diff --git a/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.spec.ts b/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.spec.ts
index 0b16586e08..f0b343f6d0 100644
--- a/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.spec.ts
+++ b/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { convertDataToISO } from './datetime-util';
+import { convertDataToISO, parseDate } from './datetime-util';
 
 describe('datetime-util', () => {
   describe('convertDataToISO', () => {
@@ -207,4 +207,70 @@ describe('datetime-util', () => {
       });
     });
   });
+
+  describe('parseDate', () => {
+    it('should parse a single year', () => {
+      const date = parseDate('1000');
+      expect(date).toEqual({
+        "day": undefined,
+        "hour": undefined,
+        "millisecond": undefined,
+        "minute": undefined,
+        "month": undefined,
+        "second": undefined,
+        "tzOffset": 0,
+        "year": 1000,
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should parse a time', () => {
+      const date = parseDate('12:20');
+      expect(date).toEqual({
+        "day": undefined,
+        "hour": 12,
+        "millisecond": undefined,
+        "minute": 20,
+        "month": undefined,
+        "second": undefined,
+        "tzOffset": 0,
+        "year": undefined,
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should parse a full ISO date', () => {
+      const date = parseDate('1994-12-15T13:47:20Z');
+      expect(date).toEqual({
+        "day": 15,
+        "hour": 13,
+        "millisecond": undefined,
+        "minute": 47,
+        "month": 12,
+        "second": 20,
+        "tzOffset": 0,
+        "year": 1994,
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should parse a partial ISO date', () => {
+      const date = parseDate('2018-01-02');
+      expect(date).toEqual({
+        "day": 2,
+        "hour": undefined,
+        "millisecond": undefined,
+        "minute": undefined,
+        "month": 1,
+        "second": undefined,
+        "tzOffset": 0,
+        "year": 2018,
+      });
+    });
+
+
+    it('should return undefined', () => {
+      expect(parseDate(null)).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(parseDate(undefined)).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(parseDate('')).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(parseDate('3432-12-12-234')).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts b/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts
index 99bc316ae9..a1d409f6a3 100644
--- a/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts
+++ b/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ export function parseDate(val: string | undefined | null): DatetimeData | undefi
   // ISO 8601 format: 1994-12-15T13:47:20Z
   let parse: any[] | null = null;
 
-  if (val != null) {
+  if (val) {
     // try parsing for just time first, HH:MM
     parse = TIME_REGEXP.exec(val);
     if (parse) {