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can i downgrade my ios 6 to 5.1.1 of my iphone ?

can i downgrade my ios 6 to 5.1.1 of my iphone ?

Posted on Sep 20, 2012 7:16 AM

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40 replies

Sep 21, 2012 11:57 PM in response to Ing Eduardo calderon

after downgrading, your iphone will automatic download the ios 6 and store it on your device. all apple Apps will show, that there is a update and that it will only work under ios 6. after some minutes you have on youre homescreen a lot of red update information points and your storage space gets lower, because of the automatic download of ios 6. that is not stoppable and really disapointing. thats the way how apple forced you to update to ios 6.

Sep 22, 2012 7:08 AM in response to Ing Eduardo calderon

Hi PapaCarello,


Thank you for posting the steps!


However, I am trying to downgrade my iPhone 4S and I get the following error:

The iPhone "<xxxx>" could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (3194).


The error appears to be related to "This device is not eligible for the requested build"


I have tried using the IOS 5.1.1 ipsw file direct from apple: http://appldnld.apple.com/iOS5.1.1/041-4346.20120427.1RuDG/iPhone4,1_5.1.1_9B206 _Restore.ipsw


And I tried also using the original ipsw file that I had in the computer when I first upgraded to 5.1.1 and I got the same result.


Any ideas? Anyone?


I would also like to feel the joy of having an iPhone 4S with IOS 5.1.1. I deeply regret having "upgraded" to IOS6.


Any clues will be highly appreciated.


Thank you!

Sep 22, 2012 8:31 AM in response to Ing Eduardo calderon

PapaCarello, okay. Thanks for that. I'll try it as soon as I can. Any specific links you can give where I can download a good file?


Beroli, is that true? But my nephew's iPad and my sisters iPad and iPhone didn't update automatically. (They're still using iOS 5.1.1 and I told them not to update theirs... YET. Until Apple does something about this huge unfortunate glitch.


cssantamaria, so it worked for you? And your iPhone didn't automatically update back to iOS 6 like Beroli said?

Sep 22, 2012 11:00 PM in response to isay87

hi isay87,

i never wrote that your iPhone will automatically update (install) the software, but the new ios 6 will automatically download on your iPhone if you connect it with itunes and wlan. after downloading you will get the information, that you could now (if you wish) start the installing of ios 6. You will see the red dot. the problem is, if you own only a 16 Gb iPhone, that the downloaded update uses the limited space on your iPhone. you can track the automatically download in the software-update tab as soon as you connect your iPhone with iTunes (latest version). Even if automatic downloads are disabled in itunes. That is a "feature" (ironic) of apple since ios 5, called ota (over the air) update.

i hope this will solve the missunderstanding of my previous text.

Sep 22, 2012 11:19 PM in response to carlinchi85

yes i got the same messages for my ipad 3. gen., even with the original firmware (downloaded and updated month ago). "This device is not eligible for the requested build"

thats the way, how apple stop you from downgrading. this is okay if you get a better iOS. but not yet. now we have to live as beta tester with this buggy, unready, unfinished iOS 6.

Sep 23, 2012 7:39 AM in response to Jong317

Hi People,


I did some research on the infamous 3194 error. It turns out that any firmware flash to an apple device has to be signed by apple. Something called the SHSH blob. During the firmware flash, the device send this blob, which includes the version of the os and the unique serial number of the device, to apple to get the blessing to proceed. Everytime apple releases a new version the host that signs the blobs approves requests for both versions (new and previous) for *just* a few days. This window has come and gone. So, the procedure from PapaCarello did work, but just for a few days.


Also, it turns out that if you happen to have saved your signed shsh blobs, you can still follow the procedure and get a successful downgrade. But you need to use a really hacky procedure to fool itunes into thinking it has received the signed blobs from apple in order to proceed (one of the most populars applications to support this is tinyumbrella).


I did not have saved shsh blob for ios 5.1.1, so no joy for me (heck, i did not know about shsh blob until yesterday). I am doomed. Apple's policy will not change as they clearly state that they do not support downgrade. Meaning they will not go for allowing the signing host to approve request to downgrade just this once.


I hope this helps (at least if it is just to understand what's going on).

can i downgrade my ios 6 to 5.1.1 of my iphone ?

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