Group/Club leaderboards typically update your progress by “challenge day” (a 24-hour window). When your time zone changes (travel), your device time is set manually, or your step source recalculates “today,” your steps near midnight can be counted under a different day—making the leaderboard look delayed, “stuck,” or shifted.

What you might see

• Today’s leaderboard is not moving, but your steps are increasing in the app. 
• Steps you walked late at night appear under yesterday (or tomorrow). 
• After traveling, one day looks unusually high/low, and another day looks “missing.” 
• Your progress updates only after a refresh, or several hours later.

Why it happens

1) Daily totals are calculated from midnight in a time zone

Many step systems define “today” as midnight → now in a specific time zone.

• Google Fit daily step total is computed from midnight of the current day in the device’s current time zone. 
• On iOS, Apple’s Health/Activity “day” is also anchored to the calendar day (midnight boundary) and Apple does not provide a setting to change when the day starts/ends.

So if your time zone shifts (or you change it manually), the system’s definition of “today” can shift too.

2) Health data can be time-zone aware, but “rings/leaderboards” may not be recomputed the way you expect

Apple’s health database can display historical activity differently after a time zone change, and some daily summaries may not “rebuild” exactly the way users assume.

3) The leaderboard may use either:

Because different apps implement challenges differently, the leaderboard day boundary is usually one of these models:

• Model A (Most common): Your device time zone determines your “challenge day.” 
• Model B: The challenge uses a fixed time zone (set by the club/challenge), and everyone is compared on that clock.

If your club uses Model B and you’re in a different time zone, you may see updates land under a “different day” than your local calendar.

(If you don’t explicitly expose a “challenge time zone” in the UI, assume Model A.)

The #1 fix: Make sure your device time is correct and automatic

Incorrect time settings are the biggest cause of “leaderboard not updating” reports.

iOS (iPhone)

1. Go to Settings → General → Date & Time 
2. Turn on Set Automatically 
3. If available, also enable automatic time zone updates (location-based)

Apple recommends using automatic date/time and time zone behavior to avoid incorrect system time/time zone.

Android

1. Go to Settings → System → Date & time (may vary) 
2. Turn on: 
   • Use network-provided time 
   • Use network-provided time zone 
3. Restart the phone (recommended)

Travel scenarios and what to do

Scenario 1: You traveled today

If you crossed time zones today, your steps near “midnight” can be reassigned.

What to do

• Keep automatic time zone enabled. 
• Wait for the daily boundary to pass in your current time zone. 
• Refresh the leaderboard (see next section).

Scenario 2: You changed the time zone manually

Manual time zone changes often cause the most confusing day-splits.

What to do

• Re-enable automatic time/time zone. 
• Force a refresh and reopen the challenge page. 
• If the challenge is mid-day, expect some steps to “move” to a neighboring day after recalculation.

Scenario 3: You’re a night-shift user (steps split across midnight)

This is expected behavior when the day resets at midnight, and Apple does not allow changing the “day start/end” in Health/Activity.

Best practice

• Use the leaderboard’s weekly or total views (if available) for a more stable picture. 

Force the leaderboard to update

Leaderboards often refresh in batches.

1. Open the Club/Group Challenge page 
2. Pull down to refresh (or tap refresh if you have a button) 
3. Close the challenge page and re-open it 
4. If it’s still stale, fully close and relaunch the app

Step source matters (and time zones affect sources differently)

If your challenge progress is derived from a third-party step source, its “day boundary” rules apply:

• Android + Google Fit: daily totals depend on the device time zone. 
• iOS + Apple Health/Activity: daily cutoffs are calendar-day based and not user-configurable.

When to contact support

If:

• Your device time/time zone is automatic, 
• Your steps are correct inside the app, 
• But the club leaderboard stays wrong for an extended period (e.g., many hours or a full day),

collect:

• Club ID + name
• Your current time zone and whether you traveled 
• Your selected step source 
• Screenshots: Today steps + leaderboard day view