On Monday, Apple stopped signing the iOS & iPadOS 18.2 firmware, which means that anyone who updated their iPhone or iPad to the newest iOS & iPadOS 18.2.1 software that the Cupertino-based company released just last week can no longer voluntarily downgrade the firmware on their device to iOS or iPadOS 18.2.
Blocking firmware downgrades is nothing new for Apple, as the company prefers to maintain right control on what version(s) of iOS or iPadOS that its users may actively install on their own rightfully owned devices. While we strongly disagree with such logic, we can see very clearly why Apple takes this approach.
Firmware downgrades have long been used by the jailbreak community has a means to install hackable firmware on their iPhones and iPads, but as we know, Apple hates jailbreaking and wishes that the practice for its iPhones and iPads would simply cease to exist. The company pours seemingly endless funds into security research to fuel software updates that patch exploits as fast as they surface.
But Apple will never publicly admit this; instead, they turn to other reasons for blocking firmware upgrades, such as ensuring users have the latest new features or security patches. Forcing users to upgrade their iPhone or iPad’s software as opposed to downgrading when restoring the device also allows for artificial inflation of the company’s new software adoption statistics, which helps to please shareholders.
While we think that users should have the right to install any firmware version they want on their iPhone or iPad within reason, especially for the sake of jailbreaking, there are also other legitimate reasons why someone might want to downgrade their firmware. Whether it’s because a new firmware introduced a bothersome bug or because an app the user enjoys doesn’t run as well on the newer firmware.
There are several accountable examples in recent memory in which exactly this has occurred. In fact, not all software updates from Apple are bug-free, so some users have been forced to downgrade their firmware to escape a horrible user experience imposed directly by the company itself:
- iPadOS 18.0 bricking M4 chip-equipped iPad Pros
- iOS 16.0 over-prompting users on clipboard access when pasting copied content into another app
- iOS 14.7 breaking the Apple Watch’s ability to be unlocked with the host iPhone’s Touch ID sensor
- iOS & iPadOS 13.2 imposing incredibly aggressive background management on backgrounded apps
While it seems unlikely that Apple will ever willingly unlock firmware downgrades for its users of its mobile devices, we remain hopeful that government intervention could one day catch up with Apple’s controlling practices as they have already with Apple’s App Store rules abroad.
For now, you can see what firmware is or isn’t being signed for your particular device by visiting the IPSW.me website. You can also download whatever firmware file you might need for your device from our dedicated Downloads section.
Has Apple’s unsigning of iOS & iPadOS 18.2 interrupted your downgrading plans in any way? Discuss in the comments.