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Air Date/Time Picker Time Zone Question

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#1

Hello!

Absolutely LOVE the Air Date/Time calendar picker plugin; it’s one of the core features of our app.

The problem I have is that clients will select an Event Date when enquiring within the app, but I’m having difficulty with Time Zone support. For example, if a client from Japan picks 1st October but the user is in England, sometimes that can be 30th September based on the time difference. I’ve tried using the Dynamic Timezone options to select the User’s (Account Owner) Timezone which is stored in the database, as well as setting the time/date to the midday etc but for some reason I still get discrepancies.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can record a date chosen consistently, regardless of the user’s timezone?

I’d prefer not to change our plugin setup because it has so many great features to it like blocked dates etc, so I’d appreciate any advice!

#2

Hi @russell,

Thank you for reaching out and for the kind words about the plugin! I am glad to hear it is a core feature of your app.

This discrepancy occurs because Bubble stores all Date type field data as absolute UTC timestamps. When a client in Japan selects a date, the picker records a timestamp based on their local time zone. When a user in England views that saved date field, Bubble converts the UTC timestamp into English local time, which can shift the display date back to September 30th if the timestamp falls near midnight UTC.

Here are the most effective ways to record and display dates consistently across different time zones:

Option 1: Store the Date as Text (Recommended for Date-Only Inquiries) If you only need to record the calendar day without a specific time:

  • Create a Text field in your database (e.g., Event Date Text).
  • In your workflow, save the date using formatted text: Picker's value:formatted as yyyy-mm-dd.
  • Display this text string directly in your app. Text values are static strings, so they will never shift based on the viewer’s location.

Option 2: Normalize the Timestamp to Midday UTC If you need to keep the database field type as a Date:

  • Set the Time Zone configuration option inside the plugin element properties to UTC.
  • In your workflow step when saving the date to the database, force the time portion to midday UTC by appending :change hours to 12.
  • Setting the timestamp to 12:00 PM UTC provides a 12-hour buffer in either direction, preventing local time zone offsets from crossing midnight into a different day.

Option 3: Enforce Uniform Time Zone Settings

  • Ensure that both the date picker element and any calendar or display elements on the Account Owner side are explicitly configured to use the exact same time zone setting (e.g., UTC) rather than dynamic client time zones.

Please test these options in your workflows and let me know if you need any additional guidance.

Best regards,
Support Team
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#3

Hi @russell,

I am following up to see if you had a chance to test any of the suggested date and time zone solutions in your app.

Please let us know if everything is working smoothly now or if you need any additional guidance.

Best regards,
Support Team
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#4

Hi!

Thank you so much for your fast reply on this topic!

I ended up going with option two, but I stopped changing the hours to 12 only because I think it was still detecting the browser time zone, so I selected to manually override the timezone to Static Option: UTC which seemed to work for now :slight_smile:

I’m gonna keep an eye on it just to see how it works from here, thank you so much, it’s not necessarily a plug-in problem. It’s more so how Bubble handles timestamps etc so I appreciate your support!

#5

Hi @russell,

Thank you for the update!

Setting the plugin timezone configuration directly to Static Option: UTC is a solid approach. Overriding the browser timezone on the plugin level ensures that date selections are processed uniformly regardless of where the client or account owner is located.

I am glad to hear that this setup is working well for you now. Please feel free to keep monitoring it, and reach out if you run into any other questions or need further assistance.

Best regards,
Support Team
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