diff --git a/app/api/inspections.py b/app/api/inspections.py
index fc7146b..2998190 100644
--- a/app/api/inspections.py
+++ b/app/api/inspections.py
@@ -62,24 +62,33 @@ _UUID_RE = re.compile(
 
 
 def _parse_datetime(value):
-    """Parse an ISO 8601 datetime string; return None on failure.
+    """Parse an ISO 8601 datetime string; return a naive Eastern datetime.
 
     Handles the formats produced by both the web forms and iOS
-    ISO8601DateFormatter(), which appends a 'Z' UTC suffix:
-        2026-05-28T09:41:00          (web form)
+    ISO8601DateFormatter():
+        2026-05-28T09:41:00          (web form, already Eastern-naive)
         2026-05-28T09:41:00.000      (web form with ms)
-        2026-05-28T09:41:00Z         (iOS ISO8601DateFormatter)
-        2026-05-28T09:41:00.000000Z  (iOS with fractional seconds)
+        2026-05-28T09:41:00Z         (iOS ISO8601DateFormatter, UTC)
+        2026-05-28T09:41:00.000000Z  (iOS with fractional seconds, UTC)
+
+    Values ending with 'Z' are treated as UTC and converted to Eastern.
+    Values without a timezone suffix are assumed to already be Eastern-local.
     """
     if not value:
         return None
-    from datetime import datetime
-    # Strip trailing 'Z' (UTC marker) so strptime can parse it as naive datetime.
-    # The system treats all datetimes as Eastern-local; UTC offset is ignored.
+    from datetime import datetime, timezone as _tz
+    from app.utils.time_utils import EASTERN
+
+    is_utc = isinstance(value, str) and value.endswith('Z')
     normalised = value.rstrip('Z') if isinstance(value, str) else value
     for fmt in ('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S', '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f', '%Y-%m-%d'):
         try:
-            return datetime.strptime(normalised, fmt)
+            dt = datetime.strptime(normalised, fmt)
+            if is_utc:
+                dt = (dt.replace(tzinfo=_tz.utc)
+                        .astimezone(EASTERN)
+                        .replace(tzinfo=None))
+            return dt
         except (ValueError, TypeError):
             pass
     return None