Apple has published a support document confirming that an Apple Watch can show the time an hour off after a daylight saving time change. The fix takes seconds: switch to another watch face and back, or restart the watch. Clocks went back across most of the US today, November 1, so American owners may spot it this morning.
The document is dated October 30. It follows our earlier report on owners in Europe running into the same glitch. When we covered it on October 26, Apple had not commented publicly. Its support page now describes the symptom and gives two fixes.
What Apple says is going wrong
According to Apple, the wrong hour appears only on the Always On display while your wrist is down. Tap the screen or raise your wrist, and the watch switches to the correct time. Apple also says features such as alarms are not affected.
That makes it mostly a display problem. Still, a quick look at a lowered wrist is exactly how many people check the time. An hour’s error there could leave you thinking you are running late, or that you have time to spare.
How to check whether your Apple Watch has the bug
Glance at the watch with your wrist lowered, then raise it or tap the screen. If the hour jumps when the display wakes up, you are seeing this bug. The time shown on the fully active screen is the correct one.
How to fix the wrong time on your Apple Watch
Apple lists two quick fixes. Either one should bring the Always On display back to the right hour:
- Change your watch face: Switch to any other watch face, then switch back to the one you normally use.
- Restart the watch: Turn your Apple Watch off and on again.
You can also leave it alone. Apple’s support document says the problem goes away on its own:
If you do nothing, the issue will resolve itself at midnight following the time change.
When the wrong time should clear by itself
The timing depends on where you live. In most of the US, clocks went back early on November 1. If you skip the fixes, the Always On display should correct itself at midnight tonight.
The UK and much of Europe changed their clocks on Sunday, October 25. Owners there should already be past that midnight point. If your watch still shows the wrong hour on Always On, the watch-face switch or a restart is the next step. Time changes can trip up phones too, as we noted in our look at Canada’s time zone change and Android phones.
Which Apple Watch models are affected?
Apple’s support document doesn’t say which Apple Watch models or watchOS versions are affected. The first reports came from owners on the MacRumors forums running watchOS 27 in the UK and central Europe. Some of those users also said it showed up in standby mode. Apple’s document does not mention watchOS 27 or standby mode.
The page ends with a general reminder to keep your Apple Watch updated. It does not say that a software update fixes this particular bug. For now, owners get workarounds rather than a patch. Apple’s document doesn’t say whether a permanent fix is planned.
Source: Apple Support, MacRumors forums, via MacRumors
