My Apple Watch Doesn't Know What Time It Is

Since I took delivery of my Apple Watch last week, I’ve notice quite a few unadvertised features. But I’ve also noticed a number of bugs. While I’ll get to both sides in my review down the road (I’ll need to live with this thing for a month or so, first), this one warrants a closer look for everyone: It seems that my Apple Watch — or, at least, the delightful assistant driving it — doesn’t know what time it is.

One of the only things I’ve ever used Siri for on iPhone is setting alarms. Presumably, that ought to be even smoother on Apple Watch, and if you phrase it “correctly,” it usually is. But try setting an alarm “for five hours from now,” and you’ll get a wrong result a large percentage of the time. I Tweeted the issue last night, and a few folks said they’re experiencing the same thing (apologies for the sideways videos):

What’s really weird is that I don’t have this problem on iPhone. Using both devices in tandem demonstrates that the local Siri software, for whatever reason, processes speech differently on Apple Watch than it does on its bigger sibling:

Until Apple sorts this all out, it’s probably best not to take a “set it and forget it” approach when dictating alarm times into your wrist. Make sure you double-check the result, or you might miss your next dose of meds, food, entertainment, etc.