Fix a wrong date or time on your device
Prior warns you when your device clock is more than 5 minutes off and corrects the time of your changes. What a wrong clock does, and how to fix it.
Prior marks every change with your device's clock. The server refuses a change marked more than 5 minutes in the future, so that a wrong clock cannot overwrite your newer work later. When your device clock runs ahead, Prior sends those changes again with the server's time, so nothing is held back.
Prior also tells you. As soon as your clock is more than 5 minutes ahead or behind, a message gives the gap and a How to fix it button that opens this page.
How it looks
- A message says Your device's clock is ahead or Your device's clock is behind. It appears once per session in each direction.
- Reminders ring at the wrong moment, or the app thinks it is another day.
Fix it
- Compare your device's date, time and time zone with the real ones.
- Turn on automatic date and time, and the automatic time zone, in your system settings. On macOS: System Settings → General → Date & Time. On Windows: Settings → Time & language → Date & time. On Android: Settings → System → Date & time. The web app uses the clock of your computer.
- Open Prior and choose Sync now.
- Watch the count fall. In Settings → Diagnostics, Pending mutations should reach 0.
What happens to the changes made meanwhile
They are not lost, and they do not wait for the real time to catch up. Prior gives each refused change the server's time and sends it again during the same sync.
Look over the items you changed in the meantime: a change made while the clock was wrong can still replace a newer change to the same item.
A clock that is behind
A clock behind the real time does not stop sync. It still gives wrong results: reminders ring late, "today" and due dates are off, and the day of your streak follows the clock. A clock that is far off can also stop secure connections, so Prior cannot reach its server at all. The 6-digit codes of two-step verification need a right clock on the phone too: see Turn on two-step verification.
When to write to support
If the clock is right and changes still stay waiting after a few minutes, write to contact@priortasks.com with the number from Pending mutations, your platform and version, and the log. See Report a problem.
Updated 5 November 2026