iPhone Time-based Automations that don't adjust for time zone changes

I need to have some time-based automations run at a specific time regardless of what time zone I'm in. For instance, I want to have an automation run at a specific if I'm home. When I go to another time zone, I still want this automation to run at that same specific time (in my new/temporary local time zone).

For instance, I have an automation to re-enable auto-raise on my watch at 7am. Works great when I'm at home. But, if I go 3 time zones west, that automation runs at 4am in the morning which results in my wife and I being unhappy because my watch shines in our faces when I move my wrist.

Along the same line, I turn off auto-raise and silent the watch at 10pm (home time). If I travel, these functions either disable too early (traveling west) or too late (traveling east).

I tried the only approaches I could find that worked correctly without the broken time zone hassle:

Alarms: Automation based on alarms, which appears to work, but I couldn't find a way to turn off the alarm, so I have an alarm notification clanging at the top of the screen (silently, of course, but still there). Quite annoying.

Focus: Add a new focus for each time (or sets of times) that I want a function to run and add an automation based on the timer running. This works, but for each function, I end up with a Focus and an Automation. Even with the consolidation I was able to do, I now have 4 focuses defined, and 4 automations based on those focuses. These cover the 8 functions that I want to automate, but each function is split between the timer (in a focus) and the function (in an automation). This is clunky and unnecessarily complex.

Why oh why isn't there a setting on Automations that says "Do NOT change the time when the timezone changes" (or however Apple would prefer to word it)?

Has anyone found a better way to do this? If not, is there an understanding as to why Apple has chosen to constrain this functionality to make this simple function so much more complex?

Thanks

Posted on Oct 28, 2026 4:34 PM

2 replies

SravanKrA

Level 10 (454,138 points)

Oct 29, 2026 12:32 AM in response to BennSc

If your specific requirement is to prevent the clock from changing when the time zone changes, turning off Set Automatically is the dependable built-in solution. A Shortcuts automation cannot directly replace that setting.

If you have Set Automatically enabled under Settings > General > Date & Time, you may need to turn it off and set the time zone manually if you want to prevent your iPhone from changing its time when you travel to a different time zone. However, this also disables automatic time zone updates system-wide.

Automatic Time Zone is useful when your iPhone needs to adjust its clock to the local time, especially in these situations:

Calendar events and meetings: Correct time-zone information helps display events at the intended local time and avoid scheduling confusion.
Alarms and reminders: Automatic time updates help ensure scheduled alarms and reminders follow the correct local clock time.
Location-based services: Some location-dependent features and apps may rely on accurate date, time, and time-zone information.
Daylight saving time: In countries that observe daylight saving time, the clock can adjust automatically when the change takes effect.

BennSc Author

Level 1 (33 points)

Oct 29, 2026 11:56 AM in response to SravanKrA

Thanks for the reply! I guess I wasn't clear enough.

I definitely want and have the phone's time zone to change. Seriously, who wants to go 3 time zones away and with all this great technology still have to translate times in your head?

What I want is to have the clock always in the correct time zone for my location but also have automations that run at the same time for the local time zone. Think of your wakeup alarm. This changes so that when you go a zone E/W the alarm does "the right thing".

I have an automation that I want to run at the same time every day, let's call it 7am. With automatic time zone change enabled, this cannot be done with just an automation because the time in the automation changes when your time zone changes. Without some hackery the automation runs hours earlier or later, depending on where you are vs time zone where automation was created.

Hope this clarifies.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256384894