The day is finally upon us when we will no longer need to wrestle with time changes.

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The only challenge? Your smart devices and synced calendars might not know that.

Earlier this year, B.C. officially adopted permanent year-round daylight time, scrapping the need for twice-yearly time changes and confusion over whether to spring forward or fall back.

Clocks shifted forward an hour on March 8, marking the last time the province would adjust its clocks. On Nov. 1, British Columbians can continue with their darker mornings without changing their clocks and alarms.

However, many smart devices automatically adjust their time settings twice a year for daylight time. And if you work in the corporate world or use any sort of digital calendar to keep your life in order, you may be anxious about what will happen to previously scheduled appointments come Sunday.

Exclusive for our subscribers: B.C.’s new Pacific time: How darker mornings will affect our lives

Will my smart devices know there’s no more time change in B.C.?

For some devices, updates will have automatically been pushed out to introduce B.C.’s new permanent time zone, known officially as Pacific time and which will be set seven hours behind co-ordinated universal time (UTC-7). You may need to restart your device for the change to take effect.

From there, it will depend on your device’s location settings and if you have it set to automatically detect your location and time zone or if you have it manually set, overriding any automatic settings.

The same goes for online and synced calendars.

Which time zone setting should I be using in B.C.?

Previously, most of B.C. used a version of Pacific time that is eight hours behind co-ordinated universal time, which you’ll often see listed as UTC-8 Pacific Time (U.S. and Canada).

However, what you’ll want is to ensure your devices and calendars are now set to follow UTC-7 Pacific time (B.C.) which is a new time zone setting many devices and calendars have already introduced.

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If you haven’t already, you can go into your device or calendar’s settings and search for the date and time function to check which time zone you’re on and if the new permanent Pacific time (B.C.) setting is available.

Note that there are some areas of northeastern B.C. that follow Mountain Standard Time (UTC-7) and will continue to do so; these areas will be aligned with the rest of B.C. on Pacific time (UTC-7). Other parts of southeastern B.C. follow Mountain Daylight Time (UTC-6) year round and will remain aligned with Alberta.

Will my Mac or iPhone know what time zone I should be using in B.C.?

Yes. Apple has updated its macOS and iOS to introduce a new time zone specific to B.C., identified by your location and that follows UTC-7. The update was pushed out earlier this year as a fix to Canadian Apple users, and appears to have been incorporated into its latest macOS and iOS updates released in October.

To ensure that your Apple devices are using the correct time zone based on your location, go into Settings > General > Date & Time and ensure that “set time zone automatically” is selected.

(Note: If you check your settings before Nov. 1 and it notes that you’re on Mountain Standard Time or Creston, don’t panic. The time zone applied in Creston is UTC-7, which aligns with Pacific time. Apple is currently using that as the label for B.C.’s new Pacific time though it may be renamed in a later update.)

Will my Google calendar or Microsoft calendar know what time zone I should be using in B.C.?

Kind of. There’s two factors at play when dealing Google calendar or any sort of online or synced calendar. First, there’s the setting for the calendar itself and what time zone it’s set to follow. Secondly, there’s the time zone attached to previously created or scheduled events, meetings and invites on the calendar.

As a result, some calendar events created in certain time zones may appear an hour later on and after Nov. 1 if they were created in a time zone that will be falling back on Nov. 1.

What you’ll want to do is go into your Google Calendar or Microsoft Calendar settings, search for the time zone function and ensure that you’re set to follow (GMT-7) Pacific time — Vancouver for Google calendar or (UTC-7) Pacific time (B.C.) for Microsoft calendar.

What about my Google Calendar invites, appointments and meetings?

For post-Nov. 1 Google calendar events that were created before July 20, these events will follow the former time zone and may appear one hour later on your calendar beginning Nov. 1. These events will be flagged by a warning badge in Google calendar, which will prompt you to either accept the later time or shift it back to its original time.

For post-Nov. 1 Google calendar events that were created on or after July 20, these events will follow the new Pacific time zone and will show as the correct time. Google has said that it would automatically shift most of these affected events back by one hour to their original scheduled local times, beginning in October.

The challenge will be dealing with events created by a user located in another time zone that will be falling back on Sunday. Google calendar entries will naturally shift to reflect that user’s time zone so be sure to confirm the start time of any events or meetings happening on and after Nov. 1, especially those that include users in other provinces.

So how do I keep my calendar organized?

While the labels may vary, just keep in mind that B.C. now functions on UTC-7 permanently.

Otherwise, double check your appointments. Confirm start times with event organizers, especially if they’re located in another time zone. Use a time zone calculator to ensure you’re meeting at the right time. Check each of your events to confirm they’re scheduled using the right time zone labelled UTC-7.

And if all else fails, get yourself an analog clock and don’t touch it on Nov. 1 so you have a reference point to check whether certain devices or calendars are using the right time zone.

sip@postmedia.com