Is my android phone unusual in that I can't change the time?

I’ve noticed this twice on my phone (LG L41C). When Standard Time kicked in, my phone was an hour off for a couple of weeks. A few weeks ago I went to Indiana, and the time zone changed the correct time to one hour later, and the time didn’t change on the phone, nor do I have an option to change the time zone manually. I suspect in another few weeks when we go back to Daylight Savings time, I’ll have the same issue.

I have searched the web looking for a fix, and while I’ve found a bunch of people noting the same issue, I haven’t found anything explaining how to change the clock time.

I imagine somebody somewhere is putting out a signal that does small adjustments to the phone clock, or the time would have drifted off quite a but in the last year. But whatever signal my phone is synching to, it’s not properly adjusting for the calendar changes, or location-based time zone changes

Exact details may differ depending on version of Android you are running. Open the phone’s settings and scroll down to the Date & Time section under the System heading. On my phone I have options for Automatic Date & Time and also Automatic Time Zone. On my tablet I only have the first of these, probably because this is a wifi only device and time zone data is provided through the cell phone network. Uncheck either of these to allow manual settings.

I don’t have those settings. My only choices are to use a 12 or 24 hour clock format, and to display the date in different formats.

So, I can assume other androids DO have more options under Settings?

My Droid Turbo has a clock app. I can simply change the time, or choose among many other features affecting time zones, showing multiple times, etc.

The app was loaded when new.

But… go forth and download one.

The features I mention are not accessible via settings. I open the Clock app and there are plenty.

Clock apps: I’m sure you’ll find one for free in Play store.

EDIT: search Play store for “Clock” and choose the Clock app from Google, Inc. It’s a dark blue and light blue clock icon. Easy peasy!

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Turn your phone off or turn off the connection to the cellular service (i.e. airplane mode). Wait a minute and turn it back on. Once the phone reconnects to your network, it should adjust to the correct time. Most phones rely on the network for the time.

Shouldn’t need to fuss with the phone. Clock app should handle all of it, and add in other features.

Can I replace the clock app that came on the phone? It doesn’t appear to be listed among the apps under Settings. I’m not crazy about the idea of having two clocks on the phone, one of which will be wrong when I cross a state line or when Daylight savings time is near.

The Clock app is an app… it will run all the time functions on your phone, but you don’t access it via settings… and it’s a Google app… it’s made by the people who make your phone an Android, because they make the operating system. You have a Google device.

Android is Google. Get the Google, Inc “Clock” app. I travel all over the world. My clock app is on top of everything. It’ll be the default for the clock features. Your whole clock experience will improve. I don’t know if technically it’s replacing the software running your clock now… but you won’t be managing two clocks. You’ll make your clock more flexible and accessible.

Imagine a clock hanging on the wall and all you can do is look at it. I give you a tool, an app, and it lets you take the clock off the wall and make it do more than you want, from changing the time to many other features. Think like that.
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It won’t set the system time on Boyo Jim’s phone, though, which is what he’s looking to do. Here’s the manual for his phone. It’s the LG Ultimate, by the way.

Warning, PDF.

It does look as if that phone does lack the ability to manually set the time and date.

It’s time to download the darn app and try it.

I did that a couple of hours ago. As far as I can see, while I can change my “home” time zone, I can’t change the actual time, probably because it recognizes the time zone I’m actually in. So I will apparently have to drive to another time zone to see whether it recognizes my movement and changes the time accordingly. That’s not going to happen any tome soon. Same thing about changing between ST and DST, I can’t change to date to see if the time changes, so I’ll have to wait for the actual date to see if it changes over correctly – in another couple weeks.

I have a different LG android phone, and it too has no ability to change the time. Mine’s off by 90 seconds, which is odd and a bit maddening.

My Android has a big clock on the main screen. When I touch it, the alarms screen comes up. But if you click on the little clock icon at the top (the default is the alarm icon), it brings up a clock app. Click on the globe at the bottom of the screen and tell the phone where you are. At least, it does for me.

Or instead of touching the globe, touch the Settings thing (three dots) in the lower right hand corner and touch Home time zone and change it.

I use an app called ClockSync. It requires root. But it keeps my phone in sync using the Internet, not the cellular network. I set it to run every hour.

I use it so I can turn the phone part off and not lose time.

He does not have a Google device, he has an LG device. LG and every other manufacturer add substantial proprietary code to their implementation of Android and while the clock app is an app, the OS itself requires time and date information. Android is an open source OS based on the Linux kernel and device manufacturers can modify it however they see fit. In this case, LG has decided not to allow date and time information to be provided to the OS by the user.

Many of the features that a user would consider to be standard Android features are Google proprietary and licensed to device manufacturers. As such, Google has considerable influence over manufacturers in that they could refuse to license things like Play Store to those that don’t meet their core requirements, but obviously manual date and time setting options are not required.

The OP can install an app and place a clock widget that will display whatever he wants but it won’t override what the OS believes the date, time and time zone to be. That information is absolutely controlled in the device settings and LG prevents users from manually adjusting it without gaining root access to the OS that allows you to override their code.

It’s a shitty implementation in my opinion and the inability to manually override time zone is particularly egregious, but that’s what they did. For what it’s worth, I have a Nexus that arguably is a Google device. Even though it’s manufactured by another company, it is done so to Google specifications. Google specified that automatic date, time and time zone settings may be turned off and if they are, that information can be set by the user.

My phone says it is a LG-G4
Model H810

I am on AT&T with a micro-cell due to mountain blockage. Next valley over, Verizon works better I am told but it sucks rocks in this valley

I can set my clock if I un-check the auto network box. I can set it to anything I chose.

The DST works just fine. I don’t watch it change or even think about until the next day and so far it has always been right.

LG Sunset user here. I can definitely turn off the automatic time synchronization and adjust the time and date manually. It’s not locked out of all LG phones, it just seems like a few select models like Boyo Jim’s.

Or is it determined by which network it is on?

At a phone store, you have to pick a phone for which service you will use.

Un-locked and you can do any I guess but I am always told I need to get one from those that are for my provider. Apparently some things are different. More to it than just changing Sim cards I think.

And I could be completely wrong very easily…

I don’t know. Boyo Jim’s phone is a TracPhone/Straight Talk model and is a CDMA phone. It runs on Verizon’s network and doesn’t have a sim card. I assume it’s locked in and would be difficult to take to another CDMA carrier such as Sprint. Mine is on Straight Talk, but it’s a GSM phone and runs on AT&T’s network. It has a sim card and presumably I could take it to another carrier. I don’t know if that affects the time settings, though.

OTOH, I wonder if it isn’t the operating system that’s making a difference. The Ultimate 2 runs Kit Kat 4.4 and both the G4 and the Sunset run the relatively newer Lollipop 5.1.