iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4G users who have accidentally upgraded to iOS 6 can downgrade to iOS 5.1.1 using Redsn0w if they’ve saved SHSH blobs using TinyUmbrella using this step-by-step tutorial.
Some important points before we proceed:
- This guide is meant for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 4G users. It is currently not possible to downgrade the newer iOS devices such as iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPad 3. You can find out more details here.
- This method will work only if you’ve saved your SHSH blobs for iOS 5.1.1 either using TinyUmbrella or had jailbroken your iPhone when it was running iOS 5.1.1 and launched Cydia at least once, which would have cached the SHSH blobs on its servers.
- Since the method restores your iPhone with iOS 5.1.1, you need to go through the process of setting up your iPhone from the backup, which can take sometime.
- Please note that when you restore from backup, you will only see only iOS 5.1.1 or lower compatible backups.
Step 4: You will now need to put your iOS device into the DFU mode. You can follow these simple steps to put your iPhone in DFU mode:
(a) Hold the Power button on iOS device down for 3 seconds:
(b) Now simultaneously hold the Home button and keep the two buttons pressed for 10 seconds:
(c) Now release the Power button while keeping the Home button pressed until your device’s screen goes black or iTunes pops up a message telling you that it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode.
Step 5: Double click the Redsn0w zip file and extract the application to the Redsn0w folder. Navigate back to the Redsn0w folder and launch the Redsn0w application. Please ensure that you have launched the latest version of Redsn0w.
Windows 7 users should run the exe in Windows XP compatibility mode (right-click on the Redsn0w exe and select Properties, then select the Compatibility tab and select Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP). Windows XP and Windows 7 users should run Redsn0w as ‘Administrator’ (right-click on the Redsn0w exe and select ‘Run as an Administrator’).
Step 6: Redsnow will report that your iOS device is connected in DFU mode (For example: Connected: iPhone 4 (DFU mode)). Click on the Extras button, then click on SHSH blobs button, followed by the Stitch button.
Step 7: Click on the IPSW button, here browse to the location you had downloaded the iOS firmware file and select the .ipsw file.
Step 8: In the next step, you need to retrieve the iOS 5.1.1 SHSH blobs for the downgrade process. If you’ve them stored locally then click on the Local button or click on the Cydia button, if you want Redsn0w to download them from Cydia. If you had jailbroken your iOS device while it was running iOS 5.1.1 and launched Cydia at least once then it would have cached the SHSH blobs on the server. Redsn0w will show the progress bar as it Fetching blobs from the server.
Step 9: Once Redsn0w successfully downloads the iOS 5.1.1 SHSH blobs, it will stitch the SHSH blobs with the iOS 5.1.1 firmware file to create a custom iOS 5.1.1 firmware file (prefixed with your iOS device’s 13-digit ECID) that will allow you to downgrade. Redsn0w will notify you that “Blob stitching done” and place the custom file in the same folder as iOS 5.1.1 firmware file.
Step 10: Now go back to the Extras page on Redsn0w and click on the Pwned DFU button. Redsn0w will inform you that your device is in pwned DFU mode when it’s done. The screen on your iOS device will turn black and iTunes will detect that it is in recovery mode.
Step 11: You will now need to restore your iOS device with the custom iOS 5.1.1 firmware file created in step 9. Launch iTunes:
(a) Under the ‘Devices‘ section on the left pane of iTunes, click on your iOS device.
(b) Hold the Option key down (Windows users hold the Shift key down) and click on the ‘Restore‘ button
(c) Navigate and click on the custom iOS 5.1.1 firmware file to restore.
(d) Wait for iTunes to restore your iOS device, it will give you an unknown error (Error -1) at the end, don’t worry, you can ignore it.
Step 12: Launch Redsn0w again, click on the Extras button and then click on Recovery fix button. Put your iOS device in DFU mode again, and the Recovery fix will run.
Once the recovery fix is completed, your device will be successfully restored back to iOS 5.1.1.
If you’ve any problem downgrading then check out this video tutorial:
You’re all set to jailbreak your iOS device again. If you need help then check our How to Jailbreak page for the link to our latest guide to jailbreak your iOS device on iOS 5.1.1.
Let us know how it goes in the comments.
