If you have been the victim of an OTA update on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and now have iOS 9.3.5 running on your device, there is a way for you to downgrade to iOS 9.3.4. However, you will need to act fast before Apple stops signing the older firmware.
Downgrade to iOS 9.3.4
Yesterday, almost out of nowhere, Apple released the unexpected iOS 9.3.5 firmware that is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices. If you decided to give it a try but now regret it, then in this article we are going to tell you how to roll back to iOS 9.3.4 while it is still possible.
If you are new to rolling back firmware, there are some things you need to know. The first is that Apple has made it impossible to go back any further than iOS 9.3.4 due to it no longer digitally signing earlier versions. Second, if you were hoping to go back to iOS 9.3.3 and use the PanGu jailbreak, we’re sorry to say that is no longer an option for you.
As for why anyone would want to roll back to iOS 9.3.4 in the first place, the only reason we can think of would be because the new update has caused some stability issues with the performance of their iOS device or issues with battery life. However, we think this would be highly unlikely due to the fact that iOS 9.3.5 is considered to be a serious security fix.
How to downgrade to iOS 9.3.4
So if you have upgraded to iOS 9.3.5 and want to roll back to iOS 9.3.4, follow this tutorial, and you will soon be where you want to be.
Before you start the downgrade process, it is always best that you follow the few simple steps below.
- Make a full backup of your device on the current firmware. Make sure to make those backups are independent of your iCloud and iTunes backups because Apple does not allow data to be restored from iCloud/iTunes on older firmware.
- You can only downgrade to iOS 9.3.4, as this is the oldest version of the firmware currently being signed by Apple.
- Upgrade iTunes to the latest version.
Step 1: To begin with, you are going to need the very latest iOS 9.3.3 firmware; you can get that from here.
Step 2: Now before you start the downgrade process, there is a small amount of work to do. So go to the Settings app on your iOS device and then to iCloud –> Find My iPhone, and then disable it.
Step 3: Now, connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to a PC or Mac using a sync/charge cable.
Step 4: Now that you have the very latest version of iTunes running on you PC or Mac, connect your iOS device, and then select the Summary tab. This will display information about your connected device.
Step 5: Now it is time to start moving through the downgrade process. If you are using a Windows PC, hold down the Shift key and click Restore iPhone in iTunes. If you are a Mac user, you will have to hold down the Option/Alt key at the same time as selecting Restore iPhone.
Step 6: Next, when asked to select an IPSW file, choose the iOS 9.3.3 IPSW file that you downloaded in step 1 of this process. iTunes will now guide you through a number of different prompts that are part of the downgrade process. At this point, you need to be vigilant and accurately accept anything that is relevant.
iTunes will now work through the process of downgrading your iOS device to iOS 9.3.4. When it is finished, your device will reboot with a new version of Apple’s older firmware installed.
If you want to avoid the chance of being a victim of another OTA update, there is a way you can stop this from happening. Take a look at this tutorial.
