Frequently Asked Questions
Answers about using ZoneMeets, daylight saving and scheduling across time zones. Dated examples are checked against the IANA time zone database. For longer explanations, see the guides.
Using ZoneMeets
Is ZoneMeets free, and do I need an account?
ZoneMeets is free to use, and you do not need an account to compare time zones or use the World Clock and the date and time calculators. Your pinned cities are saved in your browser, so they are still there the next time you visit on the same device. Saved meeting templates, and the History page of comparisons you shared or scheduled, are stored with ZoneMeets rather than only in your browser.
How do I add or remove a time zone?
Choose Add time zone, search for a city and select it. It appears as a card with the local time, the date and the UTC offset. Your own device's time zone is added automatically and marked Local. To remove any other city, use the close button on its card. You can pin as many cities as you like; the Upcoming Public Holidays panel reads the first ten.
How does the Adjust time slider work?
The slider moves every card together from 12 hours before to 12 hours after the current time, in 30-minute steps, and the reset button returns to now. You can also click the time on a card, type the time you want in that city, and the other cards follow. Look for the position where the most cards show Business hours.
What do the card colours mean?
Each card is tinted by the local hour: green for business hours (9 AM to 5 PM), amber for morning (6 to 9 AM), orange for evening (5 to 8 PM) and indigo for night (8 PM to 6 AM). These are fixed cut-offs, not your attendees' real working hours, so someone's actual day may differ.
Can I plan a meeting on a date weeks from now?
The main converter always starts from the current moment. The slider reaches 12 hours either side of now, and a typed time lands within about a day of now, so it has no date picker. For a meeting on a specific later date, use the Schedule a meeting section to set the date and start time (these are read in your device's time zone), or work from a dated example such as the tables in our guides, and check that date against any nearby clock change.
How does adding a meeting to my calendar work?
Add to Calendar on a card opens Google Calendar with that moment as the start, a one-hour length, the title Meeting and a note naming the city. Under Schedule a meeting you can set a title, date, start and end time, participants and notes, then choose Add to Google Calendar or Add to Outlook. The links pass an exact moment, so the event opens at the right time for each person's calendar. They create a single event, not a recurring series. If you add a repeat, check which time zone your calendar assigns to the event, because that decides whether a recurring meeting stays at the same local time through a clock change.
Does ZoneMeets work on mobile?
Yes. The layout stacks the cards on phones, and on a touch screen you can pull down from the top of the home page to reset the slider to the current time.
Time zones and daylight saving
Why does my meeting time change twice a year?
When two regions change their clocks on different dates, or only one of them observes daylight saving, the gap between them changes. On Tuesday 12 January 2027, 9:00 AM in New York is 10:00 PM in Singapore. On Tuesday 16 March 2027, after the US clocks moved forward on 14 March, 9:00 AM in New York is 9:00 PM in Singapore. Nobody edited the meeting: New York's offset changed from UTC−5 to UTC−4 while Singapore stayed on UTC+8.
Does ZoneMeets warn me about daylight saving changes?
A banner at the top of the home page appears when your own device's time zone is due to change its clocks within the next 7 days, and shows the date and the offset change. It does not watch the other cities you pin. Each card still shows that city's correct offset for the moment on screen. For other regions, check the dates yourself; the 2027 dates are listed in our daylight saving guide.
When do the clocks change in 2027?
According to the IANA time zone database: the United States on Sunday 14 March and Sunday 7 November; the United Kingdom and most of the European Union on Sunday 28 March and Sunday 31 October; Sydney on Sunday 4 April (clocks go back) and Sunday 3 October (clocks go forward). Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and India have no change in 2027. Governments can change the rules, so confirm important dates.
Which places do not observe daylight saving?
Many do not, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, mainland China and India. Some countries observe it in only part of the country: in Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT do, while Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not. The simplest check is to pin the city and compare its UTC offset in winter and summer.
What is the difference between UTC and GMT?
UTC is the time standard kept by atomic clocks and used by computers, aviation and international scheduling. GMT is mean solar time at Greenwich and the name of the UK's winter time. The two show the same clock time, but London uses GMT only in winter: from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October it uses British Summer Time, which is UTC+1. So 'London time' and 'GMT' differ for about seven months of the year.
Why do some time zones use 30- or 45-minute offsets?
India is UTC+5:30 and Nepal is UTC+5:45. Iran (UTC+3:30) and Afghanistan (UTC+4:30) also use half-hour offsets. The cards show the exact offset, so a half-hour difference is never rounded away. Rounding in your head is how these meetings get missed.
Why does China use a single time zone?
Mainland China uses one standard time, UTC+8, across the whole country, although it spans a much wider range of longitudes. In the far west the sun therefore rises late by the clock. It is one of the clearest examples of political decisions, not meridians, shaping the time zone map.
Scheduling across time zones
How do I find a time across three continents?
Often no hour is business hours for everyone. New York and Hong Kong, for example, never share a working hour on any date. A common compromise for New York, London and Hong Kong is 9:00 PM in Hong Kong: on Tuesday 12 January 2027 that is 1:00 PM in London and 8:00 AM in New York. Pin the cities, drag the slider, note who falls in morning, evening or night, and rotate the hard end between regions.
Which overlap windows come up often?
Two examples for Tuesday 12 January 2027: 8:00 AM in New York is 1:00 PM in London and 9:00 PM in Singapore; 8:00 AM in London is 12:00 PM in Dubai and 1:30 PM in Mumbai. The gaps move with daylight saving. On Tuesday 13 July 2027, 8:00 AM in New York is still 1:00 PM in London but 8:00 PM in Singapore.
Should I write meeting times in UTC or local time?
Both. Give the time in the organiser's named time zone, for example 09:00 America/New_York, and in UTC, because UTC never changes with daylight saving and gives everyone something to check. The Share option in ZoneMeets lists each city's time and date but not its UTC offset, so add the UTC time yourself when you paste it into an invitation.
How do I schedule fairly across time zones?
Treat the inconvenient slot as a shared cost. Pick two or three candidate slots, note who falls in the evening or at night for each, and alternate them on a published pattern. ZoneMeets does not track a rotation, so record it in the event description or a team note. Our fair meeting-rotation template includes a log you can copy.
What happens to a recurring meeting when the clocks change?
It depends on which time zone the calendar event is anchored to. An event anchored to New York stays at the same New York time and moves for attendees in places that did not change their clocks. An event anchored to Hong Kong stays fixed in Hong Kong and moves for New York and London. Decide which city owns the series, say so in the description, and open the first meeting after each change to check.
Does ZoneMeets show public holidays?
Yes. The Upcoming Public Holidays panel lists upcoming national public holidays for the countries of your pinned cities, in List or Calendar view, for roughly the next six months. It is a planning aid, not an official calendar. Regional observances that are not national public holidays may be missing, so confirm with attendees.
Something missing or wrong? Tell us on the contact page.