How to set the time on the Xiaomi desktop: all the ways

Have you noticed that your Xiaomi or Redmi displays the wrong time? Or after the MIUI update, the desktop clock has started to lag? This problem is familiar to many users of the brand's smartphones - especially after resetting, changing the battery or traveling between time zones. In 90% of cases, you can fix it in 2 minutes, but there are nuances that are not written about in the standard instructions.

In this article, we’ll look at all the current ways to set time on Xiaomi, POCO and Redmi devices (including the 2023-2026 models on MIUI 14/15 and HyperOS), learn how to sync your watch with your mobile operator’s network, manually set a date, add a time widget to the home screen, and even fix the “Time is not updated” error through hidden settings. And also – why sometimes after updating your firmware, a smartphone can show a time with a difference of 3-12 hours, and how to fix it without resetting to factory settings.

Why Xiaomi is running out of time: 4 main reasons

Before you get into the setup, it’s important to understand why the watch on your Xiaomi smartphone started lying.

• 📵 No connection to the network: If the phone does not catch the mobile network (for example, in the subway or outside the city), automatic time synchronization is turned off.
• ⚙️ Failure after update MIUI. In the firmware MIUI 13-15 and HyperOS sometimes fly off time zone settings, especially if you used to use the same. ADB-commands to unlock the loader.
• 🔋 Weak battery: At a discharge below 15%, the system can pause background processes, including time synchronization.
• 🌍 Manual time zone change if you manually selected the wrong belt (e.g, UTC+0 instead UTC+3 For Moscow, time will be lost even when the automatic setting is enabled.

Most of the time, the problem is solved by enabling automatic synchronization, but there are more complex scenarios, such as when time is lost due to a hardware failure of the RTC module (real time), which is typical for devices older than 3-4 years (Redmi Note 5, Mi 8, etc.), where the chip responsible for the clock begins to “glut”, in which case only the replacement of the board or the use of third-party applications for forced synchronization will help.

Method 1: Automatic time synchronization through a network

This is the simplest and most recommended method: MIUI/HyperOS automatically receives accurate time from the mobile operator's servers or over the Internet.

1. Open the settings (cog icon on the desktop).
2. Go to the section Additional settings → Date and time.
3. Activate the switches: 🔄 Autodetermining Date and Time (using network data) 🌐 Time zone autodetermination (important for travel)

Wait 10-20 seconds, the time should be updated automatically.

If you don’t sync after you turn on these options, try:

• 📶 Switch from 4G on 3G (Sometimes the servers of the operator work better on the old network).
• 🔄 Rebooting your phone will reset the network settings cache.
• 📡 Connect to Wi-Fi – some operators block time synchronization in roaming.

Method 2: Manually adjust date and time

If automatic sync doesn’t work (e.g., you’re on an airplane or offline), you can set the time manually, and this is true for custom firmware devices like PixelExperience or LineageOS, where settings sometimes fly off.

Instructions:

1. Go to Settings → Additional settings → Date and time.
2. Turn off the Auto-Date and Time option.
3. Click on the Set a date and Set a time to manually set values.
4. For time zones, select your city from the list (e.g. Moscow, Russia (UTC+3)).

Important: When manually set up, time may be lost after rebooting the phone or retrieving it SIM-To avoid this, once you've returned, automatically sync again.

Method 3: Correcting Time Failure Through Developer Mode

If your Xiaomi time is lost by a few hours (for example, shows UTC+0 instead of UTC+3), the problem may be system settings that are not reset by standard methods.

How to turn on the developer mode:

1. Open the Settings. → The phone.
2. Find the MIUI version and tap it 7 times in a row.
3. Enter the screen unlock password (if requested).
4. Return to the main settings menu and a new section for developers will appear.

Next:

1. Go to the Developers' Form → Debugging.
2. Find the option to Enable Forced Network Time Synchronization and activate it.
3. Reboot the phone.

This method is particularly useful for devices with MIUI 12-14, where there are sometimes conflicts between the system clock and data from the operator, for example, after updating the firmware, the smartphone can “forget” the adjustment for summer/winter time.

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If time is still lost after the developer mode is turned on, try turning off the “Auto-Time Zones” option, manually select your belt, and then turn on the automatic setting again.

Method 4: Adding a clock widget to your desktop

Sometimes users confuse the system time (which appears in the notification bar) and the clock widget on the desktop. If you do not show the time on the home screen, you need to add the appropriate widget.

How to do this:

1. Press and hold your finger in the free space of the desktop.
2. In the menu that appears, select Widgets.
3. Scroll through the list to the Watch section (or Clock in English firmware).
4. Select your favorite style of widget (analog, digital, date, etc.) and drag it to the screen.

There are several types of widgets available on Xiaomi:

If the widget is not updated, try:

• 🔄 Remove it from the screen and add it again.
• 📥 Update the Watch app through Google Play.
• 🔧 Reset the widget settings in Settings → Annexes → The clock → Warehouse → Clear the cache.

Method 5: Elimination of synchronization errors (advanced methods)

If none of the above methods worked, the problem could be a bigger problem.

⚠️ Note: The following methods require access to ADB Or reset settings. Don't run them without a backup!

Method 1: Resetting network settings

Sometimes, time synchronization errors are associated with damaged mobile network settings to reset them:

1. Go to Settings. → SIM-maps and mobile networks.
2. Choose yours. SIM-map → Settings → Resetting network settings.
3. Confirm the action and restart the phone.

Method 2: Forced synchronization through ADB

For power users: If time is lost due to a system failure, you can manually send a sync command via ADB.

adb shell settings put global auto_time 1


adb shell settings put global auto_time_zone 1

After completing the commands, restart the device.

Method 3: Checking for hardware faults

If the time is lost by several hours each day (for example, it is 2-3 hours behind), this may indicate a malfunction of the quartz resonator on the motherboard.

• 🔧 Contact the service center (repair is possible only by replacing the chip).
• 📱 Install a third-party sync app (like ClockSync) that will force you to update the time every 10 minutes.

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If time is lost by a few hours a day, it's almost always a hardware problem. Software methods will help temporarily, but they won't eliminate the cause.

Frequent questions about setting up time on Xiaomi