The companion uses two separate preferences here. Your IANA time zone determines when local-time features such as daily messages and checklist reminders run. Your optional country preference helps choose stories; it is not inferred from your Telegram account, wallet or location.
Set and verify your time zone
In a private chat, send /settings and choose the time-zone control. Enter an IANA zone name, for example `Asia/Manila`, `Europe/London` or `America/New_York`. These identifiers name a region's clock rules, including daylight-saving changes where the region observes them. A fixed offset such as `UTC+8` is not accepted. If the name is invalid, the bot keeps asking and does not save it.
After saving, reopen /settings. Check the displayed local time and zone, including its current UTC offset. The offset can change seasonally while the zone name stays the same. This setting is used for scheduled local-time features; it does not change your device clock or Telegram timestamps. See daily message time and format and checklist reminders for their separate controls.
Choose or skip a country preference
In /settings, choose the country or region control and enter the place you want the story selector to prefer. The bot stores the value you provide and uses known country-name aliases when matching the reviewed story catalog. It prefers eligible, unseen stories tagged for that country when available; it can choose another eligible story when no regional match is available. The preference does not guarantee that every story will be from that country.
To keep stories worldwide, send Skip when asked for a country. Settings then displays a worldwide preference. This does not affect your time zone or message schedule. You can replace the country or choose worldwide later from Settings. The companion does not infer country from a wallet, device location or IP address.
Fix a schedule that arrives at the wrong local time
First check the local time and zone printed in /settings. If either is wrong, choose the time-zone control and enter the correct IANA name. Do not compensate by changing the daily message hour: zone and hour are separate settings. Then check the feature's own on/off state and time in daily message settings or reminder settings. A timezone correction does not enable a paused feature.
Changing your country only affects story selection. For language, name or broader data controls, see language settings, names and personalization, and Settings and privacy.