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Level 1

5 points

How can I downgrade a sluggish iPad 2 back to iOS 7?

I recently upgraded my iPad 2 from iOS 7.1.2 to iOS 9, but upon using the newest iOS it is quite clear that it's too new for my device as everything has become incredibly slow and laggy. The latency between me tapping the screen and a reaction from the iPad is about a second, making it almost unusable. I would therefore like to downgrade my iPad back to iOS 7.1.2 but I can't seem to work out how to do this.

Is this the place to ask an Apple tech support person how to do it?

Posted on Oct 30, 2015 10:55 AM

25 replies

MichelPM

Level 10

81,004 points

Oct 30, 2015 11:03 AM in response to peanutismint

You can't. Apple is no longer signing/authorising older versions of iOS for attempts at downgrading.

In, addition, Apple does NOT have any support for downgrading iDevices to a previous iOS version.

I have upgraded two iPad 2s multiple times to iOS 9.1 and they are functioning fine on iOS 9.

Try resetting All Settings found in the Settings App under General and in the right column under Reset.

Try resetting histories and deleting/resetting caches in all of the web browsers you use.

If you use Safari, these functions maybe l in the Settings App under Safari.

Other web browsers have their settings inside of the running app, itself.

Try turning on Reduced Motion.

This is found in the Settings App in the General tab the left panel.

In the right panel look under Accessibility, the look for Reduce Motion and turn this feature "On".

You should see an appreciable performance increase on all iPad 2, 3 and 4 models.

In the Settings App under the General Tab, in the right column, look for Background App Refresh and turn this setting to "off".

Try a reset of your iPad by holdings down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.

Good Luck!

peanutismint Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 30, 2015 11:05 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Oh ok, so maybe in a few days as they improve the OS it will get quicker?

ShagCA

Level 5

6,335 points

Oct 30, 2015 11:07 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Kilgore-Trout wrote:

My experience with iOS upgrades on older devices is that the sluggishness will fade after a little while.

That's because you've become accustomed to the sluggishness :-)

Oct 30, 2015 11:08 AM in response to peanutismint

Certainly have a look at MichelPM's suggestions and give them a try, but yes, generally speaking my third gen has picked up its response time significantly within a day or so of updating.

peanutismint Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 30, 2015 11:09 AM in response to MichelPM

Thanks, I'd already had reduced motion turned off, but I'll try also turning off background app refresh. It's worrying that it's still sluggish even with these features turned off. I guess they don't worry too much about keeping older devices running well, but that's true of all hardware/software manufacturers I suppose; a 2010 computer won't run Windows 10 as fast as a 2015 computer...the difference being, I can still re-install an older version of Windows on a piece of hardware I own....!! :-)

MichelPM

Level 10

81,004 points

Oct 30, 2015 11:16 AM in response to peanutismint

As I stated, I have, personally, upgraded/updated 4 older iPad models. My Wife's 64 GB iPad 2, my Mom's 16 GB iPad 2 (once I cleared off enough free space on her iPad2), my own iPad 3 64 GB, and a close friend's 64 GB iPad 4,

All these iPads are running well with the latest versions of iOS 9.

No issues.