Date & Time auto set not working

A few weeks ago, I started noticing that the time on my MacBook was displayed incorrectly. I checked System Settings to make sure "Set time and date automatically" was on. The source is listed as time.apple.com.


Toggling the auto-set off and on again always fixes the problem, and usually if I'm on my computer for long enough it eventually corrects itself. Is there a way I can "reboot" this setting so it works normally again?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Nov 7, 2025 6:35 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 9, 2025 10:48 PM

Backup and then try these Terminal commands:


sudo rm /var/db/timed/com.apple.timed.plist


sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com


macOS Sonoma 14.1.1 incorrect date and ti… - Apple Community


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255236505?answerId=259989023022&sortBy=oldest_first#259989023022


4 replies

Nov 9, 2025 10:50 AM in response to steve626

Thank you, that was not the issue. The time zone setting is correct, and the issue is that the time is off by some arbitrary amount, often related to how long ago I last opened the laptop. For example, at the moment it's 10:43 AM EST (US) but my computer says 8:33 AM EST.

[I wrote this draft earlier & ran into some issues posting it, which is why neither of the times I mentioned lines up with the timestamp of this reply.]

Date & Time auto set not working

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