SkieWhat is the trusted clock in Skie and why does it matter?
The trusted clock is a time source Skie uses for sync timing that does not depend on the device's own clock. It matters because a device date that is wrong or changed would otherwise make last-seen times, thresholds and expiry checks unreliable. Date and time on managed devices are also locked to automatic.
Many checks in device management are about time: how long since the last sync, whether a licence has expired, whether a schedule window is open. If the only clock were the one on the tablet, anyone able to change the date could confuse all of them.
Skie addresses this from two sides. First, it locks date and time to automatic on the device, with auto time and auto time zone forced on, so the setting cannot be switched to manual. Second, sync timing uses a trusted clock, so the durations Skie measures are not simply taken from whatever the device claims.
What you see as an admin is more consistent behaviour. Last-seen times line up with real elapsed time. The Due, Overdue and Breach thresholds are measured against that same reference. Schedules follow the time zone the device is set to, and automatic time zone keeps that in step with where the device really is.
There is one practical consequence. A device with a flat battery that has been off for weeks does not know how long it was off. When it starts, it syncs, and the trusted timing lets Skie work out the gap from its own side. That is also why switching a long-stored device on in a place with Wi-Fi is the best first step.
Practical tip: if a device appears to follow a schedule at the wrong hour, check its time zone setting and that automatic time is on before looking anywhere else.