When the clocks go back, your phone changes its time on its own and your medication reminders move with it. An 8:00 am reminder still arrives at 8:00 am on the new clock. What changes, once, is the gap between your evening dose and the next morning's: it is an hour longer that night.

In 2026 the clocks go back on Sunday 25 October across the UK and Europe, and on Sunday 1 November in most of the US and Canada. Australia and New Zealand moved the other way earlier in the season, so the same thing happened there with an hour less.

What your phone does

iPhone updates its clock automatically overnight. Anything scheduled by clock time, including medication reminders, simply follows the new time. You do not need to change anything in a reminder app for it to keep firing at the times you set.

What you might notice:

  • The night of the change is an hour longer. If you take something at 9:00 pm and again at 9:00 am, that one gap is 13 hours instead of 12.
  • A reminder in the repeated hour can look odd. On the night the clocks go back, one hour happens twice. If you have a dose set in that hour, check when it arrives.
  • Your log shows real times. In Cadence, every dose is recorded with the time you actually took it, so a history across the change still reads correctly.

Does the one-hour shift matter?

For most daily medication, a one-hour change on one night is the same as taking a dose an hour later than usual, once. Many people do that on a normal weekend without noticing.

Some medication is more time-sensitive. If yours is, or if you are not sure, ask your pharmacist or doctor how they would like you to handle the change. Do not split or adjust doses on your own.

Three things to check before the weekend

  1. Your phone sets its own time. Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically should be on. If it is off, the clock will not change and your reminders will drift by an hour.
  2. Reminders are allowed to sound. Focus modes that run overnight (Sleep, Do Not Disturb) can hold notifications. Make sure your medication app is allowed through, or turn on Time Sensitive notifications for it.
  3. Nothing is set in the repeated hour. If you have a dose in the early hours, check it arrives the way you expect on the night of the change.

Travelling across the change?

If you are flying while the clocks change at home or at your destination, the two shifts can stack. Our time zone dose planner shows your home dose times in local time at your destination, and the guide to taking medication late covers what a dose window is for.

Cadence also has a Travel setting that keeps your doses on your home time zone while you are away, so the gap between doses stays the same wherever you land. It still follows daylight saving at home, because that is what your home clock does.

The short version

Your reminders keep their clock times. The night of the change is an hour longer or shorter between two doses. If your medication is time-critical, ask your pharmacist before the weekend, and check that your phone sets its own time.