its date and time (more on that in a minute), you can manually set it on your iPhone. To manually change the date and time, follow these steps:
Does Changing the Date on Your iPhone Mess It Up?
It’s fair to wonder whether changing the date and time on your iPhone can cause problems. The answer is: It depends. If you’re changing the date and time to be correct, you’re pretty unlikely to have problems. That said, you’ll probably run into issues if your date and time settings are wrong. The issues can range from simply missing appointments to difficulties accessing Apple services. Believe it or not, things like downloading apps, updating apps, using Find My iPhone, and sending text messages all depend on the correct date and time settings (each of those links goes to troubleshooting articles on those topics).
Why Can’t I Change the Date and Time on My iPhone?
You may have gotten to this article because you’re having trouble changing the date and time on your iPhone. You could be having that problem for a few reasons:
Screen Time is Enabled. When Screen Time restrictions are on, you can’t manually change the date or time on an iPhone. That’s designed to block people from getting around Screen Time’s time limits by changing the date and time settings. You’ll need to disable Screen Time or wait until the restricted time ends to change the date and time. Your Phone Company, Not all phone companies support features like setting date and time automatically. You may be able to solve this by updating carrier settings or checking with your phone company. Your Location Services Settings. If your issue is a problem with automatically setting the date and time, you may have blocked the feature. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > move the Setting Time Zone slider to on/green to fix that. Device Management Policy. If you get your iPhone through work or school, your IT administrators may have set up the phone to prevent you from changing the date and time. Your Current Location. Some countries and regions don’t support automatic time setting at all.
If you’ve tried everything else and you still can’t change your date and time, try (in this order): restarting your iPhone, updating the iOS to the latest version, resetting all settings, and contacting Apple for more support.
