Will your car, microwave and alarm clock know about the Nov 1 time change?

Your calendar is the other thing that can go wrong. Check it for meetings an hour off →

Device by device

Clocks you set by hand: you’re done

This is the good news. The microwave, the oven, the clock on the kitchen wall and the dashboard of an older car never change on their own. Normally that’s why you have to go around the house twice a year. This time the correct time doesn’t change either, so they’re right on Nov 1 without you touching them. They’ll still be right in March, when the rest of North America springs forward and you don’t.

Clocks with “automatic DST”: turn that setting off

These are the ones that will catch you out. Plenty of alarm clocks, programmable thermostats, timers and car stereos have a built-in daylight saving switch. It holds the old rule, “fall back on the first Sunday in November”, and nothing will ever update it. On Nov 1 they’ll fall back an hour by themselves, even though your province didn’t.

The fix is to find the DST or daylight saving setting (often DST On/Off, Auto DST or Summer time) and turn it off, then set the time again. If the device also asks for a time zone, pick the one that matches your new time all year round:

Don’t pick “Pacific”, “Mountain” or “Central” with DST on. Those follow the US, and from Nov 1 to March they’re an hour behind BC, Alberta and Manitoba.

“Atomic” clocks will follow the US

Radio-controlled clocks, the ones marked “atomic”, set themselves from the US time signal broadcast from Colorado. That signal carries the US daylight saving schedule, and the clocks adjust for it automatically. So on Nov 1 they’ll fall back with the US.

Most of these clocks have a DST switch or setting and a time zone selector. Turn DST off and pick the zone from the table above. Once that’s set, the clock will keep perfect time all year, which is the whole point of buying one.

Cars

Cars are the most mixed bag:

• You set the clock yourself: it’s already right. Do nothing.
• It takes the time from your phone (Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or a “sync time with phone” option): it follows your phone. Get the phone right and the car follows.
• It sets itself from GPS with automatic daylight saving on: GPS gives the car the exact time, but the car applies its own time zone rules, and those may be the old ones. If it falls back on Nov 1, turn off automatic DST in the clock settings, or switch the clock to manual. A dealer software update may fix it properly over time.

Smart home: speakers, thermostats, TVs and cable boxes

Anything connected to the internet gets its time zone rules from its maker, the same way your phone does. Amazon, Google and the big TV makers update these automatically, so Alexa, Google Home, a Nest or Ecobee thermostat and your smart TV should all stay right. Smaller brands are hit or miss.

On Nov 1, glance at each one. If it’s an hour off, the usual fix is to check its location or time zone in the app (it should show your city, not just “Pacific”), then restart it. A cable or satellite box normally gets its time from the provider, so a restart is usually enough.

The ones worth checking first are anything that runs a schedule: a thermostat that heats the house before you wake up, a sprinkler timer, lights on a timer, or a coffee maker set for 6:30. An hour off there is the kind of thing you notice when it’s cold or dark.

Watches and fitness trackers

Garmin, Fitbit, Apple Watch and most other smartwatches take their time from your phone. Fix the phone and the watch follows the next time it syncs. A digital watch with its own DST setting works like an alarm clock: turn DST off.

Phones and computers

These should get it right if they’re up to date and set to automatic. If one shows the wrong time on Nov 1, it’s almost always old time zone rules or the wrong time zone. Our guide to fixing your iPhone, Mac, Android or Windows PC walks through it, and has a one-tap check for your device.

Don’t forget your calendar

Clocks are the easy part. The thing most likely to catch you out on Monday morning is a recurring meeting that quietly moves an hour later, because it was booked in the old Pacific or Mountain time zone. Our free calendar check finds every Outlook, Google or Apple Calendar meeting that will be an hour off. It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. More in fixing Outlook, Teams and Google meetings after Nov 1.

Why this is happening

BC, Alberta, Manitoba and the NWT are staying on daylight time permanently, while the US and the rest of Canada keep changing their clocks. That’s why so many devices, which were built assuming everyone in “Pacific” or “Mountain” time does the same thing, are getting it wrong. The full story, with what changed in each province and when, is in daylight saving time 2026: why BC and Alberta won’t fall back.

A five-minute check for Sunday, Nov 1

1. When you wake up, check your phone against the right time for your city.
2. Walk past the alarm clock, the thermostat and anything on a timer. Anything an hour behind needs its DST setting turned off.
3. Check the car the next time you drive.
4. Before Monday, check your calendar for meetings that moved.

If you’re anywhere else in Canada or the US, none of this applies: your clocks fall back an hour at 2 AM on Nov 1 as usual. See when the clocks change for every province and state.

Questions