Usually I go into iTunes and hit "restore iPhone" and it will download the iOS I have (in this case 10.1.1) but it won't let me this time... The option it pops up is "restore and update." I do this so I have the older iOS, one update back, in the event I want to downgrade. So what's the option now? Use some 3rd party website?
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iOS 10.1.1 can't be downloaded anymore?
- Thread starter Rorosbutt
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It pretty much always offers the latest public release compatible with your device, which in this case is 10.2 that was recently released. You can sometimes go back to the previous one or two or so versions while Apple is signing them by downloading the installers for those versions from Apple directly (if some site might have links to them) or from third party sites that might have them. Once they are no longer signed by Apple (which often happens after some days or weeks) then you can't install them even if you have the installer.
This isn't apple though?
If I do downgrade it's within a week of the new iOS being dropped. I can't remember when apple stopped signing in fewer than 2 weeks.
THE DOWNLOADS COME DIRECTLY FROM APPLE'S WEBSITE. They're the Apple IPSW files you can use to restore to a previous version. Unless you saved the original IPSW, you can't restore to a previous version from iTunes. Apple temporarily allows restoring to a previous version of the OS if you have it saved. But after a short while they'll stop signing the previous version and then you're stuck with the latest. All full iTunes OS restore files are ".ipsw" ... it's a good idea for the future to save these whenever you restore your phone just in case you need it.
It'll show on the site I just linked you to which versions are still being signed by Apple in green. Everything in red you can no longer install on your phone. So you just pick your phone and the iOS version and you're good to go.
It'll show you on the site what your phone can still be restore with.
Technically speaking, even if the download might be saved and hosted elsewhere, if it's not the real thing that Apple released it won't be something that would get validated and installed on the device given all the checks and verifications that it goes through for installation.
The link I provided goes to Apple's site directly. It's not being "hosted" by a third-party ... all the downloads are from Apple. The site is only a means to make finding the appropriate IPSW a lot easier.
I didn't really say anything specially about that site or its downloads, just made a general comment (with an "if" in the beginning).
While I agree and wouldn't want to do that, it seems that it wouldn't really make much of a difference since only the actual software from Apple would be installable and if the download would be anything else it wouldn't be something that could be installed.