There is no inherent reason that downgrades of the iOS should not work. What’s the ultimate cause of the downgrade prohibition?Īs I’ve already indicated, the answer can be summarized in one word: Apple. But they are increasingly difficult to carry out. You mean you can’t just erase and restore an iOS device to a prior version? Assuming the tools to jailbreak iOS 4.1 are not yet out, you might want to downgrade your new iPhone to iOS 4.0.x - which (hopefully by that time) can be jailbroken. In a related scenario, suppose you buy a new iPhone 4 that ships with iOS 4.1 (I’m predicting the future here). If you update by mistake (perhaps due to a temporary memory lapse, as happened to me) or otherwise regret updating, you’ll want to downgrade so as to get back to an iOS version that can be jailbroken. This is because Apple explicitly revises each iOS upgrade so as to prevent current jailbreak tools from working - and updated versions of the required jailbreak tools are typically not immediately available. If you did this just after the upgrade was released, it’s almost certain that you cannot yet jailbreak the new iOS version. If you jailbreak your iPhone and upgrade to a new version of the iOS, your jailbreak changes are removed. Instead, you are required to update to the latest version. At this point, you will not be given the option to restore the device to your presently installed iOS version. Unfortunately, some glitch occurs and you get the message in iTunes that says you need to restore your iPhone. Suppose, for whatever reason, you are running something other than the latest version of the iOS and wish to keep doing so. Rather, you want to prevent an enforced upgrade. Here’s a situation where you don’t exactly want to downgrade. In all of these cases, downgrading the iOS will likely be required. Or, for a troubleshooting article you’re writing (as happened to me), you may want to repeatedly test out the restore process itself. Even so, you may find yourself in a situation where you want to revert to an iOS version older than that on any of your devices. One solution is to have multiple devices, each running a different iOS version. As a developer, a tech journalist, or an inquisitive iPhone owner, you may wish to compare how certain iOS features work under different versions of the iOS. If you updated (perhaps before you realized what Apple had done), you might want to downgrade to the prior iOS version. Apple blocked this hack in a subsequent update. For example, there was a hack that allowed you to enable Internet Tethering in iOS 3.0 - well before AT&T officially sanctioned it. Ī less common but still possible situation would be if the iOS update removed a desirable feature. If you update and decide that the bug is a deal-breaker for you, you might want to downgrade the iOS - until Apple releases a bug-fix iOS update. Similarly, there may be a bug in the iOS itself that did not exist in the prior version. While you’re waiting for that update, you may prefer to downgrade the iOS so you can continue using the app. Eventually, an updated version of the app is likely to be released. After updating, you may discover that some app that is critical to your use of the iOS device no longer works - because the app is incompatible with the update. There are at least 4 reasons that an iOS user might want to downgrade the iOS on their device: To get started, let’s consider one further question: Why would a user ever want to downgrade their iOS device in the first place? You are about to learn the answers to all of these questions. Why have they done this? How have the done this? And how you can circumvent their obstacles? They have deliberately made it difficult to downgrade. There are several roadblocks that get in your way. But what if you want to downgrade back to iOS 4.0 or iOS 3.1.3? Too bad. If you have an iPhone 4 or other iOS 4 compatible device, you’re probably running iOS 4.0.1.
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