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Manipulating timestamp by changing device date & time

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Posted on by Community Power Pla... Microsoft Employee

Hello,

We use the Now() function (hidden from user) to capture the exact date & time when the user submits their data through the app. Our usecase for apps is to transform paper-based forms into digital ones. One of the advantages was that the timestamp could not be easily manipulated compared to a sheet of paper (where we cannot control whether the added date is accurate).

However, if a user simply changes their device date & time, then PowerApps will use that instead of the 'real' date and time.

Hence my question:

Are all PowerApps date fields tied back to the device date & time?

Does anyone have an idea how to control for the above scenario, e.g. if somebody tried to deliberately alter the date?

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Building Power Apps

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timl 37,287 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Anonymous

What data source are you using?

The CDS, for example, automatically stores the create time/create user/last modified time and last modified user for each record. With SQL Server, you could set the default value of a field to 'CURRENT_TIMESTAMP' to insert the server date and time during record creation. With Excel or non server based data stores, this would be much more difficult.
Community Power Pla... Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi timl
Thanks for your response.
Currently my data source is a SharePoint list, I pull the data into a collection and work within collections, when the user submits it uses Flow to feed the data back into another SharePoint list. Therefore, I am using the PowerApps date functions.

My question was if there is any date function available that does not use the device / system date and time, but queries the current time differently, perhaps through a specific connector / web service.

This might be overcomplicating things, I just realized that you could simply alter the device time and date to adjust the 'submit time'.
On the other side I could compare this to the SharePoint list item creation date.. good point.
ArifNajiruddin 10 on at

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Hello, I have 1 suggestion for that. You can use SP list to get time from powerapps from 1 admin.
1st, you must create a screen that only visible to you. Then follow below steps for further:-

1. Create SPList table.Name it as Date/Time.
2. In the table, add new column with date/time and name it as Date/Time also.
3. insert raw data to the table. such as, Title = timing1, Date/Time just pick any date.
4. At the powerapps screen, put timer from insert. set the duration to 5000(equal to 5 seconds).
5. Set the on timer end with below code,
If(yourtimername.value = 5000,
Update If('Date/Time', Title = "timing1",{ 'Date/Time':Now()}));

Set(ClockIn,LookUp{'Date/Time', Title = "timing1",'Date/Time'));
Put label and set its text as ClockIn.

If the user has to submit their via pressed button, set on select for the button:-
Set(ClockIn,LookUp{'Date/Time', Title = "timing1",'Date/Time'));

So, ClockIn will get only 1 date/time from 1 user who can view the visible screen just now.
Now you can use ClockIn to replace now() Function for the user.
ArifNajiruddin 10 on at

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Dont forget to set the timer auto start to true and you also can hide the timer by set the visible to false.