If you’ve installed iOS 8, and want to downgrade back to iOS 7.1.1 because either you found it too buggy, or because your favorite apps like WhatsApp were crashing too frequently then we’ve covered.
Downgrading from iOS 8 to iOS 7 is quite easy, despite Apple’s warning which states that you cannot downgrade back to earlier versions of iOS.
Important points to note:
- You will be able to downgrade back only to the latest iOS 7 version (which is iOS 7.1.1 currently).
- Please take a backup of your iOS device to iCloud or using iTunes so worse case situation you can recover your data from the backup.
Please follow these simple instructions to downgrade to iOS 7.1.1:
- Download the appropriate iOS 7.1.1 firmware (.ipsw) file for your device from the below links:
- Connect the device running iOS 8 beta to your computer.
- Launch iTunes and select the iOS device from the top right corner, to the left of the iTunes Store button.
- Hold the Alt/Option key on the Mac ( or Shift Key on Windows) on your keyboard and click on the Check for Update iPhone/iPod touch/iPad button in iTunes. Please note that it is important to hold the Alt/Option key or Shift key when you click on the Check for Update button directly, you will get an error message that iOS 8.0 is the current version.
Note: If you’ve Find My iPhone enabled then it will prompt you to turn it off before restoring your iPhone device. You can disable it by launching the Settings app and navigation to Settings > iCloud > Find my iPhone, and then tapping on the On/Off toggle next to Find My iPhone.
- Select the ipsw file you had downloaded earlier.
- iTunes will inform that it will erase and restore your iOS device to iOS 7.1.1 and will verify the restore with Apple.
- Click the Update button to proceed.
- iTunes should now downgrade your iOS device to iOS 7.1.1.
- After it has downgraded, you should see the Hello welcome screen. Swipe on the Slide to unlock slider to unlock the device.
That’s it, you should now be successfully downgraded to iOS 7.1.1.
You can also check this video if you need any more help:
Please don’t forget to let us know how it goes in the comments and drop us a line if you hit any issues.
