The Clock app on your iPhone is set automatically to a 12-hour cycle, but the time format can be changed. Military time – sometimes interchangeably referred to as the 24-hour clock – is a popular way to tell the time all over the world.
It is also easy to understand. Eight pm in military time for example, would be written as 20:00. Why would you want to change to a 24-hour format on your phone? Well, you never have to worry about setting your alarm for 6pm instead of 6am again!
In our article, we’ll discuss how to change your iPhone to military time, as well as how to change your iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and Apple Calendar to military time too.
Can An iPhone Display Military Time?
This is where things get a little bit complicated, as technically an iPhone shows 24-hour time rather than military time, although the two formats are very similar and used interchangeably.
While the 24-hour clock has a colon, military time does not. So in 24-hour time, 6pm would be written as 18:00, while in military time, it would read as 1800.
Setting Your iPhone To The 24-Hour Clock
You can use your clock settings to change your iPhone to military time, as well as change it back to the 12-hour clock. Follow these steps:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap General.
- Tap Date & Time.
- Toggle on 24-hour time.
How To Turn Off The 24-Hour Clock On Your iPhone
Luckily, it’s just as easy to revert to the 12-hour clock on your iPhone. You just need to follow these steps:
- Enter Settings.
- Search for General or scroll to it.
- Tap General.
- Scroll to Date & Time.
- Tap Date & Time.
- Toggle 24-hour time off (this will turn the toggle from green to grey).
Setting An Apple Watch To The 24-Hour Clock
Apple Watch is one of the many Apple Devices that give you the opportunity to adjust your Clock settings. Below, we’ll take a look at how you can change your Apple Watch settings so it displays military time and your phone will display 15:00, instead of 3:00 PM. Just follow these steps:
- Go to the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap the My Watch tab at the bottom of the screen.
- Scroll down and tap the Clock option.
- Tap the button to the right of 24-hour Time.
Now that we know how to set an Apple Watch to 24-hour time, it’s good to know that you can also alternate between the 12-hour and 24-hour options too.
Let’s take a look at how you can make extra changes to your Apple Watch directly from your wrist, if you would prefer not to use the My Watch app.
More Ways To Change Your Apple Watch Time Settings
While you can’t toggle the 24-hour time on your Apple Watch via its settings, you can still adjust some of the Clock settings directly from your watch.
Step 1: Tap the digital crown on the side of the watch to access the app menu, before tapping Settings.
Step 2: Scroll down and tap Clock.
Step 3: You can now make changes to the clock options on this menu. Let’s take a look at some of these options.
+0 time allows you to turn the crown on the watch to set the time ahead. You may want to do this if you’d like your watch to display a later time.
- Chimes.
- Control with Silent Mode.
- Monogram.
- Sounds.
- Speak Time.
- Taptic Time.
- Watch Face Notifications.
Even though you can’t set the 24-hour time on your Apple Watch directly from your wrist, there are still many time settings you can adjust on the watch, such as the time display and behavior.
Setting The 24-Hour Clock On Your Apple Calendar
It’s easy to adjust the Apple Calendar app to display the 24-hour clock rather than a 12-hour clock.
When you change the Calendar time on your iPhone, it will also change all time settings to military time, making it a great shortcut if you’d like to change the time settings on other Apple devices.
So your home screen, lock screen, and Alarm settings will display the 24-hour clock when you change your Calendar to the 24-hour clock. Let’s take a look at the steps of changing your Apple Calendar to the 24-hour clock:
- Open Settings
- Search for General or scroll to it.
- Tap General.
- Scroll to Date & Time.
- Tap Date & Time.
- Toggle 24-hour time so the toggle turns from grey to green.
To switch off the 24-hour clock on your Apple Calendar, just toggle 24-Hour Time Off, so the toggle turns from green to grey.
Setting Your iPad’s Time To The 24-Hour Clock
Now, let’s take a look at how to set the iPad’s clock to 24-hour time (otherwise known as military time).
- Tap Settings from the iPad’s home screen.
- Tap General.
- Tap Date & Time.
- Tap the 24-Hour Time Slider to ‘On.’
Your iPad will now display a 24-hour clock at the top of your iPad screen and in the Clock app.
There! Your iPad is now displaying military time. If you want to turn off the 24-hour time and go back to 12-hour time, you just need to move the 24-hour time slider to ‘off.’
Setting Your Mac’s Time To The 24-Hour Clock
Now, let’s take a look at how to set your Mac’s clock to military time.
- Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
- Click Dock & Menu Bar.
- Select Clock from the sidebar.
- Click the Use a 24-hour clock checkbox.
If you would like to turn off the 24-hour time and change it back to 12-hour time, you just need to deselect the Use a 24-hour clock checkbox.
Final Thoughts
Now you know how to change a number of Apple devices to military time! While it can take some time to adjust to, we think you’ll find it a lot easier than dividing the day into two 12-hour cycles.
However, if you don’t like the change, it’s just as easy to change your settings back to 12-hour time.
