Apple stops signing iOS 17.6.1, making it impossible to downgrade from iOS 18

2 months ago 35

Apple last week released iOS 18 to the public. The update comes with a bunch of new features, including customizable Home Screen and Control Center, a redesigned Photos app and improvements to the Messages app. However, those who have updated to iOS 18 can no longer downgrade to iOS 17, as Apple has just stopped signing iOS 17.6.1.

Apple blocks downgrade from iOS 18

iOS 17.6.1 was released for iPhones and iPads in August with bug fixes. Although users running iOS 17 can still choose not to update to iOS 18 and stay on iOS 17.7 with all the latest security patches, there are no IPSW files available for this version of iOS. This means that once you’ve upgraded to iOS 18, it’s impossible to downgrade.

As new iOS releases often come with bugs and can break support for certain apps, some users choose to downgrade their devices until Apple and the developers fix these issues. Reverting to older iOS builds is also a technique used by those who jailbreak their iPhones and iPads.

Currently, the only device that can be downgraded is the M4 iPad Pro. That’s because a serious bug has caused some of these iPads to brick after being updated to iPadOS 18. Apple has released iPadOS 17.7 IPSW files specifically for the affected iPad models, as the company has also pulled down iPadOS 18 for the M4 iPads.

If your device is running iOS 18.1 beta, you can still downgrade to the official iOS 18.0 release. iOS 18.1, which adds the first set of Apple Intelligence features, will be released next month.