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Clock Widget Showing Incorrect Time in iOS 14

Last updated on September 20, 2020 By Stacey Butler 16 Comments

Apple officially released its iOS 14 update to the public 3 days ago and many iPhone users have now upgraded to iOS 14. The iOS 14 update comes with many cool new features for users to explore; one of these features is a selection of widgets that can be added to your home screen. Some users have reported that their clock widgets are not showing the correct time.

widget showing incorrect time on iPhone

See also: How to Download and Install the iOS 14 Update & Troubleshoot Common Problems

See also: A Guide to the 5 Best iOS 14 Features

iOS 14’s new Clock Widget gives you a nice, big analog clock to view on your Home Screen. Those who added this widget to their Home Screens must have wanted a good view of the time. But having an incorrect time displayed on the Clock Widget makes for a pretty disappointing experience. Never fear, for most users, this will be an easy fix.

iPhone users might be confused to see that while the clock in their iPhone’s status bar shows the correct time, the widget does not. In this article, we will go through the steps you can take to fix this issue.

You may be experiencing a problem where your Clock Widget shows a time which is either completely different or slightly different than the Clock App icon and the clock in the Status Bar on the top of your iPhone screen. There may be different factors at play here. One of the following suggestions should fix your Clock Widget woes.

See also: iPhone Alarm Clock Not Working, Fix

Set your Clock Widget Time Zone

These are the steps that will fix the most common reason for your Widget not showing the correct time. When you first place your Clock Widget on your Home Screen, the Widget will be set to Cupertino’s time zone. Unless you live in California, you will need to change the time zone for your Clock Widget to your own time zone.

  1. Tap and hold the Clock Widget until a small menu appears. Then tap Edit Widget to open the Clock Widget’s settings.
edit widget
  1. Tap on Cupertino and a screen with a search box will appear.
widget is Cupertino time
  1. Enter the name of your city into the Search box.
enter city in search
  1. If it tells you No Options Available, enter the name of a larger city in your time zone. Tap on the name of your city.
  1. You will now see your city listed under the City setting for your Clock Widget.
correct city
  1. Tap outside of the Clock Widget’s settings pop-up screen to exit. Your Clock Widget should now show the correct time.
widget shows correct time

See Also: How To Use Bedtime On iPhone and iPad, The Complete Guide

Make Sure your Clock Changes When you Change Time Zones

You probably want your iPhone’s Clock to update automatically when you change time zones. If your Clock App is off by exactly 1 or 2 hours, this could be the problem. If your iPhone’s Clock is not updating automatically, you will need to enable the following Location Services settings.

See also: What Does Arrow Icon Mean? Location Services Explained

  1. Open Settings by tapping on the Settings icon.
  2. Tap on Privacy.
  3. Select Location Services.
  4. Make sure Location Services is enabled. This is what will allow the clock to automatically adjust to your current time zone.
  5. In Location Services, choose System Services.
  6. Find Setting Time Zone and tap the switch to the right to enable.

Set the Correct Time for your Clock – not just the Widget

If your Clock App is displaying a time which is off by something other than an exact number of hours – say, off by 2 minutes, or 30 minutes, then you will want change your Settings so that Date & Time are set automatically, i.e. you are not entering the time yourself, manually.

See also: ‘Set Automatically’ Grayed Out in Date & Time Settings on iPhone or iPad

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Go to General, then select Date & Time.
  3. Tap the switch to the right of Set Automatically to the ON (green) position. If it is already on, switch it off for 10-15 seconds, then switch it back to On.
  4. Check to see that the Time Zone is set to the time zone for your region.
  5. Exit Settings. Your Clock should now display the correct time.

Reset Location & Privacy

If you are still having this clock problem, you may want to reset Location & Privacy. Doing so will reset your location and privacy settings to the factory defaults. Simply go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. Then follow the onscreen instructions.

Filed Under: Not working? Tagged With: Clock, iOS 14, widgets

Comments

  1. Dave says

    December 12, 2020 at 3:14 am

    If your clock widget is frozen/not updating, this is the fix you’re looking for.

    iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 14.2.1. Clock widget was not updating, second hand wasn’t moving. Went to Settings –> General –> 24-Hour Time and enabled that. Clock widget was working fine, went back to disable 24-Hour Time and it continued working, updating the time with a sweeping second hand.

    Reply
    • David says

      January 3, 2021 at 10:50 pm

      This worked! Thank you!

      Reply
  2. Krish says

    December 11, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    It’s definitely a bug. I have an iPhone 12 and the widget is static. Problem is it doesn’t refresh and remains at the time setup although the system clock is correct

    Reply
  3. J says

    December 11, 2020 at 7:22 am

    I had my alarm set to 24 hour time. Changed that after trying all the steps up above and presto.

    Reply
  4. Stephen Williams says

    December 2, 2020 at 11:32 am

    … Then restart. And it works.

    Reply
  5. Darina says

    November 22, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    iPhone 12 mini, iOS 14.2.1, same issue. Clock face is frozen and won’t move.

    Reply
  6. Joe Spiegel says

    November 19, 2020 at 4:40 am

    My new 12 Pro Max, the clock is borked. No matter what I try. iOS is 14.2.

    Reply
  7. Jen says

    November 18, 2020 at 12:18 pm

    Worked for me. Cheers.

    Reply
  8. Phillip Siesbye says

    November 16, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    Do not work here either. I have iOS 14.2 on a iPhone 12 pro. Have done everything to fix it, but it still freezes after a short time 🥸

    Reply
  9. Joseph Castro says

    November 12, 2020 at 6:05 am

    Clock widget is not working. The second hand is not turning either. Even though the iphone’s time is correct.

    Reply
  10. Brian Evans says

    October 22, 2020 at 4:22 am

    That worked thanks, didn’t have the issue with my 10XR but did with my Wifes Iphone 11. Been annoying me for days.

    Reply
  11. Mark Hogan says

    October 13, 2020 at 4:11 pm

    The same here. Restarted the phone. Worked. After a few minutes, got stuck again.
    More interesting is the fact the now the clock doesn’t show its hands…
    Weird.

    Reply
  12. Jecade says

    October 9, 2020 at 12:14 am

    Did as you said and clock widget is still off but the actual clock app is correct. Did your advice several times and same result. Weird

    Reply
  13. Ernst says

    September 21, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    It fixes it ok but after a couple of hours tue clock is behind by a couple of hours. Very weird

    Reply
  14. William Mitchell says

    September 21, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    The clock widget doesn’t keep consistently accurate time even when set properly. I had to ditch it

    Reply
  15. Bob boisjoly says

    September 21, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    None of that worked. The only temporary fix is to restart the phone…

    Reply

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Stacey Butler is a tech writer at macReports covering news, how-tos, and user guides. She is a longtime Mac and iPhone user and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

 

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