Apple Stops Signing iOS 16.4.1 to Prevent Downgrading

[MacRumors]

Following the launch of iOS 16.5 on May 18, Apple has stopped signing iOS 16.4.1, the previously available version of iOS. Now that iOS 16.4.1 is no longer being signed, iPhone users are prevented from downgrading to that software version.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of iOS after new releases come out to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date, so the fact that iOS 16.4 is no longer being signed is not unusual.

Released on April 7, iOS 16.4.1 was a minor bug fix update that came just under two weeks after the launch of iOS 16.4, an update that introduced new Emoji, Safari Web Push notifications, Voice Isolation for phone calls, and more.

iOS 16.5, the current publicly available version of iOS, brought some important bug fixes and a couple of feature additions, including a dedicated Sports tab in Apple News and a Pride Collection wallpaper for Lock Screens. Apple is also testing iOS 16.6 with developers and public beta testers.

Article Link: Apple Stops Signing iOS 16.4.1 to Prevent Downgrading

 

[ratspg]

We’re ready for WWDC iOS 17 Betas let’s gooooooo!!!

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

We’re ready for WWDC iOS 17 Betas let’s gooooooo!!!

My iPad is still on the iOS 16 beta 😂, I barely use it

 

[Yr Blues]

I want to downgrade to 15 or 14. I hate how changing wallpaper is so difficult now. So many little things made worse for no reason.

 

[JePe]

Looking forward to the iOS17!

 

[winxmac]

I know that it is no longer signed but a mention about iOS 15.7.5 would also be nice for those that own devices that cannot upgrade to iOS 16.x

 

[John099]

PSA Facebook marketplace is a decent place to offload your apple products that you no longer use, seems like a lot of people just collect them but don't really use them.

 

[reezekeys]

So much for those needing to downgrade so they can use their USB3 CCK until Apple updates 16.5 (and who's to say the bug will be fixed then?)

 

[4LSD]

So much for those needing to downgrade so they can use their USB3 CCK until Apple updates 16.5 (and who's to say the bug will be fixed then?)

Yup ridiculous that they’ve not left 16.4.1 available until they’ve fixed 16.5

 

[retta283]

I want to downgrade to 15 or 14. I hate how changing wallpaper is so difficult now. So many little things made worse for no reason.

Strongly agree. I find iOS 14 to be by far the best of the recent versions, wish I could've kept my iPhone on it. For now I'm on 15 which is still mostly fine. 16 is junk, plain and simple. Battery life is awful, the new lock screen customization makes it a pain to do the things that used to be easy for those of us who don't care to customize ours (and I still think none of the fonts/sizes for time are as good as the 15 default) and I will never understand the notifications being at the bottom of the screen. Complete nonsense.

I am extremely stubborn when it comes to UI changes though, and I bet that by the time I am used to all of this they will change it again the next year...

 

[svish]

The usual. Excited to see the next version of iOS

 

[asiga]

I want to downgrade to 15 or 14. I hate how changing wallpaper is so difficult now. So many little things made worse for no reason.

The iPad is a service, not a product. Use the Mac if you want a product on which you have the proper degree of control (although it's getting more services-like with the years, but it's still a product). And show your opposition to services by not paying for them, but for products that you can control instead. I think I'd love the iPad if it was a product: the iPad would be great if you could control it like a Mac (but Apple is going the other way around, and slowly turning the Mac into an iPad instead of what they should do).

 

[fmillion]

The iPad is a service, not a product. Use the Mac if you want a product on which you have the proper degree of control (although it's getting more services-like with the years, but it's still a product). And show your opposition to services by not paying for them, but for products that you can control instead. I think I'd love the iPad if it was a product: the iPad would be great if you could control it like a Mac (but Apple is going the other way around, and slowly turning the Mac into an iPad instead of what they should do).

Follow the money trail. Subscriptions and services make way more money than products. Even when I was in high school, I understood the idea of "you'll make more money if you can make something that lots of people pay a small amount of money for on a regular basis, than something that some people pay a big amount of money for one single time."

I despise locked down products and subscriptions with a passion, but I'm not sure how we stop it. Even if everyone were to stop buying locked down devices and only bought open devices right now, the overall profit would still be much lower in the long term (and the economists know it), thus the incentive to push people back to subscriptions in any way possible would never go away. Of course in reality a lot of people don't have a choice but to buy service-type devices - the fact that every major software vendor (Adobe, Microsoft, now Apple, etc.) have all moved to subscription software is part of it. Plus there are many kinds of things we do on our devices that depend on a service model - the simplest example is that we need a cellular network to connect our cell phones to, so there will always be a "service" component at play. Every example, even in the OSS world, of someone putting out a fully open device is consistently proven not to be financially viable in the long term, and/or users don't like that they can't use it with their favorite SERVICES (can't watch Netflix at HD quality on open-source Android versions is an example). It will likely not be long before you simply CANNOT buy a device that isn't a subscription-based locked-down service device. (Wasn't Apple talking about moving the iPhone itself to a lease model, where you never actually own the physical phone? That's where I fear we're ultimately heading.)

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Looking forward to the next WWDC and iOS 17 !! ❤️

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

The iPad is a service, not a product. Use the Mac if you want a product on which you have the proper degree of control (although it's getting more services-like with the years, but it's still a product). And show your opposition to services by not paying for them, but for products that you can control instead. I think I'd love the iPad if it was a product: the iPad would be great if you could control it like a Mac (but Apple is going the other way around, and slowly turning the Mac into an iPad instead of what they should do).

It's already confusing to choose between iPad and Mac at the moment.. both interfaces have now become very similar, especially since macOS Ventura with the new System Settings interface (that looks a lot more like an iPhone/iPad interface than a Mac).
And iPads are now getting the MX chips that were designed for Macs in the first place. I get that Apple is trying to make the iPad a "more productive" device, but they sort of ended up confusing it with the Mac. And it would become even more confusing if Macs ever got touchscreen support.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Follow the money trail. Subscriptions and services make way more money than products. Even when I was in high school, I understood the idea of "you'll make more money if you can make something that lots of people pay a small amount of money for on a regular basis, than something that some people pay a big amount of money for one single time."

I despise locked down products and subscriptions with a passion, but I'm not sure how we stop it. Even if everyone were to stop buying locked down devices and only bought open devices right now, the overall profit would still be much lower in the long term (and the economists know it), thus the incentive to push people back to subscriptions in any way possible would never go away. Of course in reality a lot of people don't have a choice but to buy service-type devices - the fact that every major software vendor (Adobe, Microsoft, now Apple, etc.) have all moved to subscription software is part of it. Plus there are many kinds of things we do on our devices that depend on a service model - the simplest example is that we need a cellular network to connect our cell phones to, so there will always be a "service" component at play. Every example, even in the OSS world, of someone putting out a fully open device is consistently proven not to be financially viable in the long term, and/or users don't like that they can't use it with their favorite SERVICES (can't watch Netflix at HD quality on open-source Android versions is an example). It will likely not be long before you simply CANNOT buy a device that isn't a subscription-based locked-down service device. (Wasn't Apple talking about moving the iPhone itself to a lease model, where you never actually own the physical phone? That's where I fear we're ultimately heading.)

Never really felt the need to pay for a monthly/yearly subscription service. I'd rather just pay once for an app/service than pay every month/year. Always saw it as companies trying to milk money out of consumers with those so called "services" and was like "nah, not interested" but sadly, it's now being used almost everywhere.. and I'm really worried about the potential of iPhone becoming only a lease model in the future.. I really hope it won't become true.

 

[asiga]

Follow the money trail. Subscriptions and services make way more money than products. Even when I was in high school, I understood the idea of "you'll make more money if you can make something that lots of people pay a small amount of money for on a regular basis, than something that some people pay a big amount of money for one single time."

I despise locked down products and subscriptions with a passion, but I'm not sure how we stop it. Even if everyone were to stop buying locked down devices and only bought open devices right now, the overall profit would still be much lower in the long term (and the economists know it), thus the incentive to push people back to subscriptions in any way possible would never go away. Of course in reality a lot of people don't have a choice but to buy service-type devices - the fact that every major software vendor (Adobe, Microsoft, now Apple, etc.) have all moved to subscription software is part of it. Plus there are many kinds of things we do on our devices that depend on a service model - the simplest example is that we need a cellular network to connect our cell phones to, so there will always be a "service" component at play. Every example, even in the OSS world, of someone putting out a fully open device is consistently proven not to be financially viable in the long term, and/or users don't like that they can't use it with their favorite SERVICES (can't watch Netflix at HD quality on open-source Android versions is an example). It will likely not be long before you simply CANNOT buy a device that isn't a subscription-based locked-down service device. (Wasn't Apple talking about moving the iPhone itself to a lease model, where you never actually own the physical phone? That's where I fear we're ultimately heading.)

The problem is that most people don't show opposition to services and subscriptions even when it can be easily avoided with no drawbacks, and this is very bad because it has accelerated the process and make companies believe that they can do whatever they wish and people will just applaud with their ears, which seems to be true, sadly. In my work we dropped Adobe because the subset of Photoshop that we use is covered by Gimp, and the decision was because of the Adobe move to subscriptions (otherwise, we wouldn't have dropped them). The same can be said for almost everything. I buy CDs and DVDs, but people don't seem to mind that if the subscriptions they pay run out of business, they will lose all the rights over accessing music/movies...

Then they just say "this is the future". Well, this is the future because THEY don't care about what they pay, and because they don't think, don't decide, but just follow the trend of what the neighbour does. Very sad.