Help: Possible to Download & Revert back to iOS5 from iO6?

[Scottyee]

I just updated my iPad 3 to iOS 6 this morning and very upset to discover that the new Apple Maps (IOS 6 'replacement' for Google Maps) doesn't support "Street View" like IOS 5's Google Maps App did. This is both a shock and disappointment as I've always found street view extremely useful to preview the street view of my destination before I get there. After updating to iOS6, this is no longer available, even if I go to http://maps.google.com/ via the safari browser, as street view is only viewable with adobe flash player, of which Apple also doesn't support.

Considering the above and how important navigation map 'street view' is for me, is there any possible way to download & re-install iOS 5.1.1 on my iPad 3?

 

[Steve121178]

Nope

 

[Scottyee]

Nope

Hmmm. Are you sure?

I performed an iPad 3 "backup" to iTunes (on my PC) immediately prior to upgrading to iOS 6. I then disconnected the iPad from my PC and performed the iOS 6 upgrade on the iPad itself: Settings > General > Software Update .

Since I've not synced or backed up my iPad with iTunes again yet, I would have thought I could simply perform a " restore from backup" in iTunes again, and this would bring me back to my iPad's previous state (including reverting back to iOS 5.1.1). Yes/No?

 

[silversun]

Hmmm. Are you sure?

I performed an iPad 3 "backup" to iTunes (on my PC) immediately prior to upgrading to iOS 6. I then disconnected the iPad from my PC and performed the iOS 6 upgrade on the iPad itself: Settings > General > Software Update .

Since I've not synced or backed up my iPad with iTunes again yet, I would have thought I could simply perform a " restore from backup" in iTunes again, and this would bring me back to my iPad's previous state (including reverting back to iOS 5.1.1). Yes/No?

I Don't think so, the moment you plug in your Ipad, iTunes will automatically check for OS update and back up. Even if you load your old back up, the back up only contains your personal data, not the whole iOS version you know. Once you have upgraded, you cant go back.

 

[TomAndrews]

Hmmm. Are you sure?

I performed an iPad 3 "backup" to iTunes (on my PC) immediately prior to upgrading to iOS 6. I then disconnected the iPad from my PC and performed the iOS 6 upgrade on the iPad itself: Settings > General > Software Update .

Since I've not synced or backed up my iPad with iTunes again yet, I would have thought I could simply perform a " restore from backup" in iTunes again, and this would bring me back to my iPad's previous state (including reverting back to iOS 5.1.1). Yes/No?

That wouldn't work i'm afraid, it would just restore that backup back onto your device - which would still be running iOS 6.

If you're quick, you may still be able to revert back to iOS 5.1.1.

1. Download the ispw from this link - http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/07/ios-5-1-1-download-links/
- Select the iPad one that relates to your iPad
2. Plug your iPad into iTunes, and hold option (alt key on a mac) (if you're using windows its shift i believe) and press restore.
3. This should bring up a box, find the file you just downloaded, should end with '.ispw'
4. Wait for iTunes to do its magic, and hopefully it will work


This would only work if you're quick - Apple must still be signing iOS 5.1.1

Let me know if it works/ doesn't work please

 

[Scottyee]

That wouldn't work i'm afraid, it would just restore that backup back onto your device - which would still be running iOS 6.

If you're quick, you may still be able to revert back to iOS 5.1.1.

1. Download the ispw from this link - http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/07/ios-5-1-1-download-links/
- Select the iPad one that relates to your iPad
2. Plug your iPad into iTunes, and hold option (alt key on a mac) (if you're using windows its shift i believe) and press restore.
3. This should bring up a box, find the file you just downloaded, should end with '.ispw'
4. Wait for iTunes to do its magic, and hopefully it will work


This would only work if you're quick - Apple must still be signing iOS 5.1.1

Let me know if it works/ doesn't work please

I've got the Verizon Wifi + 4GLte version of iPad 3.
Which iOS 5.1.1 IPSW version should I use:

* iPad 3 Wi-Fi
* iPad 3 GSM
or
* iPad 3 CDMA

I'm running Windows XP. Can someone confirm if it's indeed the 'shift' key that needs to be pressed before selecting restore? Also where will I find the "restore" selection button, on the iPad or in iTunes? Thanks.

 

[TomAndrews]

I've got the Verizon Wifi + 4GLte version of iPad 3.
Which iOS 5.1.1 IPSW version should I use:

* iPad 3 Wi-Fi
* iPad 3 GSM
or
* iPad 3 CDMA

I'm running Windows XP. Can someone confirm if it's indeed the 'shift' key that needs to be pressed before selecting restore? Also where will I find the "restore" selection button, on the iPad or in iTunes? Thanks.

You need the iPad 3 CDMA one

And yes it is the shift button, i've just googled it for you.

The restore button is on itunes. If you click on your ipad (once its plugged in), under the summary tab should be restore and update. Just shift click restore, and select the .ispw file.
You may need to extract the .ispw file from a zip folder


If you get really stuck, follow these instructions -
http://iphoners.org/shift-restore.itunes/
They are quite old instructions so follow mine first and if it doesn't work then follow the others...

Be quick don't forget!

 

[Scottyee]

Be quick don't forget!

Ok, I was able to successfully d/l the CDMA version of the iPad 3 OS 5.1.1 from the link you provided. Thanks Tom.

The link you provided recommended I perform another backup (with current iOS 6 installed) before attempting to install the earlier 5.1.1 iOS file, so I did that as well.

In the meantime, I discovered a way (though not full screen sized) to see Google's 'street view' via iPhone App: Live Street View, thanks to MacRumor's member Dodge.
It's not full screen, but better than nothing. Because of the other new iOS 6 features (ie: Siri) I may forgo reverting back to 5.1.1 for now, but remembering you saying "Be Quick", since I've already successfully d/l'ed the 5.1.1 file you gave me the link to, will I be still be able to revert back to 5.1.1 later if desired?

Thanks.

 

[eagandale4114]

Ok, I was able to successfully d/l the CDMA version of the iPad 3 OS 5.1.1 from the link you provided. Thanks Tom.

The link you provided recommended I perform another backup (with current iOS 6 installed) before attempting to install the earlier 5.1.1 iOS file, so I did that as well.

In the meantime, I discovered a way (though not full screen sized) to see Google's 'street view' via iPhone App: Live Street View, thanks to MacRumor's member Dodge.
It's not full screen, but better than nothing. Because of the other new iOS 6 features (ie: Siri) I may forgo reverting back to 5.1.1 for now, but remembering you saying "Be Quick", since I've already successfully d/l'ed the 5.1.1 file you gave me the link to, will I be still be able to revert back to 5.1.1 later if desired?

Thanks.

Apple usually closes the signing window for old version a few days after the new one is released.

 

[Scottyee]

Apple usually closes the signing window for old version a few days after the new one is released.

Thanks.

In the meantime, for people wanting Google Street View, I just discovered a nice app for this, and it supports a 'Full Screen' Street View too. Works good on my iPad 3 with iOS 6.

StreetViewer .

 

[atyabji]

which ipad2 version?

Hello Tom and Scottyee,
I've been following your very helpful exchange about Scottyee's need to revert to 5.1.1. I have the same problem, and here are my questions:

(1) I bought my ipad 2 (wifi+3G, AT&T version) in the US, unlocked, and then had it sent out to me in India, where I now live and work. I use a local 3G data (GSM) SIM here. If I go to the osxdaily.com... link which Tom provided, should I be choosing the "ipad2 GSM ATT" version? or the "ipad 2,4 (new Ipad2)" version of software? Just very slightly confused because I'm not actually *using* AT&T here, you understand, and I don't know whether the second option I've mentioned above is also a GSM one!

(2) Let me get this correct. I'm to download that version of software directly onto my ipad (not iTunes on my [Windows] laptop), right? [Forgive my ignorance here!]. And once downloaded onto ipad, I have then to hook my ipad up to iTunes on my laptop, correct? After which I should press Shift on my Windows laptop and go on from there as you suggest?

Please help, asap if you can! I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!

 

[TomAndrews]

Hello Tom and Scottyee,
I've been following your very helpful exchange about Scottyee's need to revert to 5.1.1. I have the same problem, and here are my questions:

(1) I bought my ipad 2 (wifi+3G, AT&T version) in the US, unlocked, and then had it sent out to me in India, where I now live and work. I use a local 3G data (GSM) SIM here. If I go to the osxdaily.com... link which Tom provided, should I be choosing the "ipad2 GSM ATT" version? or the "ipad 2,4 (new Ipad2)" version of software? Just very slightly confused because I'm not actually *using* AT&T here, you understand, and I don't know whether the second option I've mentioned above is also a GSM one!

(2) Let me get this correct. I'm to download that version of software directly onto my ipad (not iTunes on my [Windows] laptop), right? [Forgive my ignorance here!]. And once downloaded onto ipad, I have then to hook my ipad up to iTunes on my laptop, correct? After which I should press Shift on my Windows laptop and go on from there as you suggest?

Please help, asap if you can! I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!

Hello,

I think your iPad should be the GSM one. Although you're not using ATT, your carrier in India uses the same type of frequency as ATT so its just labelled as that. However, i can't be sure. If you give me your model number (settings > General > About > it should be in that list somewhere), i could find out for definite which one it is.

EDIT: After extensive googling, i'm 100% certain you've got the GSM one (iPad 2 GSM (ATT)). The iPad 2,4 (new iPad 2) is the just WiFi model!


Nope thats not correct, but never mind, i'll run through it again!
1. On your computer/ laptop, go to the website i mentioned (OSXDaily?), and download the correct .ispw file (See above paragraph)
2. Wait for it to download.
-- Once its downloaded, you may need to extract it from a zip folder (google how to do this if you don't know how)
3. Open iTunes and plug your iPad in
4. Click on your iPad on the left hand side (under devices)
5. Hold shift while clicking restore
6. A box should come up, find where the .ispw was downloaded to, and select it
7. Your iPad should now restore itself back to iOS 5.1.1 - this may take a few minutes
8. Once its finished, it will ask you if you want to restore from a back up or set up as new. You won't be able to use a backup that you made while on iOS 6. So find one of your most recent backups in the list, but make sure it was done BEFORE you updated your iPad to iOS6.
9. Again, wait a few minutes while iTunes loads all of your 'stuff' onto your iPad
10. Voilá!

Hope this helped, remember to quote me if you're replying to me or i won't notice it!

 

[zen]

That wouldn't work i'm afraid, it would just restore that backup back onto your device - which would still be running iOS 6.

If you're quick, you may still be able to revert back to iOS 5.1.1.

1. Download the ispw from this link - http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/07/ios-5-1-1-download-links/
- Select the iPad one that relates to your iPad
2. Plug your iPad into iTunes, and hold option (alt key on a mac) (if you're using windows its shift i believe) and press restore.
3. This should bring up a box, find the file you just downloaded, should end with '.ispw'
4. Wait for iTunes to do its magic, and hopefully it will work


This would only work if you're quick - Apple must still be signing iOS 5.1.1

Let me know if it works/ doesn't work please

It works. I did it on my iPhone 4 (GSM version) this morning. The verification in iTunes went without a hitch, so Apple are still signing it. For now.

 

[atyabji]

Hello,

I think your iPad should be the GSM one. Although you're not using ATT, your carrier in India uses the same type of frequency as ATT so its just labelled as that. However, i can't be sure. If you give me your model number (settings > General > About > it should be in that list somewhere), i could find out for definite which one it is.

EDIT: After extensive googling, i'm 100% certain you've got the GSM one (iPad 2 GSM (ATT)). The iPad 2,4 (new iPad 2) is the just WiFi model!


Nope thats not correct, but never mind, i'll run through it again!
1. On your computer/ laptop, go to the website i mentioned (OSXDaily?), and download the correct .ispw file (See above paragraph)
2. Wait for it to download.
-- Once its downloaded, you may need to extract it from a zip folder (google how to do this if you don't know how)
3. Open iTunes and plug your iPad in
4. Click on your iPad on the left hand side (under devices)
5. Hold shift while clicking restore
6. A box should come up, find where the .ispw was downloaded to, and select it
7. Your iPad should now restore itself back to iOS 5.1.1 - this may take a few minutes
8. Once its finished, it will ask you if you want to restore from a back up or set up as new. You won't be able to use a backup that you made while on iOS 6. So find one of your most recent backups in the list, but make sure it was done BEFORE you updated your iPad to iOS6.
9. Again, wait a few minutes while iTunes loads all of your 'stuff' onto your iPad
10. Voilá!

Hope this helped, remember to quote me if you're replying to me or i won't notice it!

All Hail Tom: You're brilliant! (not to mention being a relatively early riser on MacRumors, given the time difference of 9.5 hours between our two countries). Thank you very much for your response. Mine is indeed a GSM-specific iPad. Just spoke to my 3G service provider here. Let me see how things proceed and re-post to you if successful. I'm very new on this, so my apologies if I haven't quite got the quoting done right. Many thanks again.

 

[Z06jerry]

That wouldn't work i'm afraid, it would just restore that backup back onto your device - which would still be running iOS 6.

If you're quick, you may still be able to revert back to iOS 5.1.1.

1. Download the ispw from this link - http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/07/ios-5-1-1-download-links/
- Select the iPad one that relates to your iPad
2. Plug your iPad into iTunes, and hold option (alt key on a mac) (if you're using windows its shift i believe) and press restore.
3. This should bring up a box, find the file you just downloaded, should end with '.ispw'
4. Wait for iTunes to do its magic, and hopefully it will work


This would only work if you're quick - Apple must still be signing iOS 5.1.1

Let me know if it works/ doesn't work please

I did this yesterday by following these instructions (link below), the only difference is that I had to go into DFU mode first; http://osxdaily.com/2012/06/18/downgrade-ios-6-beta-to-ios-5/

 

[zen]

I did this yesterday by following these instructions (link below), the only difference is that I had to go into DFU mode first; http://osxdaily.com/2012/06/18/downgrade-ios-6-beta-to-ios-5/

That's what I followed. Went into DFU mode, downgraded, verified with Apple, no problem.

Phew!

 

[atyabji]

Tom: Only a partial download of iOS6

Hello,

I think your iPad should be the GSM one. Although you're not using ATT, your carrier in India uses the same type of frequency as ATT so its just labelled as that. However, i can't be sure. If you give me your model number (settings > General > About > it should be in that list somewhere), i could find out for definite which one it is.

EDIT: After extensive googling, i'm 100% certain you've got the GSM one (iPad 2 GSM (ATT)). The iPad 2,4 (new iPad 2) is the just WiFi model!


Nope thats not correct, but never mind, i'll run through it again!
1. On your computer/ laptop, go to the website i mentioned (OSXDaily?), and download the correct .ispw file (See above paragraph)
2. Wait for it to download.
-- Once its downloaded, you may need to extract it from a zip folder (google how to do this if you don't know how)
3. Open iTunes and plug your iPad in
4. Click on your iPad on the left hand side (under devices)
5. Hold shift while clicking restore
6. A box should come up, find where the .ispw was downloaded to, and select it
7. Your iPad should now restore itself back to iOS 5.1.1 - this may take a few minutes
8. Once its finished, it will ask you if you want to restore from a back up or set up as new. You won't be able to use a backup that you made while on iOS 6. So find one of your most recent backups in the list, but make sure it was done BEFORE you updated your iPad to iOS6.
9. Again, wait a few minutes while iTunes loads all of your 'stuff' onto your iPad
10. Voilá!

Hope this helped, remember to quote me if you're replying to me or i won't notice it!

Tom, I forgot to mention one presumably crucial thing. I'd *begun* downloading iOS6, and was an hour into it (with two hours to go on a slow wifi connection), when I was told to stop installing iOS6 if I wanted to retain Google Maps. Considering that I've *paused* the iOS 6, should I now be installing the entire thing and *then* reverting to 5.1.1 the way you've suggested one do? Or do you think the reverting would go through fine, regardless of a paused download? Thanks again for your detailed clarifications, earlier.

 

[SinkOrSwim]

That wouldn't work i'm afraid, it would just restore that backup back onto your device - which would still be running iOS 6.

If you're quick, you may still be able to revert back to iOS 5.1.1.

1. Download the ispw from this link - http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/07/ios-5-1-1-download-links/
- Select the iPad one that relates to your iPad
2. Plug your iPad into iTunes, and hold option (alt key on a mac) (if you're using windows its shift i believe) and press restore.
3. This should bring up a box, find the file you just downloaded, should end with '.ispw'
4. Wait for iTunes to do its magic, and hopefully it will work


This would only work if you're quick - Apple must still be signing iOS 5.1.1

Let me know if it works/ doesn't work please

--- Download the IPSW on that link OR search your iTunes folder for IPSW. There should be a back up there. Once you got the IPSW file, put it in your desktop.

Open iTunes and somewhere in preference, check prevent iPhones, iPods, iPads, etc from syncing automatically. Close it.

Now connect your iDevice to the computer via USB cable and put the iDevice in DFU mode.

Now there will be a pop up stating that your iDevice is in recovery mode. Hold option then click restore. Find the IPSW in your desktop. It will take a while since its restoring the iDevice then installing the 5.1.1 IPSW. When it's done, just sync your apps, music, etc.

 

[bigjnyc]

Thanks.

In the meantime, for people wanting Google Street View, I just discovered a nice app for this, and it supports a 'Full Screen' Street View too. Works good on my iPad 3 with iOS 6.

StreetViewer .

I'm sure Google will release Maps in the app store as well soon like they did with Youtube

 

[TomAndrews]

Tom, I forgot to mention one presumably crucial thing. I'd *begun* downloading iOS6, and was an hour into it (with two hours to go on a slow wifi connection), when I was told to stop installing iOS6 if I wanted to retain Google Maps. Considering that I've *paused* the iOS 6, should I now be installing the entire thing and *then* reverting to 5.1.1 the way you've suggested one do? Or do you think the reverting would go through fine, regardless of a paused download? Thanks again for your detailed clarifications, earlier.

I'd personally let it finish, especially as others have posted saying that they've got it to work! But i see no reason as to why it wouldn't work if you just did it right now (without it finishing), its really up to you though. I don't know enough about this kind of thing to say what would be best!

 

[atyabji]

update

I'd personally let it finish, especially as others have posted saying that they've got it to work! But i see no reason as to why it wouldn't work if you just did it right now (without it finishing), its really up to you though. I don't know enough about this kind of thing to say what would be best!

Hello. Just thought you'd like to know (Tom) that while I was able to successfully download the ispw onto a PC (it took about 7 hours on a busy office wifi connection), I actually received an error message when trying to complete the iOS6 download on my ipad, and I'm now back (ironically) to 5.1.1 on my ipad without having needed the ispw fix in the first place Lesson learned: google *first* for iOS upgrade glitches (Google Maps) *before* you download and install new iOS versions! I'm hoping, though, that Apple will have solved its messy Maps issue over the coming months; and that I won't have app-upgrading problems thanks to an older iOS. Thanks again for the prompt help!

 

[Smackersmith]

I too am trying to revert back to ios5. I've downloaded the files and extracted them, put my iPad 2 in DFU mode and connected to iTunes.Press shift ->click and the search box comes up and I select the unzipped folder. The problem I have is that the .ipsw file isn't there!

Can abybody help