How to Use 24-Hour Time on Apple Watch

To use 24-hour time on your Apple Watch, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Clock, and turn on 24-Hour Time. Your watch then shows 8:00 PM as 20:00. The switch is on the iPhone, not in the Settings app on the watch.

The steps below follow Apple’s current instructions for watchOS 27 in Change the time settings on your Apple Watch and Tell time on Apple Watch. Apple’s guides for older watchOS versions list the same path, so the labels should match even if your watch is a few years old.

What 24-Hour Time Changes

24-hour time, often called military time in the US, counts the hours from 0 to 23 instead of repeating 1 to 12 with AM and PM. Apple describes it this way: afternoon and evening hours appear as 13:00 through 23:59. Morning hours look almost the same as before, so 9:15 AM is simply 9:15.

12-hour time	24-hour time
12:30 AM	0:30
9:15 AM	9:15
12:00 PM (noon)	12:00
1:00 PM	13:00
8:00 PM	20:00
11:59 PM	23:59

A quick way to read it: for any hour from 13 to 23, subtract 12 to get the PM time. 17:45 is 5:45 PM.

What You Need

• Your Apple Watch and the iPhone it is paired with. Apple’s instructions use the Apple Watch app on the iPhone for this setting.
• The two devices near each other with Bluetooth on, so the change can reach the watch.
• A watch face that shows the time as digits if you want to see the difference at a glance. More on that below.

Nothing is erased or reset by this change. It only affects how the time is written, and you can switch back whenever you like.

How to Turn On 24-Hour Time on Apple Watch

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. It is the app you used to pair the watch.
2. Tap My Watch at the bottom of the screen if you are not already on that tab.
3. Scroll down the list of settings and tap Clock.
4. Turn on 24-Hour Time.

That is the whole process. There is no Save button, and Apple does not list a restart as part of the steps.

If you have more than one Apple Watch

The Apple Watch app shows settings for one watch at a time. If more than one watch is paired with your iPhone, tap My Watch, then tap All Watches at the top of the screen and check which watch is selected before you open Clock. Apple’s guides do not say whether the 24-Hour Time switch carries over to your other watches, so look at each one after you change it.

How to Confirm It Worked

Raise your wrist and look at the watch face. On a face with digital time, an afternoon time should now read as a number from 13 to 23 with no PM next to it. If you check in the morning, the time looks almost identical in both formats, so use one of these instead:

• Go back to My Watch > Clock in the Apple Watch app and make sure the 24-Hour Time switch is still on.
• Open an app on the watch and look at the top-right corner. Apple notes that the time appears there in most apps.
• Wait until after 1:00 PM and look again.

Which Watch Faces Show 24-Hour Time

The setting changes how the time is written out in numbers. A face that tells the time with hands has no numbers to rewrite, so it looks the same with the setting on or off. If your current face is analog, that is the most likely reason you see no difference.

Apple’s list of Apple Watch faces and their features shows which faces use digits. A few points from that list:

• Faces described as having digital time, such as Modular Duo, are the simplest choice for a 24-hour readout. Apple notes that Modular Duo is not available on Apple Watch SE.
• Several faces, including Modular Compact and Solar Dial, let you pick between an analog and a digital dial when you customize them. Choose the digital option.
• Apple lists a Digital Time complication for the Typograph face. A complication is a small piece of information from an app that sits on the watch face.
• The GMT face is a special case. Apple describes it as having a 12-hour inner dial for local time and a 24-hour outer dial that tracks a second time zone, so its local time stays on a 12-hour layout.

To switch faces, touch and hold the watch face, swipe to the one you want, and tap it. For the full process, see how to add, change, or delete a watch face. To add a digital time readout to a face you already like, see how to change complications on Apple Watch.

How to Switch Back to 12-Hour Time

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Tap My Watch, then tap Clock.
3. Turn off 24-Hour Time.

The watch returns to AM and PM. If your watch shows 24-hour time and you never chose it, this is the switch to check first.

Does Your iPhone Have to Use 24-Hour Time Too?

Apple documents two separate switches. The watch setting is in the Apple Watch app under My Watch > Clock. The iPhone’s own clock format is in the iPhone Settings app under General > Date & Time, where you turn 24-Hour Time on or off, as described in Apple’s Change the date and time on iPhone page.

Apple’s instructions for the watch do not mention the iPhone switch at all, which suggests the two can be set differently, for example 24-hour time on your wrist and AM and PM on your phone. Apple does not state that outright, though. If the watch seems to follow the phone, or you simply want both to match, set both switches the same way. Our guide on how to change the date, time, and time zone on iPhone covers the phone side.

If 24-Hour Time Is Not Showing

Work through these in order. Most problems come down to the wrong switch or the wrong watch face.

1. Check that you changed the watch setting. The switch in iPhone Settings > General > Date & Time is for the phone. The one for the watch is in the Apple Watch app under My Watch > Clock.
2. Check which watch is selected. With more than one paired watch, tap All Watches at the top of My Watch and confirm you changed the one you are wearing.
3. Use a face with digital time. Hands do not change. Switch to a face with digits, or pick the digital style on your current face.
4. Bring the iPhone close. Keep the paired iPhone next to the watch with Bluetooth turned on, then wake the watch.
5. Restart both devices. On the watch, press and hold the side button until the sliders appear, tap the power button on the screen, and drag the Power Off slider. Hold the side button again to turn it back on. Apple notes you cannot restart the watch while it is charging. Then restart the iPhone. The full steps are on Apple’s Restart Apple Watch page.
6. Install updates. Update the iPhone first, then the watch, and check the setting again.

You cannot find Clock or the 24-Hour Time switch

Make sure you are in the Apple Watch app and not the iPhone’s Settings or Clock app. Clock is in the list on the My Watch tab, so scroll down if you only see your watch faces at the top. If you opened Settings > Clock on the watch itself, you are in a different menu. Apple’s steps for 24-hour time do not use it.

The watch shows the wrong time, not just the wrong format

That is a separate problem. 24-Hour Time only changes how the hour is written. If the time itself is off, check Settings > General > Date & Time on the iPhone and turn on Set Time Automatically. Apple’s page If you can’t change the time or time zone on your Apple device also says to restart the iPhone and any paired Apple Watch if a message says updated time zone information is available. Also check that the watch face has not been set ahead on purpose, which is covered next.

How to Set Your Apple Watch Ahead

If your watch is a few minutes fast, someone may have used this setting. It is also handy if you like a small buffer before appointments. Unlike 24-hour time, this one is changed on the watch.

1. Open Settings on your Apple Watch.
2. Tap Clock.
3. Tap +0 min.
4. Turn the Digital Crown, the round dial on the side of the watch, to pick how far ahead, up to 59 minutes.
5. Tap Done.

Only the time on the watch face moves. Apple says alarms, times in notifications, World Clock and other times still match the actual time. To undo it, repeat the steps and turn the Digital Crown back to +0 min. The offset works with either time format.

How to Hear or Feel the Time

These options are also in Settings > Clock on the watch, and they help when you cannot look at the screen.

• Speak Time: turn on Speak Time, then hold two fingers on the watch face to hear the time.
• Taptic Time: tap Taptic Time, turn it on, and pick Digits, Terse or Morse Code. Hold two fingers on the face to feel the time as taps. Apple’s Tell time with haptic feedback page notes that Taptic Time is disabled if the watch is set to always speak the time. To fix that, turn on Control With Silent Mode under Speak Time.
• Chimes: turn on Chimes to hear a sound on the hour, and tap Sounds to choose Bells or Birds. For other intervals, go to Settings > Accessibility > Chimes and set the schedule to Hourly, 30 minutes or 15 minutes.
• Siri: if Raise to Speak is on, raise your wrist and ask what time it is.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 24-hour time the same as military time?

For everyday use, yes. Both count the hours from 0 to 23, so 8:00 PM is 20:00. Apple calls the setting 24-Hour Time, and the watch shows a colon between hours and minutes. There is no separate military time setting on Apple Watch.

Can I turn on 24-hour time from the watch itself?

Apple’s instructions only use the Apple Watch app on the paired iPhone: My Watch > Clock > 24-Hour Time. The Settings > Clock menu on the watch is where Apple documents the set-ahead option, Speak Time, Taptic Time and Chimes.

Why does my analog watch face still look the same?

The setting changes written times, not clock hands. An analog face keeps a 12-hour dial. Switch to a face with digital time, choose the digital style if your face offers one, or add a Digital Time complication where it is available.

Will changing this affect my alarms?

No. 24-Hour Time is a display format, so an alarm set for 7:00 AM still goes off at the same moment. It is simply written differently in the afternoon and evening. For more on alarms, see how to set an alarm on Apple Watch.

Can I use 24-hour time on a watch I manage for a child?

Apple says the iPhone used to set up a family member’s watch manages that watch’s settings and must be within Bluetooth range to do so. Its guide does not give separate 24-hour steps for a managed watch, so look for the same Clock setting after selecting that watch in the Apple Watch app.

Does 24-hour time use more battery?

Apple does not list any battery effect for this setting. It only changes how the time is written.

Related Guides

• How to add, change, or delete a watch face
• How to change complications on Apple Watch
• How to stop taking screenshots on Apple Watch
• How to send an audio message from Apple Watch

Once the format looks right, the next step is picking a face that shows it well. Want the same 24-hour clock on your Android phone? Here is how to use military time on the Google Pixel 4a. If you run with an older Nike+ SportWatch GPS, see how to change the time on the Nike GPS watch, which also covers its 24-hour option.