How to downgrade from iOS 9 back to iOS 8.4

How to downgrade iOS 9 back to iOS 8.4 - This is all great if the upgrade works perfectly. But if the experience of iOS 8 is anything to go by, this is not always the case. In September 2014 a proportion of iPhone and iPad users upgraded in haste and then was forced to repent at their leisure. Until Apple fixed it, some people felt that the iOS 8 code caused problems with their iPhones, and there was some demand to be able to roll back to an older version of iOS. Not unreasonably Apple didn't encourage this, but it is possible. And, indeed, it is possible to go back from iOS 9 to iOS 8. As long as Apple's servers will still 'sign' the older OS.

downgrade iOS 9

Downgrading an iPhone or iPad with iOS 9 Beta Back to iOS 8

You’ll probably want to back up your iOS device before beginning this process; otherwise you may lose data that you find important. You cannot restore an iOS 9 back up to iOS 8 however, so keep that in mind.

• On the iOS 9 device, open Settings and go to iCloud, and turn off “Find My iPhone”, then turn off the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch by holding down the Power button
• Launch iTunes and connect the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch to the computer using the USB cable, then immediately start holding down the Power and Home button together for 10 seconds, then release the Power button but continue holding the Home button
• When a message in iTunes pops up saying a device in recovery mode has been detected, you are successfully in DFU mode and the hardware is ready for the downgrade
• In iTunes, select the device under the “Summary” tab, look for the “Restore” button – on a Mac, OPTION click that button, on a Windows PC, SHIFT click that button, then navigate to the iOS 8 IPSW file you downloaded earlier
• Let the downgrade process complete, when finished the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will reboot into a fresh iOS 8 install, at this point you can go through the typical setup process and restore from an iCloud or iTunes backup, or set it up as new

There are a number of reasons why you would want to do this. First and foremost is because iOS 9 is still a beta and months away from final release. It may still have bugs, performance issues, battery draining problem etc. And secondly, it is of course not jailbreakable. So whether you want to go back to iOS 8.4 for stability or jailbreak, you can because it’s the latest public release and obviously still being signed by Apple.

 iOS 8.4 is still being signed by Apple and avid jailbreakers should make the most of this opportunity by using the downgrade option now. This will help preserve all installed jailbreak tweaks and apps on the iDevice that are exclusively compatible with iOS 8.4 jailbreak.