Apple No Longer Signing iOS 8.4.1 and iOS 9

[MacRumors]

Apple today stopped signing iOS 8.4.1 and the first version of iOS 9 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, meaning users can no longer upgrade or downgrade to those versions of iOS using iTunes. Apple is now signing iOS 9.0.1 and iOS 9.0.2 only.

Users who have upgraded to iOS 9 are now unable to downgrade back to the last version of iOS 8, iOS 8.4.1. Released in August, iOS 8.4.1 was a minor update that included bug fixes and Apple Music improvements. iOS 8.4.1 also broke the iOS 8.4 untethered jailbreak.

iOS 9 was first released to the public on September 16, and there have been two additional updates since that time. iOS 9.0.1 was released on September 23 and iOS 9.0.2 was released on September 30.

Article Link: Apple No Longer Signing iOS 8.4.1 and iOS 9

 

[Erastopic]

Here comes all the rage comments again..

 

[AFEPPL]

Apple should just allow users to make their own minds up..
if as a consumer you want to run iOS7 - why not?

 

[garylapointe]

While this is interesting info, there isn't anything we can do with it

If it was a rumor that they were going to stop signing we could do something with that information...

Seems like (lately) we're getting more less-useful rumors than before.
Especially things that probably happen like clockwork (like a __ days after iOS upgrades, the previous version stops working).

Gary

 

[SevLucas]

Glad I rolled both my iPhone 6 and iPad Air back to iOS 8 while I could.. The slightly improved battery life and new features didn't outweigh the choppiness and lag that plagued both devices, especially on my iPad Air.

 

[dmx]

Apple should just allow users to make their own minds up..
if as a consumer you want to run iOS7 - why not?

The best reason I can think of is security. There are security flaws fixed from time to time, and allowing people to run or downgrade to old software would increase the incentive for people to use those holes maliciously. And no matter what, even if they chose to run that old insecure software, Apple would be blamed for not fixing it.

 

[east85]

So glad I moved my A5 devices to 8.4.1 from iOS 9 when Apple was still signing. Hopefully iOS 9 is optimized over time and performs better on these devices, but if it doesn't, I won't be all that surprised.

 

[stulaw11]

Apple should just allow users to make their own minds up..
if as a consumer you want to run iOS7 - why not?

You can if you never upgrade, you just can't downgrade. And there are lots of dummies out there who dont get upgrading fixes bugs and security flaws; some critical security flaws going that far back.

 

[garirry]

That's to be expected, but I really wish Apple let techies and people who know their stuff in tech downgrade to earlier versions of iOS at their own will.

 

[Tamagotchi]

RIP to the best version of iOS since iOS 6.

PS: To the expected replies from Apple Apologists: I don't care about your opinion.

 

[Paradoxally]

Apple should just allow users to make their own minds up..
if as a consumer you want to run iOS7 - why not?

From a user's view, you raise a valid point. However, as a developer, it's time and money wasted supporting more than 2 iterations back. The lack of software fragmentation is something great we have on iOS, making development faster and thus, new features can be implemented quicker.

 

[jpgr15]

I for one am a fan at how quick this has happened. It's great how fast and non-stingy Apple has been on bug fix updates the last couple of weeks.

 

[vertsix]

Noooooooooooo!

Now people are forced to stick with laggy, unstable software that is iOS 9 for now!

Come at me. It's the truth.

 

[duffman9000]

Noooooooooooo!

Now people are forced to stick with laggy, unstable software that is iOS 9 for now!

Come at me. It's the truth.

A local Apple Store swapped my 6+ due to the known camera issue among other issues. I can't believe I'm saying iOS 8.1 was super smooth.

 

[Kaibelf]

Apple should just allow users to make their own minds up..
if as a consumer you want to run iOS7 - why not?

Because then something won't be supported and they will whine and blame Apple for their own choices.

 

[Kaibelf]

RIP to the best version of iOS since iOS 6.

PS: To the expected replies from Apple Apologists: I don't care about your opinion.

Nothing like someone who goes on a discussion forum to tell everyone that he does t want to talk. Makes me wonder what kind of life that must be.

 

[arkhanjel]

This is just as much for developers as it is for Apple. Moving forward can't happen if they're still needing to support the older versions of the OS. Sorry to say but most of the people that complain about iOS 9 and it's problems are the same ones to complain when their apps don't work because developers want to use all the new features and stop supporting the older OS.

 

[darkfiber]

Apple should just allow users to make their own minds up..
if as a consumer you want to run iOS7 - why not?

Because it would be a support nightmare. There would be people running old versions of iOS and then complaining because an App no longer supports it. Or they would complain about a bug in the version they are running that was fixed in a newer version. Not to mention the many security holes found in older versions of iOS.

 

[kwikdeth]

It all comes back to Apple. Supporting updates on older versions of the OS wouldn't be a problem if the dev tools themselves were capable of doing so. How hard can it be? I can't say I've tried developing for iOS but as I recall in x-code, besides specific library dependencies and calls, including older OS support was as simple as a menu pull-down. Users blame devs, devs blame users, when its Apple who is silently pitting them against each other while they get even more piled on their massive cash pile since they've convinced everyone they are required to buy new hardware every year since the last version that was only 200mhz slower can't possibly run that new code.

 

[kwikdeth]

Because it would be a support nightmare. There would be people running old versions of iOS and then complaining because an App no longer supports it. Or they would complain about a bug in the version they are running that was fixed in a newer version. Not to mention the many security holes found in older versions of iOS.

Everyone says it would be too "hard"... Hard for a company with more cash than some countries?

 

[PNutts]

Oops. I still needed to upgrade a kid's iPhone from 8.3. Oh, well.

 

[furi0usbee]

LOL good think I went back to 8.4.1 last week.

 

[logicstudiouser]

Odd, my iOS 6 iPhone 5 still gives the option to 'download and install' iOS 8.4.1 (not that I am upgrading, I am just surprised) when I checked software updates. Maybe you have to go through iOS 8 to upgrade to iOS 9 when updating from the device, rather than via iTunes. Who knows!

 

[AtheistP3ace]

Wow. That was surprisingly fast. At least for iOS 9. I wonder if they found some unknown major bug and squashed people being able to install that version of iOS 9 after it was fixed. Unless this is normal and I'm just not aware of it.

 

[Sasparilla]

This seems about the right amount of time for the lockout of the prior major version of iOS. They did it about the same time last year and the year before.

I'm glad Apple keeps signing the old version for a week or two after the major update (I used that last year)…but think it would be better if they did it for a 2 months instead of a week or two so people who aren't wanting to try .0 can still roll back if desired.