How to downgrade iOS software with TinyUmbrella

Apple doesn’t allow users to downgrade to previous version of iOS but if you have saved your SHSH blobs or jailbroken your iDevice, you can bypass Apple’s signature checking process and downgrade to a previous version of iOS.

Cydia automatically saves your SHSH blobs for you, so if you have used a jailbreak on the device you want to downgrade, this tutorial is for you. If you have never saved your SHSH blobs or jailbroken the device you can not downgrade your iOS firmware.

Cydia shows the SHSH blobs that have been saved for your device on the home page. Here you can see the different firmware versions that have been saved for my device. The blobs were automatically stored by Cydia and now I can restore to any of the versions listed.

In this tutorial I am downgrading from iOS 5.0.1 to iOS 4.3.3. It will also work for other firmware versions and for iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch. The main reason I’m downgrading is to go back to a version that has a untethered jailbreak, 4.3.3 still works using jailbreakme.com.

TinyUmbrella

TinyUmbrella is an application that will help you retrieve your SHSH blobs from Cydia (or save them locally) and fool Tunes so you can restore your device to a firmware which Apple is no longer signing. You still restore your device in iTunes but TinyUmbrella runs in the background and tricks iTunes into signing your firmware.

To learn more about SHSH blobs and Apple’s signature process you can read this article from Jay Freeman.

Tutorial

1. You will also need to download the iOS firmware that you want to downgrade to. Here is a list, make sure you choose the correct one for your device.
2. You will also need to download TinyUmbrella from here, it works on both a Mac and PC.
3. After you install TinyUmbrella, plug your iPad into your computer. If iTunes opens, close it.
4. Open TinyUmbrella and click on Advanced.
5. Uncheck all the options except “Save All Available SHSH” and “Request SHSH From Cydia.”

It should look like the screen below.

1. Click on your iPad on the left under “Connected Devices.”
2. Click the “Save SHSH” button. You should see a spinner icon beside your iPad on the left. Give it a few minutes to finish then uncheck “Request SHSH from Cydia.”
3. Now click on the General tab and you should see some previous firmware versions under All Saved SHSHs. You should be able to restore to any of these versions of iOS. Make sure the firmware that you have download is listed. If the firmware is not listed click on “Save All SHSHs.”

1. Now click on “Start TSS Server” (this is going to trick iTunes into thinking that TinyUmbrella is Apple’s server.)

You should see the message that TinyUmbrella’s TSS server is running, like in the photo below.

1. Your iPad should still be plugged into your computer, you now should put your iPad into DFU mode. To put it in DFU mode, hold the home and power buttons at the same time for 10 seconds then release the power button while continuing to hold home. After about 15 seconds the device will enter DFU mode.
2. When your iPad enters DFU mode you should get a popup from iTunes telling you your iPad is in Recovery Mode..

1. Click OK to dismiss the popup box.
2. Hold the Option key on your keyboard, then click on Restore (Shift key for Windows.)
3. Locate the IPSW firmware you downloaded at the start of the tutorial.

1. iTunes will give you a warning, click Restore to proceed.

1. iTunes should now restore your iPad to the selected version of iOS firmware. After it’s complete you can set the device up as new or restore from a backup (the backup cannot be newer than the iOS version you downgraded to.)

If you downgraded to iOS 4.3.3 you can go to jailbreakme.com and install an untethered jailbreak in about a minute.