diff --git a/launch_env.sh b/launch_env.sh
index 1dd680f89..60d710d43 100755
--- a/launch_env.sh
+++ b/launch_env.sh
@@ -26,3 +26,12 @@ export STREAM=1
 export STREAM_PORT=8082
 export STREAM_QUALITY=50
 export STREAM_FPS=10
+
+# --- system time (this hardware has no battery-backed RTC) ---
+# Every boot the clock starts at 1970, which breaks TLS: the model list and downloads fail
+# with "certificate is not yet valid" until NTP or GPS catches up. Seed a recent date so TLS
+# works from the start; NTP/GPS correct it to the second afterwards.
+if [ "$(date +%Y)" -lt 2020 ]; then
+  sudo date -s "2026-10-09 12:00:00" >/dev/null 2>&1
+  printf 'seeded %s (was < 2020)\n' "$(date -Is)" >> /data/time_seed.log 2>/dev/null
+fi
diff --git a/launch_openpilot.sh b/launch_openpilot.sh
index 1adb763b7..3d03fc6de 100755
--- a/launch_openpilot.sh
+++ b/launch_openpilot.sh
@@ -11,38 +11,6 @@ echo -n "1" > /data/params/d/IsMetric
 
 
 
-# --- system time ---------------------------------------------------------------
-# This hardware has no battery-backed RTC: every boot starts at 1970, so TLS fails
-# ("certificate is not yet valid") and the model list/download cannot succeed until
-# NTP or GPS catches up. Restore the last known time from /data (persists across
-# reboots) so TLS works right away; NTP/GPS correct it to the second afterwards.
-TIME_SNAPSHOT=/data/time_snapshot
-if [ -f "$TIME_SNAPSHOT" ]; then
-  SAVED_TIME=$(cat "$TIME_SNAPSHOT" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
-  NOW_TIME=$(date +%s)
-  # only when the clock is bogus (before 2020) and the snapshot looks sane (after 2020)
-  if [ "$NOW_TIME" -lt 1577836800 ] && [ "${SAVED_TIME:-0}" -gt 1577836800 ]; then
-    if sudo date -s "@$SAVED_TIME" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-      echo "[time] restored from snapshot: $(date)"
-      printf 'restored %s from %s\n' "$(date -Is)" "$SAVED_TIME" >> /data/time_seed.log 2>/dev/null
-    fi
-  fi
-fi
-
-# keep the snapshot fresh so the next boot starts close to the real time.
-# Only write a plausible, non-decreasing time: right after boot the clock is still 1970 (or the
-# stale value from the previous unsynced boot), and saving that would poison the next boot.
-(
-  while true; do
-    NOW=$(date +%s)
-    OLD=$(cat "$TIME_SNAPSHOT" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
-    if [ "$NOW" -gt 1577836800 ] && [ "$NOW" -ge "$OLD" ]; then
-      printf '%s\n' "$NOW" > "$TIME_SNAPSHOT.tmp" 2>/dev/null && mv "$TIME_SNAPSHOT.tmp" "$TIME_SNAPSHOT" 2>/dev/null
-    fi
-    sleep 300
-  done
-) &
-
 # Force device timezone to Asia/Shanghai (Beijing)
 sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai /data/etc/localtime
 sudo sh -c 'echo Asia/Shanghai > /data/etc/timezone'