How to set up and change the time on Xiaomi smart watches

Modern wearable gadgets from the Chinese technogiant have long ceased to be just pedometers, becoming full-fledged digital assistants that require accurate synchronization with the outside world. Often users are faced with a situation when after a trip to another city or resetting the device, the device displays the wrong time zone, which knocks the rhythm of notifications and alarms. Unlike classic mechanical clocks, you can not just twist the wheel here, since the timing is tied to the software of the smartphone.

The process of adjusting time stamps on Xiaomi, Mi Band and Amazfit devices can seem confusing due to the peculiarities of the Android and iOS operating system with background applications. Most models do not have a standalone interface for manually entering hours and minutes, relying solely on the connection to the phone. Which is why, if you have a setup that is lost, it is often useless to look for the “Time” button in the menu of the gadget itself – the solution lies deeper in the “phone-app” bundle.

In this article, we will look at the algorithms for different scenarios, from the banal re-binding of the device to the complex cases with the “Chinese” versions of firmware that live on Beijing time. You will learn why automatic adjustment sometimes fails and how to force the gadget to take the actual data. Correct calibration of the watch is critical for the correct operation of the sleep tracker and activity statistics.

Time synchronization principles in Xiaomi ecosystem

It’s fundamental to understand that Xiaomi smartwatches and fitness bracelets aren’t independent timekeepers in the full sense of the word. They function as peripherals that receive a time stamp from a smartphone operating system via a Bluetooth connection. When you see the right time on your wrist, it’s the result of the Mi Fit (now Zepp Life) or Mi Fitness app background service, which periodically sends a packet of data with the current time and date.

There are two main mechanisms of updating: when you connect and recurrent. The first one works when you connect your gadget to your phone after you disconnect or reboot. The second one works in the background and is necessary to correct the accumulated error of the quartz generator installed inside the device. If you notice that the clock starts to run away or lag for a few seconds a day, this is a normal physical feature that automatic synchronization compensates for.

⚠️ Warning: If you manually change the time on the smartphone itself without plugging in the clock, they won’t know until the next call, which can cause the alarm clock to go off in a bad time, even if the phone’s time is already right.

Xiaomi gadgets usually read not only the numbers of hours and minutes, but also offset relative to UTC (Greenwich).When traveling through several time zones, the device can “stuck” in the time of the previous region if there was no forced update through the application, in such cases, not just a change in number, but a complete re-registration of the time zone in the profile of the device.

Basic setup via Zepp Life and Mi Fitness app

For most users, the mobile app is the main management tool. The Zepp Life interface (formerly Mi Fit) and the new Mi Fitness have similar logic, although the visual design may differ. This is where the control panel is located, allowing you not only to see the steps, but also to initiate a forced update of temporary data. If your watch shows the wrong time, the first step should always be to check the connection status in the application.

The manual update process is like this: you open the app, go to the Profile or Device tab, select your gadget from the list and wait for the Connected status to appear. Often, it is enough to simply go to the main screen of the device in the app to trigger the exchange of data. If time has not changed, try to go to the settings of the bracelet itself within the application and find the “Time settings” or similar, where there may be a “Sync” button.

• 🔄 Open the Zepp Life or Mi Fitness app on your smartphone and make sure Bluetooth is turned on.
• 📱 Go to Profile and select an image of your watch or bracelet.
• 🔗 Wait for the Connected status and pull the screen down for forced data updates.
• ⚙️ Check the time zone settings in your device profile if this option is available.

Importantly, some firmware and app versions lack an explicit "Set Time" button, which is deliberately designed by developers because it's believed that the device should take time from the phone's system. If the automation doesn't work, a simple reconnection often helps: remove the device from the Bluetooth list in the phone's settings and re-attach it through the app. This action resets the time stamp cache and forces the gadget to request current data.

The Chinese Time Problem (UTC+8)

One of the most common problems Xiaomi owners have, especially when buying gray versions or global models with Chinese firmware, is the rigid Beijing time (UTC+8). In this case, even if your smartphone is set to Moscow time, the watch can persistently show time ahead of yours by 5 or 6 hours. This is because the internal logic of the device ignores the local settings of the phone and takes time directly from Xiaomi servers located in China.

There are several methods to address this problem that depend on the model and version of firmware, and the easiest way is to change the time zone in the app itself. In Zepp Life, you need to go to the bracelet profile settings, find Timezone, and manually select your region, disabling the automatic detection option, but on newer models, this feature is often blocked or hidden.

If the software settings don't work, you can use a more radical method, which is to change the region in the app itself. Going to the app settings (Profile → Settings → Region), try to choose a country close to your time zone, or vice versa, China, to reset the peg, and then return it back. Sometimes it helps to completely reset the device to factory settings through the menu of the gadget itself (if there is a System → Factory Reset) and then re-bind.

⚠️ Note: If you change region in the application, you may experience a reset of activity statistics or loss of sleep history, as the data is stored on the servers of the selected country.

Time settings on the Xiaomi Watch and Amazfit

Full-fledged smartwatches, such as the Xiaomi Watch series, Redmi Watch and Amazfit brand devices, run on more complex operating systems (Wear OS, Zepp OS), which gives the user more freedom, but also adds nuance. Unlike simple wristbands, here time can be customized not only through a companion app, but also through the settings of the watch operating system itself, if it is connected to Wi-Fi.

On Wear OS devices (e.g. Xiaomi Watch 2), time is synchronized through a Google account. If you see a discrepancy, check the date and time settings in Settings → System → Date and Time directly on the clock. Make sure to tick “Use Network Time.” For Amazfit and Redmi watches running Zepp OS, the Zepp app remains the main source of truth. It also provides more detailed time (12/24 hours) and date settings.

Below is a table that helps you determine the method of setting up depending on the model and platform:

For eSIM-enabled watch owners, the situation is even more interesting: they can get the exact time directly from the cell tower, regardless of the phone, in which case, if time is lost, it will help to turn on and off the flight mode on the watch itself to restart the modem and log in again.

What to do if time is constantly being lost

Time goes away regularly after each reboot or battery drain points to a deeper problem than just a synchronization failure, often caused by Android’s aggressive energy saving policies, which kill the background process of a Zepp Life or Mi Fitness app, preventing it from transmitting current data to the watch, and as a result, the gadget keeps ticking its course based on the last value it knows.

To fix this problem, you need to “allow” the application to work in the background without restrictions. Go to your smartphone settings, find the Apps section, select your watch app, and go to Battery or Energy Saving. Select “No Limits” or “No Limits” mode. Also, add the application to autoboot and allow it to start when the system starts. This is guaranteed to restore the stability of the connection.

Another reason could be to de-synchronize the phone’s system time, if the phone has the wrong date (for example, a year is down), the watch will receive the wrong data, check if the “Use Network Time” option is enabled in the main Android or iOS settings. Sometimes it helps to delete and re-install the companion app, which clears the cache of erroneous time stamp data.

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Useful tip: Once you have set the permissions for the application, force it to close (swipe up in the menu of running applications) and open again. This will start the sync service again and often instantly adjusts the time on the clock.

Frequent questions and nuances of operation

Even if all instructions are followed, users may encounter unique situations related to the features of different firmware versions and regions. For example, daylight saving time in some countries may not be handled correctly by the gadget if its database does not have appropriate rules for your region. In such cases, manual correction is impossible, and you can wait for the firmware update that Xiaomi releases through the application.

Also, remember that the time format (12-hour or 24-hour) is set separately from the watch itself. If the numbers are correct but the format is not the same (e.g. PM instead of 18:00), look for the appropriate switch in the dial settings or in the Device Settings section inside the app. On some models, this option is copied from the phone, on others it is set independently.

It is important to distinguish between a time failure and a date failure. If the clock shows the correct time but the wrong date (for example, February 31 or 1970), this is a sign that the device did not receive the full data packet when synchronized, in which case the full battery discharge of the watch before turning off and the subsequent charge to 100% with simultaneous connection to the application helps.

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In 95% of cases, the problem of incorrect time is solved not by searching for buttons on the watch itself, but by configuring access rights and permissions for a companion application in the operating system of your smartphone.