Where to find the date and time settings

The date and time settings on your iPhone live in the Settings app, under a section called Date & Time. You do not need to restart your phone or use a computer — the whole process takes about one minute. Open Settings (the gray gear icon on your home screen), scroll down and tap General, then scroll down again and tap Date & Time.

Once you are in Date & Time, you will see a toggle at the top labeled "Set Automatically." This toggle controls whether your iPhone pulls the date and time from your cellular network or lets you type in the values yourself. Most of the time this toggle is already on, which means your phone updates automatically whenever you cross into a new time zone or when daylight saving time changes.

Key Takeaways

  • Turn off the "Set Automatically" toggle in Settings > General > Date & Time before you can manually change the date or time.
  • Once the toggle is off, tap the date field to change the month and year, and tap the time field to change the hours and minutes.
  • If you turn "Set Automatically" back on, your iPhone will overwrite your manual changes with the network time.
  • Changing the date and time affects when your phone sends messages, when alarms go off, and which apps think it is nighttime.

Turning off automatic updates so you can edit manually

To change the date or time yourself, you must first turn off the "Set Automatically" toggle. Tap the toggle so it turns white instead of green. The moment you do, two new fields will appear below it: one showing the current date and one showing the current time.

This step is required because iOS does not let you edit the date or time while automatic updates are on. The system assumes that if you have automatic updates enabled, you want the network to control these values, and it locks you out of manual changes to prevent accidents.

Changing the date on your iPhone

Once "Set Automatically" is off, tap the date field. A spinning wheel will appear with three columns: one for the month, one for the day, and one for the year. Scroll each column up or down with your finger until you reach the date you want. The month column shows numbers 1 through 12; the day column shows 1 through 31 (depending on the month); the year column lets you scroll back or forward by year.

Tap outside the wheel or press Done when you finish. Your new date is now saved. If you need to change it again later, tap the date field a second time and the wheel will reappear with your last choice still selected.

Changing the time on your iPhone

Tap the time field to open a similar spinning wheel, this one with two columns: hours and minutes. The hours column shows 1 through 12 (or 0 through 23 if you have 24-hour time turned on in your region settings). The minutes column shows 0 through 59 in five-minute increments by default, though you can scroll more slowly to land on any minute you want.

Scroll each column to the time you want, then tap outside the wheel or press Done. The time updates when ready. Your iPhone will use this new time for all clocks, alarms, and timestamps until you change it again or turn "Set Automatically" back on.

What happens when you change the date or time

Changing the date or time affects several things on your phone. Alarms will go off at the new time you set, not the old one. Messages you send will be timestamped with the new date and time. Apps that show sunrise and sunset, weather forecasts, or calendar events will recalculate based on the new date. Some apps that track daily habits or streaks may reset or behave unexpectedly if you jump backward in time.

If you set the date far in the past or future, some apps may refuse to work correctly. For example, banking apps sometimes lock you out if your phone's date is more than a few months off, because they assume the phone has been compromised. For this reason, avoid leaving your date or time set to a wrong value for longer than you need to.

Turning automatic updates back on

To let your iPhone manage the date and time again, go back to Settings > General > Date & Time and tap the "Set Automatically" toggle to turn it back on. The toggle will turn green, and your phone will when ready sync to the network time. Any manual changes you made will be overwritten with the correct date and time from your carrier or internet connection.

Most people leave "Set Automatically" on all the time. You only need to turn it off if you are testing something, troubleshooting an app, or deliberately setting your phone to a different time for a specific reason.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my iPhone keep changing the date and time back to the correct one?

Your "Set Automatically" toggle is still on. Go to Settings > General > Date & Time and make sure the toggle is off (white, not green) before you try to change the values. If the toggle keeps turning itself back on, restart your phone and try again.

Can I change the date and time without going into Settings?

No. The only way to change the date or time on an iPhone is through Settings > General > Date & Time. You cannot do it from the lock screen, Control Center, or any other shortcut.

What if I set the date to the future and now my apps are broken?

Turn "Set Automatically" back on in Settings > General > Date & Time. Your phone will sync to the correct date and time from the network, and your apps should work normally again. If an app still misbehaves, try closing and reopening it.

Does changing the date affect my iCloud backup or photos?

Changing the date does not delete or corrupt your backups or photos. However, if you set the date far in the past, your phone may refuse to back up to iCloud because it thinks the backup is outdated. Turn "Set Automatically" back on to fix this.