X

iPhone 5 users complain of date and time bug

Chiming in on Apple's discussion forum, several owners of the new iPhone say the wrong date and time keep appearing.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read
The iPhone 5.
The iPhone 5. Apple

iPhone 5 users who subscribe to Verizon now have another bug to add the list.

Posting 21 pages of messages on the Apple Support Communities, a host of owners of the new iPhone say the date and time are often off, sometimes by a day; other times by as many as two weeks. So far, the problem seems specific to Verizon Wireless as many of the people chiming in say they're Verizon subscribers.

"I've had the phone for about two weeks and have noticed the time drifting slowly off by 3-5 minutes, said one person. "Tonight [October 16] at 10:40pm it changed itself to September 28th 4:35pm."

"Mine isn't just off by 30 min," said another commenter. "Today the black one was off by 15 days plus 6 hours and 12 minutes when I pulled it off the charger. The white one is my wife's and she complained yesterday evening that she had to fix the time 4 times throughout the day."

Some people say the problem occurs mostly at home, especially if the Wi-Fi or LTE coverage is inconsistent. Users have suggested and attempted an array of fixes, including changing the date and time from automatic to manual, resetting the phone, turning off LTE, and toggling Airplane Mode. But as is often the case, certain fixes work for some people but not for everyone.

Several of those affected by the bug say they contacted Verizon or Apple, initially with mixed results. Later posts suggested that both companies are aware of the problem and are looking into it. But a few people said that some Apple reps claimed it was a Verizon issue, while some Verizon reps lobbed it back into Apple's court.

CNET contacted both Apple and Verizon for comment and will update the story when we receive more information.

The new iPhone has garnered generally positive reviews, but many owners have reported certain flaws, from scratches on the aluminum coating to light leakage. Wi-Fi issues have also plagued some iPhone 5 users.

Last month, Apple rolled out a fix for Verizon subscribers to address a bug that allowed some phones to chew up cellular data while connected to a Wi-Fi network.

(Via AppleInsider)

Watch this: iPhone 5: Hands-on at CNET