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Apple Stops Signing iOS 17.2.1, Downgrading No Longer Possible

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple today stopped signing the iOS 17.2.1 update, preventing iPhone users from downgrading to that version of iOS going forward. iOS 17.2.1 is no longer being signed following the January 22 release of iOS 17.3, which introduced Stolen Device Protection for the iPhone and other changes.

iOS-17.2.1-Feature.jpg

It is not unusual that iOS 17.2.1 is no longer being signed. Apple routinely stops signing older versions of iOS after new releases in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date and to prevent users from downgrading to older, less secure versions of the iPhone operating system.

Along with iOS 17.2.1, Apple has stopped signing iPadOS 17.2 for the iPad, and the older 15.8 and 16.7.4 versions of iOS and iPadOS for devices unable to run iOS 17.

Apple is already testing iOS 17.4, a major update that is set to come out in March.

Article Link: Apple Stops Signing iOS 17.2.1, Downgrading No Longer Possible
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/30/apple-stops-signing-ios-17-2-1/
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lkrupp said:
This rant comes up every time Apple stops signing something. The answer? No, you do not have the right install any version of iOS you want. You don’t own the operation system, Apple does, and they can control its distribution any way they see fit.
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I was just about to comment this exact same thing. It’s amazing how many people don’t bother to read the TOS.. it specifically states that Apple owns the operating system and the user has a license to use it in accordance with the terms of service.
 
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There was a time when apple still signed ios 6 for old ipad 2s years after even the release of ios 9 for it. I did that after dusting it off just because I could and ios 9 ran poorly. It's essentially unusable on the modern internet due to newer versions of tls and new root certificates but still a fun thing to have around.
 
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Fuzzball84 said:
Ive never downgraded ios… i wonder what percentage of users do…
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No way of knowing when people can't downgrade to whatever version worked best for them.

It'd probably be unusual to go back a minor revision unless a major bug was introduced, but being able to go back major revisions would breathe life into older devices.
 
CheffyDude said:
Why not? We should be able to run whatever version of iOS we want.
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Within reason, that would be good.

However, the executives would look at the graphs for active versions and to their dismay, someone would be running something that doesn't point them to spending money. Potential lost revenue is more important than user desires.
 
Im with 17.1.1 and now i cant update to 17.2.1 via ipsw, what a sad day is today....
 
Why should we update to anything if it doesn't need it? Unless it needs it. Jeez it needs it. Again..Again..and...again..
 
Fuzzball84 said:
Ive never downgraded ios… i wonder what percentage of users do…
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Most users don’t. The biggest issue is for developers and development. The lack of signing older OS makes non upgraded phones and iPads very valuable as that is the only way to test on older os’s on physical devices.

General rule is app support 2 major versions so say we have a crash reports coming in from iOS 16. Testing on a physical iOS 16 device is very valuable. There are a lot of issues that only happen and can replicate on a physical device hence older OS are important.

It is developers that the lack of downgrading screws and it will make older non upgraded devices very valuable and we will murder someone who upgrades a test device that was set aside to not upgrade.
 
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The Clark said:
what if someone wanted to run a 12 year old version of iOS? Are the developers supposed to just perpetually provide security updates for prehistoric versions of iOS that are no longer optimized and lack several features?
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Even if they (Apple) don’t provided security updates having the ability to get an older os installed or older version is a very useful tool to developers. It lets us go back in time for testing purposes as a lot of users don’t upgrade.
 
1129846 said:
Most users don’t. The biggest issue is for developers and development. The lack of signing older OS makes non upgraded phones and iPads very valuable as that is the only way to test on older os’s on physical devices.

General rule is app support 2 major versions so say we have a crash reports coming in from iOS 16. Testing on a physical iOS 16 device is very valuable. There are a lot of issues that only happen and can replicate on a physical device hence older OS are important.

It is developers that the lack of downgrading screws and it will make older non upgraded devices very valuable and we will murder someone who upgrades a test device that was set aside to not upgrade.
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If people would run the latest OS developers wouldn't have so much of an issue I guess. Then you would need 4 phones to cover OS from iOS 12.
Some of our developers still have to support iOS 12....must suck bigtime and steal valuable time that could be used better.
 
Reverend Benny said:
If people would run the latest OS developers wouldn't have so much of an issue I guess. Then you would need 4 phones to cover OS from iOS 12.
Some of our developers still have to support iOS 12....must suck bigtime and steal valuable time that could be used better.
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Oh yeah. Was at one place we we had 1 mac that was running an OS old enough to run the old enough version of Xcode to build a demo of an older product. It also only ran 1 iPad as some dumbass had upgraded the other one and that is when IT became super protective of both that mac and iPad.

Those were worth 10-20k easy to us back then. It was to demo to see if it was worth going building the entire product. It was made as a demo early on then abandon but still would watn to be demo from time to time. To get it to work on a more modern OS was high to the point not worth it. Mind you that ran on I think iOS 6 and at the time we were on iOS 13. Pure demo but still had to be recompiled about once a year with new certs.
 
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