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Apple Stops Signing iOS 9.2.1, Downgrading From iOS 9.3 No Longer Possible

Tuesday April 5, 2016 6:50 PM PDT by Juli Clover

As of today, Apple has stopped signing iOS 9.2.1 for compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models, meaning users can no longer upgrade or downgrade to that version of iOS using iTunes. Apple is now signing iOS 9.3 and iOS 9.3.1 only.

iOS 9.3 was released to the public on March 21, and iOS 9.3.1 was released 10 days later on March 31.

iOS 9.3 has suffered from several bugs since it was released, which may have prompted some users to downgrade to the more stable iOS 9.2.1 release. An Activation Lock issue on some older devices caused Apple to temporarily pull the iOS 9.3 update for some users shortly after iOS 9.3 launched, and the iOS 9.3.1 update was released to fix a second major bug that caused apps to crash or freeze after tapping or long pressing on a web link. Both issues have now been solved.

Tags: iOS 9.2.1, iOS 9.3

Top Rated Comments

Pakaku

129 months ago

inb4 people start complaining about how they don't like what Apple does despite the fact that they do that every time a new update is released.

I still think not being able to downgrade to an older major version is pretty inconvenient.

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

RedOrchestra

129 months ago

Incredibly cheeky of Apple with 9.3 still in flux.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dannyyankou

129 months ago

Incredibly cheeky of Apple with 9.3 still in flux.

Speaking of flux, I love the night shift feature!

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

mistasopz

129 months ago

inb4 people start complaining about how they don't like what Apple does despite the fact that they do that every time a new update is released.

Well maybe they wouldn't complain if Apple's updates didn't screw up their phones and introduce new bugs. Like the browser crashing when visiting websites. This is not trivial.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

hlfway2anywhere

129 months ago

Well.. There is no ticket for you to going back now, if the update screwd your phone, your stucked with it.

I am still stay at iOS 7 with my iPad Mini first generation and iPhone 4S. iPod touch 6, iPhone 6S, iPad Mini 4 and iPad Air 2 still at iOS 9.2. After all these bugs, I am not going to update.

I don't really care with my Android phones (Nexus, Moto, Xiaomi and Meizu), all I need to do is reflash old firmware and be happy (Nexus and Moto need flash files and adb commond, while Xiaomi and Meizu just need put .zip file on the root directory and hit restore).

All these bugs? I feel like there are probably more recorded bugs in 9.2. What known 9.3.1 bugs are there?

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

JosephAW

129 months ago

They should allow any version to be signed and installed.
Yes I know they are not updating older iOS' but the user should be allowed to choose for various reasons like compatibility or testing software or 32 bit desktop hardware like me. iOS 8.4.1 is working fine for me on my iPhone 6.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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