Java – How to get time from the network in Android

In my app, I want to use network time, not device time. My app should be right to ask for time.

I’m trying to get the time from an NTS server, but the loader keeps running and doesn’t stop. I waited more than 30 minutes but still didn’t get anything.

I was wondering if there is any other way to get time from the web, as I don’t think it would take much time to get time from the web.

public class MainActivity extends Activity  {

public static final String TIME_SERVER = "time-a.nist.gov";

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    Button btnGetTime = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button1);
    
btnGetTime.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
             Perform action on click 
              new GetTimeFromNetwork().execute();
        }
    });

}
    
public class GetTimeFromNetwork extends AsyncTask<String, Void, String> {
    
ProgressDialog progressDialog;

@Override
    protected void onPreExecute() {

progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(MainActivity.this);
        progressDialog.setMessage("Loading...");
        progressDialog.setCancelable(false);
        progressDialog.show();
        Log.i( "pre execute","yes"); 

}

@Override
    protected String doInBackground(String... params) {
         TODO Auto-generated method stub
    Log.i("In Get time From Server class", "yes");

try {
                NTPUDPClient timeClient = new NTPUDPClient();
                InetAddress inetAddress = InetAddress.getByName(TIME_SERVER);
                TimeInfo timeInfo = timeClient.getTime(inetAddress);
                long returnTime = timeInfo.getReturnTime();   local device time
                long returnTime = timeInfo.getMessage().getTransmitTimeStamp()
                        .getTime(); server time
                Date time = new Date(returnTime);
                Log.i("time", "Time from " + TIME_SERVER + ": " + time);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                 TODO: handle exception
                Log.e("error",e.getMessage());
         }
              return null;
    }

@Override
    protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
        super.onPostExecute(result);
        progressDialog.dismiss();
    
}  }
 }

This solution worked for me :

Import this dependency in your module (maybe you already have it):

compile 'commons-net:commons-net:3.3'

This is an example of getting the local/network time. As you know, you should run it in an asynchronous task like a solution.

public static final String TIME_SERVER = "time-a.nist.gov";

public static void printTimes() throws IOException {
            NTPUDPClient timeClient = new NTPUDPClient();
            InetAddress inetAddress = InetAddress.getByName(TIME_SERVER);
            TimeInfo timeInfo = timeClient.getTime(inetAddress);
            long returnTime = timeInfo.getReturnTime();   local device time
            long returnTime = timeInfo.getMessage().getTransmitTimeStamp().getTime();   server time

Date time = new Date(returnTime);
            Log.e("getCurrentNetworkTime", "Time from " + TIME_SERVER + ": " + time);

Log.e("Local time", "Local time");
            Log.e("Local time", "Current time: " + new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()));
            Log.e("Local time", "Time info: " + new Date(timeInfo.getReturnTime()));
            Log.e("Local time", "GetOriginateTimeStamp: " + new Date(timeInfo.getMessage().getOriginateTimeStamp().getTime()));

Log.e("NTP time", "Time from " + TIME_SERVER + ": " + time);

Log.e("Local time", "Time info: " + new Date(timeInfo.getMessage().getReceiveTimeStamp().getTime()));
            Log.e("Local time", "GetOriginateTimeStamp: " + new Date(timeInfo.getMessage().getTransmitTimeStamp().getTime()));

}

Get a summary of your net time only:

public static long getNetworkTime() throws IOException {
        NTPUDPClient timeClient = new NTPUDPClient();
        InetAddress inetAddress = InetAddress.getByName(TIME_SERVER);
        TimeInfo timeInfo = timeClient.getTime(inetAddress);
        return timeInfo.getMessage().getReceiveTimeStamp().getTime();
    }

Hope this helps!!