A couple of weeks ago, an iOS 14 – iOS 14.3 kernel exploit was released by @ModernPwner that affects all iPhones and iPad including the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 series. The exploit is notable because it could pave the way for the first iOS 14 – iOS 14.3 jailbreak that’s also compatible with newer iPhones like the iPhone 12. CoolStar from Odyssey jailbreak has already confirmed his intention of using this exploit to build an iOS 14 jailbreak. This has led to a lot of users interested in jailbreaking wondering if they could downgrade their iPhone back to iOS 14.3.
There are a lot of ifs and buts there as the feasibility of using the exploit to build an iOS 14 – iOS 14.3 jailbreak is still not clear. Nonetheless, if everything falls into place, we could see an iOS 14 – iOS 14.3 jailbreak that’s compatible with the likes of iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 devices sooner than later.
As of now, iOS 14.4 is the latest release of iOS for all iPhones. Apple is also not signing iOS 14.3 or any of the older versions of the OS. This means that if your iPhone or iPad is already running iOS 14.4 or iPadOS 14.4, there’s no way you can downgrade it back to iOS 14.3. Even if your iPhone is running a version of iOS that’s older than iOS 14.3, you cannot upgrade to it as the firmware file is not being signed. Instead, your device will be directly updated to iOS 14.4.
Even with the necessary SHSH blobs saved, you cannot use it to downgrade your iPhone back to iOS 14.3 from iOS 14.4. This is only possible when you already have a jailbroken iPhone. With the blobs, you can use futurerestore to upgrade your iPhone to iOS 14.3 if it’s running iOS 14 – iOS 14.2. There’s a reason why the jailbreaking community always recommends keeping your iPhone on the oldest iOS version possible as the chances of it being jailbroken are always higher.
ModernPwner has also hinted at another exploit that should work on iOS 14.5 and allows for PAC bypass. The developer is still working on this exploit though so it’s unclear how useful it is going to be. Nonetheless, if you want to jailbreak your iPhone, upgrade it to iOS 14.5 whenever it drops and then stick to it in hopes of a possible jailbreak.
