iOS: Convert UTC NSDate to local Timezone

How do I convert a UTC NSDate to local timezone NSDate in Objective C or/and Swift?

NSTimeInterval seconds; // assume this exists
NSDate* ts_utc = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSince1970:seconds];

NSDateFormatter* df_utc = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
[df_utc setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:@"UTC"]];
[df_utc setDateFormat:@"yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss zzz"];

NSDateFormatter* df_local = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
[df_local setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:@"EST"]];
[df_local setDateFormat:@"yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss zzz"];

NSString* ts_utc_string = [df_utc stringFromDate:ts_utc];
NSString* ts_local_string = [df_local stringFromDate:ts_utc];

// you can also use NSDateFormatter dateFromString to go the opposite way

Table of formatting string parameters:

https://waracle.com/iphone-nsdateformatter-date-formatting-table/

If performance is a priority, you may want to consider using strftime

https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man3/strftime.3.html</strike>

EDIT When i wrote this I didn't know I should use a dateformatter which is probably a better approach, so check out slf's answer too.

I have a webservice that returns dates in UTC. I use toLocalTime to convert it to local time and toGlobalTime to convert back if needed.

This is where I got my answer from:

https://agilewarrior.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/how-to-convert-nsdate-to-different-time-zones/

@implementation NSDate(Utils)

-(NSDate *) toLocalTime
{
  NSTimeZone *tz = [NSTimeZone defaultTimeZone];
  NSInteger seconds = [tz secondsFromGMTForDate: self];
  return [NSDate dateWithTimeInterval: seconds sinceDate: self];
}

-(NSDate *) toGlobalTime
{
  NSTimeZone *tz = [NSTimeZone defaultTimeZone];
  NSInteger seconds = -[tz secondsFromGMTForDate: self];
  return [NSDate dateWithTimeInterval: seconds sinceDate: self];
}

@end

The easiest method I've found is this:

NSDate *someDateInUTC = …;
NSTimeInterval timeZoneSeconds = [[NSTimeZone localTimeZone] secondsFromGMT];
NSDate *dateInLocalTimezone = [someDateInUTC dateByAddingTimeInterval:timeZoneSeconds];

Swift 3+: UTC to Local and Local to UTC

extension Date {
    
    // Convert UTC (or GMT) to local time
    func toLocalTime() -> Date {
        let timezone = TimeZone.current
        let seconds = TimeInterval(timezone.secondsFromGMT(for: self))
        return Date(timeInterval: seconds, since: self)
    }
    
    // Convert local time to UTC (or GMT)
    func toGlobalTime() -> Date {
        let timezone = TimeZone.current
        let seconds = -TimeInterval(timezone.secondsFromGMT(for: self))
        return Date(timeInterval: seconds, since: self)
    }
}

If you want local Date and time. Try this code:-

NSString *localDate = [NSDateFormatter localizedStringFromDate:[NSDate date] dateStyle:NSDateFormatterMediumStyle timeStyle:NSDateFormatterMediumStyle];

Convert your UTC date to Local Date

-(NSString *)getLocalDateTimeFromUTC:(NSString *)strDate
{
    NSDateFormatter *dtFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dtFormat setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
    [dtFormat setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithAbbreviation:@"UTC"]];
    NSDate *aDate = [dtFormat dateFromString:strDate];
    
    [dtFormat setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
    [dtFormat setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone systemTimeZone]];
    
    return [dtFormat stringFromDate:aDate];
}

Use Like This

NSString *localDate = [self getLocalDateTimeFromUTC:@"yourUTCDate"];

Here input is a string currentUTCTime (in format 08/30/2012 11:11) converts input time in GMT to system set zone time

//UTC time
NSDateFormatter *utcDateFormatter = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
[utcDateFormatter setDateFormat:@"MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm"];
[utcDateFormatter setTimeZone :[NSTimeZone timeZoneForSecondsFromGMT: 0]];

// utc format
NSDate *dateInUTC = [utcDateFormatter dateFromString: currentUTCTime];

// offset second
NSInteger seconds = [[NSTimeZone systemTimeZone] secondsFromGMT];

// format it and send
NSDateFormatter *localDateFormatter = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
[localDateFormatter setDateFormat:@"MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm"];
[localDateFormatter setTimeZone :[NSTimeZone timeZoneForSecondsFromGMT: seconds]];

// formatted string
NSString *localDate = [localDateFormatter stringFromDate: dateInUTC];
return localDate;

//This is basic way to get time of any GMT time.

NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:@"hh:mm a"];  // 09:30 AM
[formatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneForSecondsFromGMT:1]]; // For GMT+1
NSString *time = [formatter stringFromDate:[NSDate date]];  // Current time

Convert the date from the UTC calendar to one with the appropriate local NSTimeZone.

I write this Method to convert date time to our LocalTimeZone

-Here (NSString *)TimeZone parameter is a server timezone

-(NSString *)convertTimeIntoLocal:(NSString *)defaultTime :(NSString *)TimeZone
{
    NSDateFormatter *serverFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [serverFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithAbbreviation:TimeZone]];
    [serverFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
    NSDate *theDate = [serverFormatter dateFromString:defaultTime];
    NSDateFormatter *userFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [userFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
    [userFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone localTimeZone]];
    NSString *dateConverted = [userFormatter stringFromDate:theDate];
    return dateConverted;
}

Since no one seemed to be using NSDateComponents, I thought I would pitch one in... In this version, no NSDateFormatter is used, hence no string parsing, and NSDate is not used to represent time outside of GMT (UTC). The original NSDate is in the variable i_date.

NSCalendar *anotherCalendar = [[NSCalendar alloc] initWithCalendarIdentifier:i_anotherCalendar];
anotherCalendar.timeZone = [NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:i_anotherTimeZone];

NSDateComponents *anotherComponents = [anotherCalendar components:(NSCalendarUnitEra | NSCalendarUnitYear | NSCalendarUnitMonth | NSCalendarUnitDay | NSCalendarUnitHour | NSCalendarUnitMinute | NSCalendarUnitSecond | NSCalendarUnitNanosecond) fromDate:i_date];

// The following is just for checking	
anotherComponents.calendar = anotherCalendar; // anotherComponents.date is nil without this
NSDate *anotherDate = anotherComponents.date;

i_anotherCalendar could be NSCalendarIdentifierGregorian or any other calendar. The NSString allowed for i_anotherTimeZone can be acquired with [NSTimeZone knownTimeZoneNames], but anotherCalendar.timeZone could be [NSTimeZone defaultTimeZone] or [NSTimeZone localTimeZone] or [NSTimeZone systemTimeZone] altogether.

It is actually anotherComponents holding the time in the new time zone. You'll notice anotherDate is equal to i_date, because it holds time in GMT (UTC).

You can try this one:

NSDate *currentDate = [[NSDate alloc] init];
NSTimeZone *timeZone = [NSTimeZone defaultTimeZone];
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateStyle:NSDateFormatterLongStyle];
[dateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterLongStyle];
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:timeZone];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"ZZZ"];
NSString *localDateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:currentDate];
NSMutableString *mu = [NSMutableString stringWithString:localDateString];
[mu insertString:@":" atIndex:3];
 NSString *strTimeZone = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"(GMT%@)%@",mu,timeZone.name];
 NSLog(@"%@",strTimeZone);

Please use this code.

NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss"]; 
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithAbbreviation:@"UTC"]];
NSDate *date = [dateFormatter dateFromString:@"2015-04-01T11:42:00"]; // create date from string

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"EEE, MMM d, yyyy - h:mm a"];
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone localTimeZone]];
NSString *timestamp = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date];

Solution for SwiftDate library:

// Take date by seconds in UTC time zone
var viewModelDate: Date = DateInRegion(seconds: Double(backendModel.scheduledTimestamp)).date 

...

// Convert date to local timezone and convert to string by format rule.
label.text = viewModelDate.convertTo(region: .current).toFormat(" EEE MM/dd j:mm") 

Convert UTC time to current time zone.

call function

NSLocale *locale = [NSLocale autoupdatingCurrentLocale];

NSString *myLanguageCode = [locale objectForKey: NSLocaleLanguageCode];
NSString *myCountryCode = [locale objectForKey: NSLocaleCountryCode];

NSString *rfc3339DateTimeString = @"2015-02-15 00:00:00"];
NSDate *myDateTime = (NSDate*)[_myCommonFunctions _ConvertUTCTimeToLocalTimeWithFormat:rfc3339DateTimeString LanguageCode:myLanguageCode CountryCode:myCountryCode Formated:NO];

Function

-NSObject*)_ConvertUTCTimeToLocalTimeWithFormat:rfc3339DateTimeString     LanguageCode:(NSString *)lgc CountryCode:(NSString *)ctc Formated:(BOOL) formated
{
    NSDateFormatter *sUserVisibleDateFormatter = nil;
    NSDateFormatter *sRFC3339DateFormatter = nil;
    
    NSTimeZone *timeZone = [NSTimeZone defaultTimeZone];
    
    if (sRFC3339DateFormatter == nil)
    {
        sRFC3339DateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    
        NSLocale *myPOSIXLocale = [[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@", timeZone]];
        
        [sRFC3339DateFormatter setLocale:myPOSIXLocale];
        [sRFC3339DateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss'Z'"];
        [sRFC3339DateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneForSecondsFromGMT:0]];
    }
    
    // Convert the RFC 3339 date time string to an NSDate.
    NSDate *date = [sRFC3339DateFormatter dateFromString:rfc3339DateTimeString];
	
	if (formated == YES)
	{
		NSString *userVisibleDateTimeString;
    
		if (date != nil)
		{
			if (sUserVisibleDateFormatter == nil)
			{
				sUserVisibleDateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
				[sUserVisibleDateFormatter setDateStyle:NSDateFormatterMediumStyle];
				[sUserVisibleDateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterShortStyle];
			}
        
			// Convert the date object to a user-visible date string.
			userVisibleDateTimeString = [sUserVisibleDateFormatter stringFromDate:date];
		
			return (NSObject*)userVisibleDateTimeString;
		}
	}
	
    return (NSObject*)date;
}