On Sunday, March 13, at 2 a.m. local time, the clock on every smartphone in the United States will adjust — or not adjust — to daylight saving time according to the time observed in your region, without your having to tap a finger.
Daylight saving time is practiced in most of Europe, most of North America, and in 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 hours of daylight. 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.
It’s a simple setting to check, pretty much regardless of the phone you’re using. If you have an iPhone, go to Settings > Date & Time and toggle on Set Automatically.
On an Android phone like a Pixel, go to Settings > System > Date & Time and toggle on Set Automatically.
On a Samsung phone, like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the process is a little bit different, but still simple. 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 time, as the iPhone has experienced sporadic issues with the time change since 2010. So, 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 next fall.
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