I went to the Apple store to have all the batteries in my iPhone's replaced today and my 6S was the only one to have troubles with the process and for whatever reason came back to me needing to be restored. It won't let me restore the device because it's on iOS 9 and I refuse to upgrade it as that iOS is plenty satisfactory for the device and I have very partial preference to using it. Is there anyway to activate this without updating the iOS or am I out a phone now?
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iPhone 6(S)/Plus Can't Activate iPhone
- Thread starter jona2125
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iOS 12 is, IMO, fine on the 6s. I was running iOS 12 before upgrading to the max. If you want your phone to work you have to upgrade.
A battery replacement should be "like for like", so I'd take it back to Apple and see what happens. If you have 32-bit apps then restoring to iOS 12 would not be suitable.
Thank you, they actually refused to acknowledge this as their problem and it drove my frustrations even further. They didn't explain to me why the phone was returned in a "new" ready to restore function even though I got explicit information they wouldn't need to touch the phone at all during the replacement process. I'm considering it a total loss then at this point.
Apple has some specific software now during battery replacement that requires a device to be on a minimum of iOS 10. Since that's not possible unless your device IS on iOS 10 then they upgrade you. Which of course right now is iOS 12.
However, should it have been necessary for you to reactivate on iOS 9 then you would have had another problem. Apple stopped allowing iOS 9 activations.
So, there's that.
They didn't update the device, they simply deleted all my settings and data during the process with un-explainable reasoning, 9 other iPhones went through the process and NONE came back in that form, my iPhone 6 came back just as it was on iOS 8.4, 2 of my 7's on iOS 10, 3 8's and 1 8 Plus and 2 X's all on iOS 11. Everything was the same except for one which leads me to believe they did the 6S first and tried to do the diagnostics and someone intentionally reset my device trying to update it. It was still on iOS 9.3.5 in iTunes but yes essentially that left me with an unusable device since Apple absurdly no longer allows activation of iOS 9.
Per the Apple techs there actually is no requirement to run the post-replacement diagnostics for a battery replacement service. I can't change anything now just really saddened to learn of this issue.
You agreed to it. It was your choice whether to, or not.
From the Work Authorization you agreed to:
By signing below, I agree that:
• the Repair Terms and Conditions on the reverse side of this page will apply to the service of the product identified above;
• Apple is not responsible for any loss, corruption, or breach of the data on my product during service; and
• as loss of data may occur as a result of the service, it is my responsibility to make a backup copy of my data before bringing my product to Apple for service
• Apple may use parts or products that are new or equivalent to new in reliability and performance.
What was agreed upon was that they wouldn't do the testing. I am fully aware of Apple's complete attainment from liability of a customers device. It just humors me that they went ahead with an agreed upon, signed, additional work order request to NOT update my device. I didn't lose any data, what I lost was the ability to use my preferred operating system on that device. I know and accept the fate of what happened, the issue pertains not to the Apple store service but Apple themselves locking me out of activating a perfectly working phone because it's on an old iOS. That is the most frustrating part and I hate to be forced into a new operating system which I do not enjoy to use at all.
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The problem with that though was my phone was activated so if I did a reset before the service I wouldn't be able to activate it either way and would still be in the same situation. I ended up just giving the phone to a friend, things happen I guess.