Iphone iOS 4 Contact Birthday Date Bug

Forums › Apple iOS and devices › Iphone iOS 4 Contact Birthday Date Bug

anandpatel18

56 posts

Master Geek

#63179 22-Jun-2010 10:08

Hey,

Every time I add a contact and add their birthday the date of the birthday automatically moves by one day.

For example, I will select someones birthday as the 23rd of march and click done but the contact birthday shows 24th. Even if I select a random date say 1st June, it will say 2nd.

When I go into the calendar app and display the birthday calendar the birthdays are right though, it will have a notification as a birthday on the 23rd.

I have done a fresh restore from a backup and as a new iphone, still I have the error.

I'm thinking that the contact list in iOS4 is set to a specific timezone different from my phones timezone as it adjusts it for a day. Since I live in New Zealand, my timezone settings are set to Auckland, New Zealand, even in the calendar time zone. When I change my timezone settings to somewhere in the USA it automatically changes the contacts birthdays to the correct date. When I change it back it adjusts the birthdays by a day again. This would be correct as the 23rd in USA would be the 24th here but my contacts are not in a different timezone so why does my iphone think they are? Even if a add a new contact it still changes the birthday date.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this or had the same problem?

I do have a couple of email accounts sync to exchange but I have deselected syncing with these. Its a Iphone 3GS btw.

Any help would be great.

clicknz

467 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#344087 22-Jun-2010 11:17

Hi,
I'm sorry I can't give any insights on this behaviour, other than to say that it's been a fairly persistent bug in iOS's going back to the earliest days. I think you have identified the problem (a timezone issue), but as far as I know there isn't an elegant solution to this. But at least I know it's still present in iOS4....sigh....

Cheers,
Mike

Photographer/Videographer clickmedia.nz

anandpatel18

56 posts

Master Geek

#344106 22-Jun-2010 11:52

Heres a image of it:

https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/blogb5ecaf1fd5b38fd71c05faca58ab265c.jpg

It even does it on the calendar app if your not in the correct year :S

https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/blog68220e1fc547f5555c0629a0b3243dc6.jpg

corksta

2397 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#344143 22-Jun-2010 13:31

Yes I've experienced this before, it's not a 4.0 issue.

I'm trying to remember how I fixed it though - all the birthdays I have entered are now correct.

Try a Google search in the meantime.

bcourtney

652 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#344153 22-Jun-2010 13:54

corksta: Yes I've experienced this before, it's not a 4.0 issue.

I'm trying to remember how I fixed it though - all the birthdays I have entered are now correct.

Try a Google search in the meantime.

It used to be an issue in one of the previous OS refreshes due to our daylight savings time changes that occurred. It was eventually fixed by a further OS update that occurred (but took a LONG time to get fixed).

Although I've not noticed this issue since upgrading to iOS4 so perhaps the OP has a different problem

raydenl

99 posts

Master Geek

#344763 24-Jun-2010 09:15

This appears to be a new problem with ios4, or maybe an existing problem highlighted with the introduction of the new Birthday calendar in ios4.

Others are also experiencing this problem:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11734996

edit: ah, I see that's your post also...

SGgal

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#345617 26-Jun-2010 22:09

I'm using the iOS 4.0 on my 3G and experienced the same problems. I was quite annoyed by it, so tried tweaking around and found a solution (at least worked for me). This may not be the best way, can be tedious for people with many birth dates stored in their contact list but it's worth a try.

1) Go to your Calendar > tap on the "Calendars" button on top left corner of the screen. This will bring you to the Calendars settings page.

2) Uncheck the selection for "Birthdays" (indicated by the red dot) under the "Others" category, then select "Done".

3) Then go into each and every contact detail on your Contacts list, and edit or re-insert the Birthday date as though you are doing it all over again, even if the date reflected is already correct. (Yes, this can be frustrating if your list is long).

4) When all birthdays are re-input, return to the Calendar and repeat Step 1, only this time, you check to put a tick next to the "Birthdays" option > Click "Done".

This should set the birthday dates right in your calendar again. New dates added after that should be reflected correctly too.

anandpatel18

56 posts

Master Geek

#345673 27-Jun-2010 08:53

Hey thanks, yeah I noticed that when I delete a contacts birthday and add it back the correct date would show in my calendar but not my contacts. Mine worked without having to disable the calendar so yours might as well.

I use a program called myphone+ which syncs my facebook friends to my contacts so I didn't have to add them all bk manually but this was a bit more complex to get it to work. If someone wants me to write the process then just reply.

Equinox IT

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phillw

60 posts

Master Geek

#345764 27-Jun-2010 13:57

Interesting to hear that deleting contacts and adding them again seems to fix this. I would like to see if it holds the fix after a few days as I remember doing this about 6 months ago but the problem came back for me :-(

Just another ongoing issue like the DST problem we had with MobileMe calendars a long time ago.

anandpatel18

56 posts

Master Geek

#345770 27-Jun-2010 14:27

Yeah I think it will only last till I update or do a restore from a backup. There must a problem when it adds the contacts from a backup or something.

phillw

60 posts

Master Geek

#345773 27-Jun-2010 14:42

Bummer :-(
Well hopefully it will be fixed on day. Might be a good idea for as many of us to submit feedback here - http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You never know it might help if enough of us in New Zealand let them know it's a problem.

Behodar

10502 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#345774 27-Jun-2010 14:50

I'm running iOS 3 but I used to have this issue too. I think it went away with OS X 10.6 though. What OS are you running on your computer?

The same problem used to affect my Sony Ericsson phone too (using iSync) but like my iPod it's no longer an issue.

phillw

60 posts

Master Geek

#345775 27-Jun-2010 14:51

I'm running Mac OS 10.6.4 - how many of you are syncing using MobileMe?

Behodar

10502 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#345776 27-Jun-2010 14:53

I'm running 10.6.3 and am not using MM.

anandpatel18

56 posts

Master Geek

#345777 27-Jun-2010 14:57

I'm running windows 7. I submitted a feedback form explaining the bug and putting a link to this forum. Let's hope they actually look lol.