SkieWhy does Skie lock date and time to automatic?
Skie forces automatic date, time and time zone on, and blocks changing them, using Android's date and time restriction. It is on by default. A student who sets the clock back or forward could slip past schedule windows, so the device always takes its time from the network.
Schedules in Skie run on the clock. A school hours window, a study block or hostel night mode starts and ends at set times. If a student could change the date or time on the tablet, they could shift the clock to leave a window early, or to move a lockdown period out of reach.
Skie sets DISALLOW_CONFIG_DATE_TIME as the device owner and forces auto time and auto time zone on. The Date and time screen then shows these as on and unchangeable. The device follows network time, including when a tablet travels across time zones.
Skie also uses a trusted clock for sync timing, so the schedule logic does not depend only on what the device clock says. That means a time-based rule has a second reference. We do not claim anything about timing numbers, only that the clock is protected on both sides.
The protection is default on. It appears as one switch in the hardening section and is read back from Android after each apply, then counted in the compliance score. A device with no network for a long time may show an odd clock until it connects again. That is normal, and it settles when the tablet is back online.
Practical tip: if a student reports that the clock is wrong, ask them to connect to Wi-Fi. They cannot set it by hand, and they do not need to.