When you travel, a reminder rings at the wrong time because the app and you disagree about which clock it belongs to. Some reminders should follow your local time wherever you are ("take my tablets at 08:00"), and some should stay on one city's clock ("call the London office at 15:00"). The fix is to decide which kind each reminder is: floating, which follows you, or fixed to a time zone, which stays put.
What happens to a reminder when you change time zone
Your phone sets its clock from the network when you land. The question is what the reminder app does with a reminder you created at home.
There are two ways an app can store "08:00":
- As a moment in time. 08:00 in Berlin is 07:00 UTC. Fly to New York and that same moment is 02:00 local time, so the reminder rings at 2 in the morning.
- As a time on the clock. 08:00 means 08:00 wherever the phone is. In New York it rings at 08:00 New York time.
Neither is wrong. They suit different reminders, and the problem starts when an app picks one for everything.
Floating reminders
A floating reminder follows your local clock. Use it for anything tied to your body or your day, not to a place:
- medication at the same times each day;
- "lights out" or "stop working" reminders;
- your morning routine;
- daily habits like stretching or drinking water.
After a long flight, floating reminders ring at the familiar clock times in the new place, which is usually what you want. For medication taken on a strict interval across a large time difference, ask your doctor or pharmacist how to shift the times; that is a medical question, not an app setting.
Fixed time zone reminders
A fixed reminder stays tied to one zone. Use it for anything that happens somewhere specific, or with people who are not travelling with you:
- calls and video meetings with people in another country;
- deadlines at a set time in a set place, like a tax office closing at 17:00 local time;
- online events announced in a particular zone;
- reminders about home while you are away, like "the cleaner arrives at 09:00".
If you are in New York and the London office call is at 15:00 London time, a fixed reminder rings at 10:00 New York time, because that is when the call happens.
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving adds a quieter version of the same problem.
A floating reminder at 08:00 rings at 08:00 before and after the clocks change, so you rarely notice.
A fixed reminder in another zone can shift for a few weeks a year. The United States and Europe change their clocks on different dates in spring and autumn, so for a short stretch the gap between New York and London is four hours instead of five. A reminder fixed to London time rings at the right London time throughout; it just looks an hour different on your New York clock during those weeks. That is correct behaviour, and the reason to fix the zone instead of typing the converted time.
Which kind is it: a quick reference
| Reminder | Kind | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Morning tablets at 08:00 | Floating | Tied to your day, wherever you wake up |
| Weekly call with your sister in Sydney | Fixed to Sydney | It happens at her time, not yours |
| Pay the rent on the 1st at 09:00 | Floating, usually | You pay it from wherever you are |
| Check in for a flight 24 hours before departure | Fixed to the departure city | Airlines count from local departure time |
| Team stand-up while you work remotely abroad | Fixed to the office | Your colleagues did not move |
| Water the plants at home, a neighbour does it | Fixed to home | The plants are at home, and so is the neighbour |
When in doubt, ask where the thing happens. If the answer is "wherever I am", it floats. If the answer is a city, fix it to that city.
How to set up reminders before a trip
- Go through repeating reminders. For each one, ask: is this about me, or about a place or other people? Me means floating; a place or other people means fixed.
- Set the zone on one-off appointments abroad. If you book a meeting in Lisbon at 10:00 Lisbon time while you are still at home, create the reminder in the Lisbon zone, not converted to your home time.
- Check after you land. Open the app once and look at the next few reminders. Their times should be what you expect in the new zone.
- Watch the phone's clock settings. Automatic date, time and time zone should be on, or the phone itself may be on the wrong time.
How Buzzley handles it
Every Buzzley reminder has a Timezone setting. Floating "fires at local time wherever you are". Pick a city instead, and the reminder stays fixed to that zone. You can search for the zone you need, and set a Default timezone for new reminders in Settings. The web app has the same field, where you type a zone name like Europe/Berlin or leave it empty.
When your phone moves to a new zone, Buzzley shows Timezone change detected with the old and new zone and asks what to do with your fixed-timezone reminders: Adjust to local time or Keep original times. On Android, Buzzley also resets its alarms when the zone changes, so a reminder rings at the right moment even if you do not open the app after landing.
Combined with a repeat, that covers most travel cases: daily tablets floating at 08:00 and 20:00, the weekly team call fixed to the office's zone, and appointments abroad in the zone where they happen. The time zone reminders page has more examples, and appointment reminders covers early warnings before the day itself.
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