iPad Time Zone never correct and wont set.

[ShootersHill]

I've opened multiple support tickets but yet to get a reasonable solution.

I am setting up 30 iPads and have location services enabled as part of PreStage enrolment. Every iPad is set to Los Angeles time zone although I am in London.

When I go to Settings > General > Date & Time, the Time Zone option just spins around like its loading something which never loads.

I have to deselect 'Set Automatically', set the time zone myself and then re-select 'Set Automatically'.

Jamf Support have also suggested recreating the PreStage enrolment and putting devices into DFU mode and restoring them to resolve the issue. This is far from practical.

Does anyone have a fix for this?
Thanks.

[Ecco_Luke]

I believe it's to do with the Wi-Fi during setup - location can be gathered from your IP and the timezone is set from this data. Do you complete setup on the network you initially connect to in order to trigger the management profile download? If so, maybe a firewall setting blocks the required data retrieval on Apple's end?

[ShootersHill]

Hi Luke,
I am using Jamf Pro in the cloud, we do not run a local server here.
The WiFi downloads the management profile and all seems fine except the time zone issue i mentioned. If I connect to a mobile hotspot off of the network, the time zone still doesn't connect. This suggests to me the firewall isn't the issue.
Thanks for your response.

[Ecco_Luke]

We also use Jamf Pro Cloud. I’ve just looked over our notes from a client who had exactly the same issue and we sorted it by simply fully shutting the iPad down and booting it back up again.

Also ensure that Setting Time Zone is enabled under Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services.

[robii]

You say you have "Location Services" enabled as part of your pre-stage. Do you mean you have it ask to enable Location Services as part of the initial set up process? As far as I know you can't have it enable Location Services by default. If you don't have it prompt to enable it it is automatically disabled. As Ecco_Luke said, "Also ensure that Setting Time Zone is enabled under Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services."

[TRCJim]

I am having the same issue here. We have one school (out of 23) that does not get the correct time zone (EST), but rather Cupertino time. Our PreStages for our schools are exactly the same - we choose "enable location services" as part of the set up process (i.e., we don't skip that step), and this process works fine everywhere but at that school. Restarting doesn't pick up the time, and checking in the settings for the time zone, I get the spinning wheel as mentioned in the original post. I have an iPad at that site that has been on for 2 days and still hasn't picked up the time. All sites point back to our main tech building here which then goes out to the internet (through a firewall, of course), but there is nothing firewall-wise between that site and here, so I am at a loss. We can set the time zone manually, but that isn't a viable solution with so many devices.

Hoping someone can tell me what ended up working for them. I have a work order in with Jamf and spoke with our Apple SE, but no help so far. Thanks in advance.

[mainelysteve]

@TRCJim In your wireless infrastructure is the street address able to added to your AP's or is it already? I remember seeing that as a requirement for location services to know the geo coordinates of the wireless network.

Our's eventually do acquire the correct time zone but it's not immediate i.e. it will stick on Cupertino anywhere from one minute to an hour. Third gen Apple TV's are particularly bad (at least for me) to get the time zone auto detected.

[TRCJim]

Thanks for the quick response - I doubt it, but need to check with our network department.

More info –

The tech just told me it first happened Monday, March 11 – the day after the time change. Schools are off Sunday, so she wouldn’t have seen it on Sunday.

Also, the same issue happens when setting up Staff iPads here. There are no Restrictions profiles on the Staff iPads, so the student Restrictions profile isn’t the underlying issue.

Tethered to my phone during setup, it doesn’t pick up the correct time either, so that takes our network out of the picture.

[RLR]

I had time issues on IOS when I added a certificate to the prestage enrolment.

[TRCJim]

Thanks RLR - No certs in our PreStage...the issue persists.

[jorrig]

Having the same issue here, also tried tethering to see if it has something to do with our corporate WiFi, but it still doesn´t pick up the time zone. (Sweden).

Anyone having a solution for this?

[iBSC]

Just confirming, this isn't for shared mode is it? In shared mode, location services will never give the correct time as you can't have location services switched on. All our single user iPads are fine displaying the correct time.

[mickgrant]

@iBSC if you turn on location services for one user on the shared iPad then the time get corrected for all users

[HCSTech]

I am late to this conversation. Can you confirm that 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi is available? You do not need to connect to the 2.4 but it needs to be around as that's how iOS get's it location. And yes Location Services should be enabled.

[mickgrant]

@HCSTech i wonder if that will change with the new iOS and MacOS find my device feature using NFC bluetooth location data farmed for surrounding devices

[HCSTech]

@mickgrant I believe that is all based on Bluetooth and used 2.4

[jkunkel]

@HCSTech Thank you! I have been struggling with this issue as well, and the the presence of 2.4Ghz wireless seems to have solved it.

[walkeri3rd]

@mickgrant The 2.4Ghz wireless has been turned on to test this theory but it did not resolve out issue.

[luke_reagor]

We have the same issue with our iPads. @HCSTech , when you say 2.4Ghz is needed, would you explain that a little more? Does it need to have the same SSID as the 5Ghz SSID or does the SSID even matter?