Are there any apps that keep the ipad system time accurate, set it to the natl. Bureau of standards? My clock drifts a little, not bad, but it would be nice to have it keep perfect time.
I know there was some discussions on this in the past but wondered if There has been any new info.

How do you know your clock drifts? What are you using as your reference/control time?

There are a couple of "atomic clock" apps that will show the precise time, but from what I can tell, none of them actually adjust the iPad's clock. In order to sync the clock, that would mean a constant connection to a source that provides the information and that would take up a considerable amount of bandwidth to say nothing of the drain on the battery.

I am an amateur radio operator and I have one of those "atomic clocks" that is sync'ed to WWV and I have not found the iPad's clock to be terribly inaccurate. It's close enough for government work!

I have an atomic wrist watch that gets its time via WWV broadcast radio signal. I have my ipad set to sync automatically in settings and its only off about 3 seconds from the atomic time.


Is your ipad a wifi only version? it may not know what timezone your in.

Confuscious say, "Man with one clock always knows what time it is. Man with two clocks is never sure!"

I do not have an option to sync, does the wifi model not do that?

Originally Posted by Hawkmech

I do not have an option to sync, does the wifi model not do that?

yeah I'm guessing it may not have the auto sync because it has no GPS if its a wifi only mode.

Settings should allow you to set the correct time zone. It should also sync the time when you sync with itunes.

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

It should also sync the time when you sync with itunes.

But does it sync with Apple's clock or your computer's clock?

I just checked. The iPad ckock is about 3 seconds slower than my computer's clock (it changes time about 3 seconds later than the computer), but it is only about 1 second slower than WWV. Maybe I just got lucky!

I will check it again in a week and see where things stand... if I remember.

if you have ipad 3G turning cellular data off and on will force it to re-sync over the air.

Originally Posted by 1991-C4

I am an amateur radio operator and I have one of those "atomic clocks" that is sync'ed to WWV and I have not found the iPad's clock to be terribly inaccurate. It's close enough for government work!

The iPad 3G adjusts its time via the cell connection. Cell phones have the most accurate time for most people because they sync with cellular towers. These towers sync from the GPS network. If they did not maintain such exceptional accuracy they would never work as the digital cell signal and cell data require fantastically accurate clocks to even work. They operate with millisecond accuracy.

I have one of those WWV digital clocks too with 4" high digits. It can drift as the battery ages and if for some reason it doesn't hear one of the radio signals for a couple of days. I just move it out of the room full of electronic noise and force a sync to make it all well again.

My AT&T 3G iPad keeps good time, duh!


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