How To Downgrade iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad And Apple TV: Everything You Need To Know

In this section you will learn how to downgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Apple TV to a lower firmware version (e.g. iOS 9, iOS 8, iOS 7, iOS 6, iOS 5 etc.) than the one you are currently running. Additionally, you will also learn the best way to save your SHSH blobs which will allow you to downgrade your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV firmware version in the future. Simply scroll through our How To Downgrade section for the firmware version you are trying to downgrade to, and read one of our easy to follow how to guides on downgrading your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Apple TV or even PlayStation.

Note #1: This is not some magical section of guides that will allow you to downgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Apple TV 2G without having your SHSH blobs saved for prior firmware versions. Meaning you had to have saved your SHSH blobs for the firmware version you are trying to downgrade to, or downgrading will not work.

Note #2: We will be updating this page with the latest how to downgrade guides when new firmware versions are released, so make sure you come back soon!

How Apple Prevents Downgrading

Downgrading your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to a lower firmware version is indeed possible, but unfortunately has become harder and harder over the years. In the early days you could downgrade your iOS device to any firmware version you wanted to and not run into many troubles. This is because firmware restores never had to be approved by Apple, but starting from iOS 3.0 onwards Apple implemented a technology called SHSH blob.

What Is An SHSH Blob?

You see, when you restore your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad through iTunes your device phones home and ensures that it is allowed to be restored to a specific firmware version. In order to enforce this limitation SHSH blobs were introduced, which is a hash signature system. Although this is getting technical, an SHSH is created by an SHSH formula with 3 or 4 TSS keys (say with me).

1. The device model (example: iPhone 4 GSM)
2. The firmware version being signed (example: 6.0.1)
3. The device’s ECID, a unique identifier for every Apple device.

On every device shipped by Apple a Plist file is present, this file contains SHSH blobs for different parts of the firmware. These blobs are essentially gatekeepers and control whether or not a firmware is restorable. Whenever you upgrade or downgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, new SHSH blobs have to be generated because one of the parts to the SHSH formula is the firmware version.

In order to prevent firmware restores Apple only signs one firmware version at a time, which is obviously the latest firmware version available. If you try to restore to a lower firmware version, you will get an error because Apple is not signing that specific firmware version anymore. What is happening is Apple refuses to generate the new hash during the downgrade, meaning the new SHSH blobs cannot be generated.

What Is An APTicket?

In case this wasn’t a big enough limitation to downgrading iOS devices, in the iOS 5 firmware generation Apple introduced yet another technology to prevent downgrading called APTickets. What APTickets are is essentially the next generation of SHSH blobs. APTickets are much more secure however, because when you try to restore or upgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad a request is sent to Apple’s servers to confirm the APTicket. Unlike SHSH blobs which would submit the same one already stored on the server, a brand new APTicket is generated using a random string. In the future APTickets will completely replace SHSH blobs, this will happen once the iPhone 4S stops being supported.

How To Go About Downgrading

The good thing is there is indeed still a way to downgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or even Apple TV, but it relies on you saving SHSH blobs. You see, when Apple is still signing a firmware version you can save the SHSH signature so that in the future if you wish to downgrade back to that firmware version it is indeed possible. This is essentially performing a replay attack, in the fact that data is being fraudulently retransmitted.

If you are Jailbroken then most of the times your SHSH blobs are already saved on Cydia’s server automatically and you shouldn’t have to back them up manually. Sometimes Cydia doesn’t back up your SHSH blobs on your Jailbroken device however, and you might even prefer to do a local backup of your SHSH blobs. To do this you can use tools like TinyUmbrella (download) and iFaith (download). It is important to keep in mind that these tools can even save the SHSH blobs of non-Jailbroken devices.

Once you have your SHSH blobs signed, as stated previously, if you upgrade to a new firmware version and decide you don’t like it you can downgrade back to the firmware version which you have saved SHSH blobs for. There is unfortunately some restrictions that need to be kept in mind though.

iOS Downgrading Restrictions

For the most part, older iOS devices with an A4 chip can be downgraded to any firmware version as long as you have saved SHSH blobs and APTickets. This includes the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1G, iPod Touch 1G, iPod Touch 2G, iPod Touch 3G and the iPod Touch 4G.

Newer devices like the iPad 2, iPad 3, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5G has different restrictions however, because they are not vulnerable to the limera1n exploit and are governed more-so by APTickets. These devices can only be downgraded on the iOS 5 firmware generation and require saved SHSH blobs and APTickets for the iOS 5 firmware version you are currently running and are trying to get to. The only exception to this is that iPad 2 owners with any saved iOS 4 firmware generation SHSH blobs can downgrade to  to any firmware that they also have saved SHSH blobs for. Downgrading devices with the A5, A5X and A6 chip on the iOS 6 firmware generation is not possible at this time.

Just like how Jailbreaking is becoming more and more difficult on newer Apple devices, so is downgrading. As new exploits are constantly being found however, keep an eye on our list of how to guides shown below that will give you step-by-step instructions on how to downgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Apple TV to a lower firmware version. If you are looking for more information on how to save SHSH blobs and APTickets you will want to visit our How To Save SHSH Blobs section.

Note: Keep in mind that if you find a guide for a previous firmware version and don’t see one for your current situation, most of the time these guides are all-purpose. This means that the instructions are the same for all firmware versions, so you can usually just follow the instructions and just use the firmware versions for your current situation.

How To Downgrade

• Downgrade To iOS 7.1.1 From iOS 8 Beta 1
• Downgrade From iOS 7.1 Beta To iOS 7.0.4
• Downgrade iOS 7 To iOS 6 Using iFaith
• Downgrade From iOS 7 Back To iOS 6.x [VIDEO]
• Downgrade iOS 6.0.1 To iOS 5.1.1 Or Below On A4 Devices Using RedSn0w
• Downgrade iOS 6 To iOS 5.1.1 Or Below On A4 Devices Using RedSn0w
• Downgrade iOS 5.1 To iOS 5.0.1/5.0 On iPhone 4/3GS, iPad 1G, iPod Touch 4G/3G
• Downgrade iOS 5.1 To iOS 4.3.5/4.3.3/4.x On iPhone 4/3GS, iPad 2G/1G, iPod Touch 4G/3G
• Downgrade From iOS 5.0.1 To The iOS 5.0 Firmware Using iFaith v1.4
• Downgrade iOS 5 To iOS 4.3.3 Using TinyUmbrella (generalized)
• Downgrade From iOS 4.3.5 To iOS 4.3.3
• Downgrade From iOS 4.3.4 To iOS 4.3.3
• Downgrade iOS 4.3.3 To iOS 4.3.2 / 4.3.1 / 4.3.0 / 4.1 Using TinyUmbrella (generalized)

 

• iOS 9.1 To iOS 9.0.2
• iOS 9.0.2 To iOS 8.4.1 On iPhone 5/4S And iPad 2/3
• iOS 9, 9.0.1, 9.0.2 To iOS 8.4.1
• iOS 9 Beta To iOS 8.3
• iOS 8.4.1 To iOS 8.4
• iOS 8.1.3 To iOS 8.1.2
• iOS 4.0.2 To 4.0.1 Using SHSS Blobs
• iOS 4 To 3.1.3 Firmware
• 3.1.3 Firmware To 3.1.2 Firmware

How To Re-Restore A5 Devices On iOS 5.x

• Re-Restore Your iPhone 4S, iPad 3 Or iPad 2 From iOS 5.x To iOS 5.x