Changing the timezone for last_modified_time

Hi Nikolas! Welcome to the community!

I suspect the timezone is correct for someone, somewhere. :winking_face:

This is a common reaction to database issues involving time. However, typically the time stored in a database is GMT and browsers (and their apps) are left to decide the relative time based on each user’s time zone at their location.

This is an often overly complex area and without knowing your precise objectives, it’s difficult to advise. For example, I suspect you want to use the API but that’s only a guess based on the term “fetch”.

There is an excellent post by @W_Vann_Hall that covers all aspects of time. Take a read and then circle back if you have specific details you need help with.

Hi bill, Thank you :slightly_smiling_face:

Yes i’m using the api to fetch data to my iOSApp.

I ended up solving it by just using UTC in my app also, it’s probably better anyway to sync by UTC :slightly_smiling_face:

Indeed. I’m no date expert by any stretch, but lots of really smart people have said exactly this to me.

I’d like to thank you for bringing that response of mine to my attention… because not only do I have no memory of writing it, I also have spent several hours over the past few months writing it again — just not as well. :winking_face: Seriously, on my list of incomplete demos to finish when I get a chance is a perennially planned deep dive into Airtable datetime handling. I’ve started it at least three times, and each time I manage to confuse myself with the sequence of field definitions to the point where I can’t recall which fields started out how. The intended end result, though, was going to be a post essentially saying the same thing I evidently said in July of last year, so I guess I can [continue to] put that on the back burner…

There’s no shortage of articles on this subject and I might add that nothing inspires confidence like 4900 words on demystifying dates and times in JavaScript.

So, that said - is it any wonder why users can’t understand the insanity of digital dates? This is one of those things that should just magically happen and work. Lacking that, Airtable would be wise to invest transforming your content into a best practices guide. Can you try to keep it smaller than a long short-story?

Never!

(Ironically, I had to add this line to satisfy Discourse…)