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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-23T04:27:57+00:00

My application should have some changes after some time (in hours or days) and

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My application should have some changes after some time (in hours or days) and I would like to test that.

I try to use SystemClock.setCurrentTimeMillis() in my unit test to simulate the change of time/date, but without any luck.

I declared the <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS" /> in the manifest of both the application and the test application, that did not change anything.

At this time, I am running those tests on the emulator if that makes any difference…

Edit : With Nick’s help, also requested SET_TIME permission:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SET_TIME" />

But now, the logcat shows :

WARN/PackageManager(59): Not granting permission android.permission.SET_TIME to package com.matthieu.tests (protectionLevel=3 flags=0xbe46)

Another Edit : With dtmilano’s answer…

Added this code (with the right try/catch) in my test:

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("date \"$((10800 + $(date +%s)))\"").waitFor();

When I go on the shell, I can run that command without any problem and I see the time changing in the emulator (I am trying to add 3 hours). When I run my tests with my code, the time does not change at all… ?

What I do on the command line is :

date "$((10800 + $(date +%s)))"

I doubt I need to add the “adb shell” part in the Runtime.exec…

Seems like this is on the right path, but still not able to get it running. And it might also go along what Nick pointed to that it needs to be a system process to be able to change the time… ?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#SET_TIME

    I searched “android permissions” then on the permissions page, did a find on the word “time”. if you are past api level 8, i would recommend you request that permission.

    Update: based on this link, I do not think it is possible to set the system time from a user space app. For your testing purposes, you may need to manually change the time on the emulator. The only other option I have found requires building and signing your own Android build.

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