Rolling back iPadOS 26 on Mini 5

[dwrufus53]

I have an older iPad mini 5 that I have installed the iPadOS 26 beta. So far, no problem. Yesterday my wife drops her older iPad mini and shatters the screen. Now she wants to take over the iPad mini 5 for her iPad, but doesn't want to mess with the beta software.

I have tried to restore the iPad mini 5 without luck. I have not updated my Macs to macOS 26 (and not ready to do so just yet), but apparently in order to restore the iPad, I need a Mac updated to the beta software. Is there a way to get where I want to go from where I am?

 

[uiterlix]

I don’t think you need a Mac running the beta software. I restored my iPad Pro yesterday to iPadOS 18 after trying the iPadOS beta, using my MacBook running the latest final MacOs version.

 

[dwrufus53]

Interesting. Yesterday I got an error on my Mac saying that it needed to be upgraded to connect the iPad. I tried it a few minutes ago and it worked. Recovery in progress.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Interesting. Yesterday I got an error on my Mac saying that it needed to be upgraded to connect the iPad. I tried it a few minutes ago and it worked. Recovery in progress.

That’s not an error, that’s common and mine does it as well. Just follow the recovery procedures and you’ll be fine, I’ve done with multiple devices and my Mac is running non-beta.

If you can't update or restore your iPad - Apple Support

You can put your iPad in recovery mode, then restore it using your computer.

support.apple.com