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Can I downgrade iOS 5 back to iOS 4?

Can you please post screenshot (settings/general/about screen).
You are on IOS 4.3.3 with ios 5b baseband?
 
If by all accounts it's safe and downgrading to 4.3.3 leaves your phone working correctly, if a dev deletes my UDID, I will still be able to downgrade without any problems? Yes?

Or could something happen in the future which would prevent me from downgrading?
 
iOS 5 just wasn't working out for me (too buggy), so I put iOS 4.1 back on my iPhone 3GS.

I Shift+Restored the 4.1 IPSW.

My baseband is still 05.16.02, so I'm guessing iOS 5.0 didn't include a new one, since I see there are 4.3.x users with that version as well.
 
Instructions for downgrade

Here are the steps I took to downgrade my iOS 5 to iOS 4.2.8 for the Verizon iPhone.

At my website: Link Here

1. Uninstall iTunes beta 10.5
2. Delete this iTunes folder: C:\Users\"user"\MyMusic\iTunes
3. Install the latest iTunes, not the beta 10.5
4. Download the 4.2.8 firmware here
5. Open iTunes
6. Put your phone in DFU mode. How To
7. In iTunes, hold the "shift" key and click restore
8. Navigate to the 4.2.8 firmware
9. Follow the prompts
10. Done
 
Last edited:
cortland1998 said:
Here are the steps I took to downgrade my iOS 5 to iOS 4.2.8 for the Verizon iPhone.

At my website: Link Here

1. Uninstall iTunes beta 10.5
2. Delete this iTunes folder: C:\Users\"user"\MyMusic\iTunes
3. Install the latest iTunes, not the beta 10.5
4. Download the 4.2.8 firmware here
5. Open iTunes
6. Put your phone in DFU mode. How To
7. In iTunes, hold the "shift" key and click restore
8. Navigate to the 4.2.8 firmware
9. Follow the prompts
10. Done
Click to expand...

Will this downgrade baseband too?
 
Xenomorph said:
iOS 5 just wasn't working out for me (too buggy), so I put iOS 4.1 back on my iPhone 3GS.

I Shift+Restored the 4.1 IPSW.

My baseband is still 05.16.02, so I'm guessing iOS 5.0 didn't include a new one, since I see there are 4.3.x users with that version as well.
Click to expand...

And your OS 4 is working fine?
 
cortland1998 said:
Here are the steps I took to downgrade my iOS 5 to iOS 4.2.8 for the Verizon iPhone.

At my website: Link Here

1. Uninstall iTunes beta 10.5
2. Delete this iTunes folder: C:\Users\"user"\MyMusic\iTunes
3. Install the latest iTunes, not the beta 10.5
4. Download the 4.2.8 firmware here
5. Open iTunes
6. Put your phone in DFU mode. How To
7. In iTunes, hold the "shift" key and click restore
8. Navigate to the 4.2.8 firmware
9. Follow the prompts
10. Done
Click to expand...

To everyone, this is the correct way to downgrade, I was just about to type this list out but he beat me to it :)
 
stewart715 said:
To everyone, this is the correct way to downgrade, I was just about to type this list out but he beat me to it :)
Click to expand...

thats not how i did it. i still have 10.5 on my imac i just went to dfu mode and hit restore and it automatically put 4.2.8 right back on my iphone.
 
frunkis54 said:
thats not how i did it. i still have 10.5 on my imac i just went to dfu mode and hit restore and it automatically put 4.2.8 right back on my iphone.
Click to expand...

Just did the same on my wifes 3GS. I didn't even think to remove 10.5 beta but it downgraded without a problem! I personally have not had any issues with iTunes 10.5 so I think I'm just going to hang on until it do. Are there any known issues that anyone is aware of?
 
It appears that on an iPhone 4 when you downgrade form iOS5 to 4.3.3 the baseband is downgraded back to the 4.3.3 version also.

So either it does downgrade or it uses the same version in iOS but the software just reports it as a newer version.

Anyone else noticed this?
 
frunkis54 said:
thats not how i did it. i still have 10.5 on my imac i just went to dfu mode and hit restore and it automatically put 4.2.8 right back on my iphone.
Click to expand...

Same here. Left 10.5 beta on my W7 machine and just pointed itunes to my .ipsw 4.3.3 file. Worked like a charm.
 
DocNYz said:
And your OS 4 is working fine?
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't it work fine? Do you mean baseband/cellular issues? I haven't noticed any.

The whole "YOU CAN'T DOWNGRADE" thing is strange myth spread around. Did it really originate from Apple?

You can downgrade from iOS 5.0 just as easily as any other version of iOS. Of course, the standard disclaimer of "make you save your SHSH" and "know how to put your device into DFU mode" apply, but that has nothing to do with iOS 5.0 specifically.
 
I just downgrade from IOS 5 to 4.3.3 on my iPhone 4. i just click shift, and select the firmware from my documents.
i liked IOS 5 a lot but the battery drain was to much, and the phone was getting super hot!
 
non-apple apps crashing?

Hey all,

I was able to successfully downgrade from 5.0 to 4.2.8 using these steps, but for some reason all of my non-apple apps crash immediately after showing the splash screen. I've restored it with 4.2.8 about three times now and I'm still getting the same results. Any thoughts?
 
Xenomorph said:
iOS 5 just wasn't working out for me (too buggy), so I put iOS 4.1 back on my iPhone 3GS.

I Shift+Restored the 4.1 IPSW.

My baseband is still 05.16.02, so I'm guessing iOS 5.0 didn't include a new one, since I see there are 4.3.x users with that version as well.
Click to expand...

How did you get iTunes to accept the 4.1 ipsw?

Or did you use means other than iTunes?
 
pinyourwings22 said:
Hey all,

I was able to successfully downgrade from 5.0 to 4.2.8 using these steps, but for some reason all of my non-apple apps crash immediately after showing the splash screen. I've restored it with 4.2.8 about three times now and I'm still getting the same results. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Alright so I was able to figure it out(or at least get them working again). I downgraded to the latest itunes to get 4.2.8 installed, but the apps were all crashing. So I figured that I should install 5.0 back on my phone so I could at least run apps(and deal with the buggyness of the beta). I installed itunes 10.5, synced my phone(4.2.8) one more time to see if it happened to work, and BAM, the apps don't crash anymore!

Looks like it had something to do with my itunes. If anyone has any insight as to why this my be, I would love to know. Thanks!
 
Is two ways to do it.

I used the TinyUmbrella with 4.3.3 SSH blobs to do mine, no DFU needed :)

Literally just restored from the 4.3.3 firmware downloaded to desktop, baseband back to 4.3.3 too
 
I find ios5 stable enough. I've been running a few days and in my use I've been fine.

Beta yes, but very usable.
 
i downgraded successfully yesterday with itunes. Just put the iphone in DFU mode and went through the restore.

It went successfully down to 4.2.8 (Verizon) and the baseband is 1.0.06
 
OneMike said:
I find ios5 stable enough. I've been running a few days and in my use I've been fine.

Beta yes, but very usable.
Click to expand...

Likewise, after two days of use I'm finding it very stable and useable for a first beta, although obviously some bugs exist but there's nothing shockingly bad that renders the iPhone useless.
 
Just another post to confirm that putting the iPhone into DFU mode and Option+Click on "Restore" and choosing the ipsw for 4.3.3 from your desktop works without a hitch.

I've gone from iOS 5 B1 to 4.3.3 and back to iOS 5 B1 again. All on iTunes 10.5 Beta too. ;)

Oh, and on iOS 4.3.3 my baseband was O2 version 10.0, however I could still make calls and send SMS/MSM messages without issue. Although, as my iPhone 4 was bought direct from Apple, it's unlocked out the box.
 
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