Help How is the Android OS telling the time?

[Ambi89]

So after googling this I can not find a direct answer to my questions. 1. How is the android telling time? Is it using GPS to tell time and how does that work? 2. Are the time zones on the OS calculated by GPS also or is that information taken from some where else?

 

[scary alien]

Hey @Ambi89, welcome to our AndroidForums .

I'm guessing that the underlying Linux kernel is connecting to a network time server to get the current time (i.e., either via a wifi or 3G/4G network connection).

 

[Ambi89]

Hey @Ambi89, welcome to our AndroidForums .

I'm guessing that the underlying Linux kernel is connecting to a network time server to get the current time (i.e., either via a wifi or 3G/4G network connection).

Do you have any other information on that?

 

[rurocking]

Devices use NTP to sync the time with pool.ntp.org. NTP is configured in /system/etc/gps.conf. You have to be root to edit this file.

 

[scary alien]

Devices use NTP to sync the time with pool.ntp.org. NTP is configured in /system/etc/gps.conf. You have to be root to edit this file.

Thank you for that, @rurocking .

@Ambi89, here's my settings/info from my Nexus 5 for that file:

ScaryAlien@LV-426 ~
$ adb shell cat /system/etc/gps.conf | grep -i ntp
NTP_SERVER=time.gpsonextra.net
# NTP_SERVER=asia.pool.ntp.org
# NTP_SERVER=europe.pool.ntp.org
# NTP_SERVER=north-america.pool.ntp.org​

 

[Ambi89]

Awesome thanks I think I got all the information I need.

 

[svim]

NTP is the software/cloud aspect but there's also a hardware part in our phones. On a typical computer there's a clock chip that's used by the user interface to show the date and time. You could pull the power cord and remove the CMOS battery, and that would eventually wipe the stored date/time. On our phones an equivalent clock chip is integrated into our phones' SoC (System on a Chip). There's no CMOS battery involved but there is a small capacitor, all that's necessary for the trickle charge required to retain date/time info. That's why you can remove the battery (for models that allow it) and the date/time is still retained. The clock chip stores the date/time, NTP is still required to keep the info up to date.