Starting March 27, 2025, we recommend using android-latest-release instead of aosp-main to build and contribute to AOSP. For more information, see Changes to AOSP.
Time zone policy and recommendations
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This page describes the Android time zone update policy and provides
recommendations for governments to ensure that time zone information is updated
on Android as early as possible.
Android time zone update policy
Android uses the Time Zone Database from the IANA organization,
geographical regions, and translations provided by the International Components
for Unicode (ICU) as sources for Android time zone updates. For more information
about how time zone updates work, see Time zone updates.
For detailed information on how time and time zones work on Android, see Time
overview.
Recommendations for governments
It takes time to prepare and deliver time zone updates to Android devices after
a government decides on a time zone rule change. To minimize the potential
impact on citizens, devices, and systems, we recommend governments do the
following:
- Provide at least six months notice for time zone rule changes.
- To inform citizens and companies (for example, telecoms and airlines),
publish an announcement about time zone rule changes on a credible
government website and add a post on the IANA mailing list with a link
to the announcement.
- Make sure that announcements clearly state what the rule change is, the
complete and unambiguous details of the civil or geographical regions
affected by the rule change, and when the change comes into effect.
Content and code samples on this page are subject to the licenses described in the Content License. Java and OpenJDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-09-03 UTC.
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