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How to Display 24-Hour Time on macOS Lock Screen

Learn how to enable the display of 24-hour time on the lock screen of your Mac running Sonoma. Find solutions for users on different OS versions and explore step-by-step methods to access this feature effortlessly.

Mac users running Sonoma OS may encounter confusion regarding accessing the 24-hour time display on the lock screen. This feature discrepancy stems from the OS version differences among users on the fourteenth iteration of the OS.

Display 24-Hour Time on macOS Lock Screen

The ability to showcase the 24-hour time on the lock screen in Mac Sonoma is exclusive to OS version 14.2 or higher. Users on lower OS builds might not have access to this setting.

For macOS 14.2 or Higher Versions

If you’re running macOS 14.2 or a newer version, configuring the lock screen to display 24-hour time is a breeze:

  1. Open System Settings and navigate to General > Date and Time.
  2. Toggle on ‘Show 24-hour time on Lock Screen.’

How to Display 24-Hour Time on macOS Lock Screen

For macOS 14.1 or Below Versions

For users operating macOS 14.1 or older versions, follow these steps using Terminal:

  1. Access Launchpad > Others > Terminal.
  2. Enter the command: sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist AppleICUForce12HourTime
  3. Press Enter and restart your Mac to apply the changes.

Conclusion

Now, regardless of your macOS version, you can easily set your lock screen to display time in the 24-hour format on your Mac running Sonoma. Need further assistance or have questions? Feel free to drop your queries in the comments below, and we’ll promptly guide you through the process.