On Sunday, November 6, at 2 a.m. local time, the clock on every smartphone in the U.S. will adjust — or not adjust — back from daylight saving time to standard time observed in your region, without you having to tap a finger.
Daylight saving time is practiced in most of Europe, most of North America, and parts of Asia, South America, and Oceania. For regions that observe daylight saving time, it involves changing clocks by one hour during the warmer summer and fall months to give people more or fewer hours of daylight, respectively. Clocks are set to “spring forward” in the spring, and “fall back” in the fall by an hour to reset to standard time.
In the past, when we didn’t have smart devices to do the work for us, we had to remember to change the clocks ourselves — or find out the hard way. Of course, with non-internet-connected wall clocks, oven clocks, and some car clocks, you’ll still have to do that work.
Most smartphone clocks will automatically adjust if your software is up to date. If you previously monkeyed with the settings and changed the date or time defaults, you may have to update your clock yourself once daylight saving time ends.
How to update your iPhone for daylight saving
First, let’s look at how to update the time for daylight saving on the iPhone. If you have an iPhone, like the iPhone 14 Pro, go to the Settings app, select General, then Date & Time, and toggle on Set Automatically.
Once that’s done, your iPhone time will automatically update in accordance with any daylight saving changes — no extra work from you required!
How to update your Android phone for daylight saving
The process for Android is mostly the same, though it follows a slightly different process. On an Android phone like the Pixel 7, go to Settings, System, Date & Time, and toggle on Set Automatically.
On a Samsung phone, like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, you’ll need to follow a slightly different path. Go to Settings, General Management, Date and Time, and make sure Automatic Date and Time is turned on.
Is this system foolproof? Not entirely. If there’s tech, there are bugs, and smartphone users in Canada woke up last year to find daylight saving time had arrived a whole week early. Users reported complaints and confusion about the time change on various phones — including both iOS and Android.
The same issue cropped up in the U.K. and Europe, as well. And those were not the first instances, as the iPhone has experienced sporadic issues with the time change since 2010. As such, it never hurts to check if you have the slightest doubt.
If you find any lingering errors, power down and restart your phone, then go to Airplane Mode and toggle it on and off. That should fix the issue once and for all — at least until the spring.
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