How to change your watch to Xiaomi: 5 ways to solve mistakes

Xiaomi’s smartphone time can be lost after flashing, changing the SIM card, or moving to another time zone. Wrong clocks cause alarm clocks, notifications, and synchronization with services. In this article, we’ll look at all the ways to change the time on Redmi, POCO, and Mi devices, from manual settings to automatic synchronization over the network.

Time errors are often associated with a disconnected Internet, incorrect regional settings or a firmware bug, and we'll show you how to fix a watch even if it's frozen at the same value or shows the wrong time zone. MIUI 12–14 and HyperOS (2026).

1. Automatic time synchronization through the network

The easiest way is to enable automatic synchronization with NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers, which guarantees precise time without manual settings, only works when connected to the Internet (mobile network or Wi-Fi).

To activate the function:

  • 📱 Open the Settings. → Additionally. → Date and time
  • 🔄 Switch the slider "Date and time Autodetermination" to the position "On.
  • 🌍 Make sure that “Time Zone Auto-Detection” is enabled»
  • 🔄 If the option is inactive, check your internet connection.

After activation, the smartphone syncs time with servers Google or Xiaomi for 1-2 minutes. If the clock is not updated, restart the device or check the network settings.

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If automatic synchronization doesn’t work, try manually selecting another NTP server from the engineering menu (see Section 5).

2 Manual date and time setting

If automatic synchronization is disabled or unavailable (e.g., in airplane mode), you can set the time manually, which is suitable for devices without Internet access or when testing applications that require you to rewind the date.

Instructions:

  1. Go to Settings → Additional → Date and time
  2. Turn off the “Date and Time Auto-Detection” option
  3. Click on the “Set Date” field and select the desired day/month/year
  4. Click on “Set Time” and enter hours/minutes
  5. For time zone, select “Select time zone” and specify your region (e.g. GMT+3: Moscow)

Warning: When manually set, alarms and reminders may not work properly if the time zone is not specified correctly, for example, if you are in Moscow but you have chosen GMT+0, the alarm will go off 3 hours earlier.

Automatic synchronization turned off|Internet connection (to check time zone)|The correct region is indicated in the settings|Rebooted smartphone after changes-->

3. Correction of time failures after firmware

Once the MIUI is updated or reset, the watch can be “flyed” to the default value (for example, January 1, 2016), due to an error in the /system/build.prop file where the regional settings are stored.

Solutions:

  • 🔧 Reset Network Settings: Go to Settings → Mobile network → Reset the network settings and confirm the action. Once the reset, the time is synchronized automatically.
  • 📲 Recovery Update: If the crash occurred after a failed update, reflash the device via Fastboot or Recovery Mode (instruction in Section 6).
  • 🛠️ Manual editing build.prop (for advanced): requires ADB Open the file and fix the lines: ro.config.alarm_alert=... persist.sys.timezone=Europe/Moscow (substitute Europe/Moscow locally).

If the problem persists, check the RTC (Real-Time Clock) module in the engineering menu.

  1. Please enter the phone application ##4636##
  2. Select "Phone Information"
  3. Scroll to the RTC status block – if there is an error, contact the service center.

Never | After updating your firmware | When changing your SIM card | Regularly (once a week) | Another option-->

4.Tune time on Xiaomi smartwatches (Mi Band, Watch)

Smart watches Mi Band, Xiaomi Watch or POCO Watch sync time with the phone through the application Mi Fitness or Zepp Life. If the bracelet is incorrect time, first check the settings of the smartphone – the watch copies its data.

How to update the time on wearable devices:

  • 📱 Sync through the app: Open Mi Fitness or Zepp Life Go to the Profile tab» → «My devices" Select your wristband/watch and click "Sync»

Manual setting (if synchronization does not work):

  1. In the app, go to Device Settings → Date and time
  2. Turn off Autosynchronization and set the time manually
  3. Turn on autosynchronization back
  4. 🔋 Reset the bracelet: press the button on the Mi Band 10 seconds before vibration.

Important: if the watch shows time with a delay of 1-2 hours, check the time zone settings on the phone. For example, for the Mi Band 7, it is critical that the smartphone should choose the Moscow region (GMT+3), rather than St. Petersburg (despite the same belt).

Why does Mi Band have time lost after switching off the phone?
The bracelet does not have its own RTC module (as in smartphones), and fully works only when connected to the phone. With a long disconnect (more than 12 hours), the watch can “hang” on the last synchronized value. Solution: connect the bracelet to the phone and wait for automatic synchronization.

5. Advanced Methods: Engineering Menu and ADB

If the standard methods don’t work, you can use the hidden features of Xiaomi, which require caution – wrong actions can lead to a system failure.

Method 1: Engineering menu (without root)

  • 📞 In the phone app, type the code ##4636##
  • 🛠️ Select "Phone Information» → «Set the time»
  • 🔄 Enter the date and time in the format YYYYMMDD.HHMMSS (for example, 20260515.143000 for May 15, 2026, 14:30:00)
  • 📱 Click "Install" and restart the device.

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Engineering menu and ADB-The commands should only be used if the standard methods have failed.

6. Solving time problems after resetting or firmware

After a hard reset or custom firmware installation (like LineageOS) the watch may get lost due to:

  • 🔄 Wrong version MIUI (For example, global firmware on a Chinese device)
  • 📡 No files available /system/etc/zoneinfo (time-zone)
  • ⚡ Damaged section. /data, where user settings are stored

What to do:

  1. Install the correct firmware: For Redmi Note 10 download the official MIUI for your region Use Mi Flash Tool for firmware via Fastboot

Restore time zone files:

  • Download the archive from zoneinfo for your Android version
  • TWRP Recovery: Copy files to /system/etc/
  • Reset your time settings: adb shell pm clear com.android.providers.settings (this will reset all custom settings, including time)
How to change the time format (12/24 hours) on Xiaomi?
Go to Settings → Additional → Date and Time → Time format and select: 24-hour (e.g. 15:30) 12-hour (e.g. 03:30 PM) Changes apply immediately, without rebooting.
Can you set a time from the future on Xiaomi?
Yeah, but it's fraught with failure: 📅 Some applications (such as banking) will block access. 🔄 Auto-update of Google Play software and services will stop working ⏰ Alarms and reminders will not work correctly For testing, use the developer mode and the option “Disallow changing time” (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI → 7 times to tap → For developers → Prohibit time change).
Why is the Mi Band time different from the phone by 1 hour?
This is due to time zone settings: On your phone, check if Time Zone Auto Detection is enabled (Settings → Date and Time) In the Mi Fitness app, update the bracelet firmware If the difference persists - manually set the time zone in your phone (eg, GMT+3 instead of GMT+2) For the Mi Band 6/7, also check the settings in the Zepp Life app - sometimes the region is knocked down there.
How to reset the time settings to factory?
There are two ways: via Settings: Go to Settings → About Phone → Reset Select “Reset All Settings” (without deleting files) Confirm Action Through Recovery: Turn off phone and press Volume+ + Power to log in to Recovery Select Wipe & Reset → Reset Settings Confirm Reset After reset, time will set automatically when connected to the Internet.