iOS: Convert UTC NSDate to local Timezone

Question

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

Answer 1

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).

Answer 2

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"];

Answer 3

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;
}

Answer 4

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

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

Answer 5

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

Answer 6

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;