How to Get Military Time on iPhone
As a former military personnel or someone with experience in the armed forces, you’re likely familiar with military time. For the uninitiated, military time is a 24-hour clock system where times are denoted by the four numbers of the day hour and minute, such as 1400 or 2345.
The iPhone, however, doesn’t display time by default in military format, unlike some other devices, including those used by law enforcement and military personnel. So, how do you get military time on iPhone?
Why Military Time?
Before we delve into the steps to show military time on iPhone, it’s essential to know the benefits of using the military time format. There are several reasons why individuals might prefer military time, including:
• Clearly Communicating Time: When discussing schedules, appointments, and deadlines, military time reduces confusion and miscommunications. It’s especially critical for those working in coordination with international teams or communicating across different time zones.
• Simpler to Read: The decimal hour system used in traditional civilian time (e.g., 12:35) can be ambiguous in the morning (12 is easily mistaken for noon).
• Increased Efficiency: Switching between 12-hour and 24-hour clock formats can be arduous. Military time provides a consistent and convenient method for displaying time information.
Getting Military Time on iPhone
To format your iPhone to display times in military format, iOS 14 onwards users can follow these two steps:
Settings > General > Date & Time
Toggle the toggle next to 24-hour Time to enable (this will switch your overall phone time format to a 24-hour clock.)
- Scroll to Time Format.
- General > Accessibility
- Scroll to Assistive Touch
- Tap "Hour 12/24"
- Choose to switch to 24
By following these steps, you’ll be able to switch your iPhone to Military Time.