Trying to Downgrade from iOS 18.5 to 18.4.1

[gavroche]

Need help badly!
When i upgraded to 18.4, it broke my carplay, and i had constant issues with my Airpods connecting and disconnecting from bluetooth. I need Carplay for my work as i drive all day. So i took a chance and upgraded to 18.5 PB, hoping it addressed the issues. It did not. And then a day later they released 18.4.1, which was supposed to hopefully address the issues.
Buy my problem now is downgrading. I followed instructions.. i backed up the iPhone. I put the phone i recover mode, and i restored it to factory. But then it would not restore the phone from my backup. It gave me an error telling me that i the backup was not compatible with my iPhone, that i would need to set it up as new, and update the OS to newest version. But i have now done that. It is now running 18.4.1, but it will not let me restore the backup. What do i do?

Edit:
The process of trying to restore from a backup is a nightmare. It makes me set up the phone as a new phone before i it lets me try to restore from backup. This requires me to log in to account and set everything up. It then makes me agree to erase the phone and restore from backup. But it does not verify that i can restore from backup until AFTER it erases the phone. Then it errors and says the backup is not compatible. But now i have to completely re-setup the phone as new all over again. Why not verify if backup is compatible first?????

 

[Cobold]

Backups from higher versions are never compatible with lower versions iOS.
You should’ve done a backup BEFORE upgrading to 18.5.

If you don’t have a backup <= 18.4, the only option you have is to update to 18.5 again and restore your backup and then wait for pb2/dev beta 3 hoping it includes the CarPlay fixes as well.

 

[gavroche]

Backups from higher versions are never compatible with lower versions iOS.
You should’ve done a backup BEFORE upgrading to 18.5.

If you don’t have a backup <= 18.4, the only option you have is to update to 18.5 again and restore your backup and then wait for pb2/dev beta 3 hoping it includes the CarPlay fixes as well.

I was afraid this was the case :-(
But the tutorials ive seen that tell you how to downgrade from PB should warn of this. They tell you to make a backup, downgrade, and then restore from backup. But if this is not possible they should say that....

 

[Artemiz]

That’s basic knowledge that’s been around for years and at this point a given.
If you’re unfamiliar with the part that you can’t restore newer backups onto older iOS then you shouldn’t be playing with betas.
Assuming a beta would solve your issues when you have no idea how to roll back is another mistake.
Rushing to install a beta when there’d been articles about a possible 18.4.1 is your final mistake.

Sometimes we learn things the hard way and I hope you learned yours.
Way of life, unfortunately.

 

[!!!]

Backups from higher versions are never compatible with lower versions iOS.
You should’ve done a backup BEFORE upgrading to 18.5.

If you don’t have a backup <= 18.4, the only option you have is to update to 18.5 again and restore your backup and then wait for pb2/dev beta 3 hoping it includes the CarPlay fixes as well.

This isn't strictly true, the check is just via the iOS version set in the backup's Info.plist. You can change it. I did when I was trying out the new iPhone at the time, it was running an iOS revision slightly higher than was available on the 11 I had to revert back to.

I wouldn't recommend doing so with major revisions, as things are likely to change and result in broken preferences or databases.

 

[Artemiz]

This isn't strictly true, the check is just via the iOS version set in the backup's Info.plist. You can change it. I did when I was trying out the new iPhone at the time, it was running an iOS revision slightly higher than was available on the 11 I had to revert back to.

I wouldn't recommend doing so with major revisions, as things are likely to change and result in broken preferences or databases.

You can edit the version number and technically be able to restore the backup but I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

[Cruncher]

If everything is still the same like before, you can download the IPSW File for your iPhone and manually downgrade with the "Update Trick".

Connect it to your PC or Mac and press "Shift" on Windows or "Option" on Mac and klick on "Update" in iTunes or Finder. Then choose the iOS 18.4.1 IPSW. Your Data should remain. If not, you have to restore it. This worked many years for me but I din`t used it in the last few years.

 

[TokyoKiller]

Just stick to 18.5 and call it a day. There is nothing wrong with it anyway and the final release is likely not that far away.

 

[teeshot44]

Best practice is to always make a backup of your current version/cofiguration. This should be true no matter if you’re getting ready to upgrade to any new version or not I personally keep backups of my previous 2 configurations although remembering that Apple generally stops signing older versions after about a week after a new update is published.

 

[shakopeemn]

Yeah, personally I’ve been done with Apple betas for quite a few years. It’s a sharp edge with moving back.