Timezone did not change automatically

[FaBBry]

Hello, I found another problem: the timezone does not change automatically. I travel often and I noticed that. Last travel was from Italy to Ukraine - there is one hour of difference. (Ukraine +1) When I arrived to Kiev, Ionic does not recognize the new timezone and the same when I came back to Italy. The only way to force the hour change is to connect to web panel and sync the clock. This watch uses latest techologies like GPS, like other things and it's not able to change automatically the hours? 🙂 Thank you.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[SunsetRunner]

The Ionic will get its time sync through the Fitbit app on your phone, not the gps on the watch. So depending on what your phone says the time is, your Ionic will mirror.

you can change the time zone through the advanced settings on your account:

[Julia_G]

Hi, @FaBBry, adding to what @SunsetRunner says you should also be able to toggle the auto timezone button on your Fitbit app.  Its under settings --> advanced settings --> timezone.  

I personally always turn it to OFF when I travel and change timezones.  I do not want it to update automatically because that can lead to situations where the Fitbit "jumps over" midnight and therefore does not get the signal to reset steps to zero and you end up getting your steps carried over.

I prefer to be in control of when my watch updates to a new timezone so that I can make sure it always "sees" midnight.

[FaBBry]

Ciao @Julia_G and @SunsetRunner. First of all, thanks for all your answers.

Personally @Julia_G I don't agree on turning off the auto timezone cause it has been built for the proposal I meant so why need to disable it?

Autotimezone should be able to trigger automatically the Timezone of the new country and shift the hours according to.

@SunsetRunner: true. When I was on flight my mobile updated hours automatically, so why fitbit watch is not able to do the same without any kind of sync? We're just speaking about shift hours, not something difficult like chaning an algorithm...

[Julia_G]

@FaBBry, your Fitbit does not know what country it is in unless you sync.

If auto timezone is turned on, it should do exactly what you want (although you do need to sync) for the time to update,  I don't want mine to update automatically for the reasons I stated.  That is why one has the option of turning on or turning off auto timezone.

For myself, I keep auto timezone ON when I am not travelling because it keeps my watch always accurate.  I turn it OFF when I travel so the watch only updates when I am ready for it to.  You, of course have the option to keep it always ON.

[FaBBry]

I understood what you're saying @Julia_G but in my opinion the problem comes from what you stated as first sentece "your Fitbit does not know what country it is in unless you sync" 😉

[Julia_G]

How could it know what country you are in?

With the current Ionic technology/ hardware, it would seem to me that it would in the first place have to be outdoors and with GPS turned on, and also there would have to be a full database built into the watch with GPS coordinates of every country and relevant timezones!  That would take a lot of memory, and seems pretty wasteful to me, when all you have to do is sync...  (Also not very practical as GPS is not always available -- like when you are indoors.)

The alternative would be putting a 3G chip in the watch -- and I guess that will become more and more commonplace, but it is pretty unusual so far and adds a lot of cost.  And the Ionic does not have one.

[Kight]

Crossing time zones was never a problem with My Gear S2, steps near midnight might end up in the wrong day but no big deal.  It automatically changed time zones and never screwed up my steps.  Most of the suggestions above while helpful seem to be half baked accommodations for something not working that should work.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Kight, is yours not working?  I don't think anyone has suggested any "accommodation" -- half or fully -- baked.  Just an explanation of how it works.

If auto timezone is turned on, and you sync, your Fitbit should update to a new timezone. I don't personally like my steps ending up in the wrong day, so I turn it off, but that is a choice, not an accommodation.

[FaBBry]

@Kight you get EXACTLY what I tried to saying. With any kind of watch (smartwatch, not smartwatch or whatever) you can easily switch between different hours doing nothing, just simply put the setting on "Auto Timezone" and see the new time on watch.

@Julia_G I'm not a deep technical personal and I can't say/suggest best solution to adapt here, I'm just saying seems unbelievable that a watch like this is not able to do this (easy) kind of change without any "manual" operation (sync). Don't get me wrong: I don't want to make any controversy, just saying (and sharing) my thoughts about.

[Venkats]

This appears to be a data store issue. If you store data in UTC time but generate reports in the users specified timezone, I guess this problem is avoidable. This way irrespective of where the user is, data will be accurate.

[FaBBry]

Hi @Venkats,

I'm not sure of understanding you correctly, but it's not a problem of generated reports (or at least, it's not the original problem for which I opened the thread): the hours simply are not updated based on Timezone.

[Taggs]

Hi,

Has anyone got an ACTUAL solution to this problem, or just suggestions about how it should work? I've read the manual, and am fairly tech savvy.

My pebble simply updated - I didn't need to think about it. I've synced this thing 3 times and it's stuck on 12:29. Bloody useless if my smartWATCH can't even tell the time accurately when I shift timezones.

1 more week before I go back to my 2 year old Pebble Time.....

[MattFitbit]

Hi all. 

Just wanted to jump in here to announce that OS 1.2 has was recently released to 10% of users. 

This firmware update includes a fix that has resolved the issue where Ionic was not updating automatically when changing time zones.

Once you have travelled to a new time zone, please keep in mind that you will need to sync for the time to change on your Ionic. 

If you have not received an alert that the update is available for Ionic, you can expect to see it soon. You can find more information on this OS release by following the link, here. 

Thanks for taking the time to report this issue! If you have any questions, you know where to find me! 

[Beaner128]

Sure wish it was available now as I’m traveling.  No luck changing the time no matter what I tried.

[dzierhart]

I’m with you, I have synced, (ionic) my phone has updated to new time zone, my watch will not.i reset, synced, set auto time zone, etc nothing has worked, I’ve wasted a couple of hours on it

[isagan]

Go into your Fitbit dashboard from your web browser and check in Personal Information: Timezone

This takes preference to your phone setting and is set when you log into your Dashboard abroad.

Let me know if this fixes it.

[Impudent]

Same issue here, every time I travel my Ionic ends up showing the wrong time, sometimes for days. I have read and followed all the suggestions here and wasted many hours doing so. No matter what I do with the location and time zone settings, either online through my account or through the app on my iPad or phone (Android/Galaxy Note 8).

@Fitbit from the number of people seeing issues with time zone adjustments there is clearly a bug here. A fundamental requirement for anything that tells the time is to automatically and reliably tell the correct time or to be easily and quickly adjustable when the need arises. Please comment on what you are doing to fix this and when.

[FlyFrosty]

No.  Update 1.2 does not fix this issue.  It makes the sync slightly more reliable, but I travel frequently, and the timezone following is spotty at best...which in some ways is worse because you never really know if it updated or not.

[DavideFitbit]

Hello @FlyFrosty, thank you for the information provided. 

Could you please provide some more details about what you experienced with the timezone? Do you mean that the timezone is not being updated automatically when you travel? Or the device is not syncing? 

Keep us posted.