An all-in-one tool to restore/downgrade, save SHSH blobs, and jailbreak legacy iOS devices
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iOS-OTA-Downgrader

Downgrade/restore and jailbreak iOS devices to signed OTA firmwares

  • Linux, macOS, and Windows are supported
    • Windows support is limited to iOS 6.1.3 and 8.4.1 downgrades only
    • Windows users can also create a Linux live USB (see Requirements)
  • iOS 6.1.3 and 8.4.1 downgrades have the option to jailbreak the install
  • You do NOT need blobs to use this, the script will get them for you
  • This script can also restore your device to other iOS versions that you have SHSH blobs for (32-bit devices only, listed under Supported devices)
  • Please read the "Other notes" section for tips, frequent questions, and troubleshooting

Supported devices:

  • You can identify your device here
  • iPhone 5C and iPad mini 3 devices are NOT supported (OTA versions for them are not signed)
  • iPhone 5C can still be restored to versions that you have SHSH blobs for
  • A7 devices are not fully supported on Windows.
  • Restoring to other versions with SHSH blobs is not supported on Windows.
Target Version Supported Devices
iOS 10.3.3 A7 devices:
iPhone 5S
iPad Air 1
iPad mini 2 (except iPad4,6)
iOS 8.4.1 32-bit devices:
iPhone 4S
iPhone 5
iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4
iPad mini 1
iPod touch 5
iOS 6.1.3 iPhone 4S
iPad 2 (except iPad2,4)

Requirements:

  • A supported device in any iOS version (listed above)
  • The IPSW firmware for the version you want to downgrade to
  • A 64-bit Linux install/live USB or a supported macOS/Windows version
    • See supported OS versions and Linux distros below
    • A Linux live USB can be easily created with tools like Ventoy
  • Windows users need to install MSYS2 and iTunes 64-bit
  • 32-bit devices - The device needs to be put in kDFU/pwnDFU mode as part of the process. There are a few options:
    • Normal method - Jailbreak is required. Users must install OpenSSH. Users in iOS 10 (A6/A6X) must also install Dropbear from my Cydia repo: https://lukezgd.github.io/repo/
    • DFU method - For alternatives, the DFU advanced menu can also be used. See "Other notes" for more details
  • A7 devices - Jailbreak is not required. The script will assist in helping the user put the device to pwnDFU mode
    • Note that entering pwnDFU mode is not supported on Windows. See "Other notes" for more details
For Pangu 32-bit users:
  • For 32-bit users using Pangu and normal method, install the latest untether for your iOS version here

Usage:

  1. Download iOS-OTA-Downgrader here and extract the zip archive
  2. Plug in your iOS device
  3. Open a Terminal window
  4. cd to where the extracted files are located, and run ./restore.sh
    • You can also drag restore.sh to the Terminal window and press Enter/Return
    • For Windows users, click restore.cmd to run the script
  5. Select options to be used
  6. Follow instructions

Supported OS versions/distros:

  • Ubuntu 20.04 and newer, and Ubuntu-based distros like Linux Mint
  • Arch Linux and Arch-based distros like EndeavourOS
  • Fedora 33 and newer
  • Debian 11 Bullseye, Testing and Unstable
  • openSUSE Tumbleweed and Leap 15.3
  • macOS 10.13 and newer
  • Windows 10 (8.1 and lower may also work but this is untested)

Other notes:

  • If something in the process does not work for you: try unplugging/replugging the device, switching between different USB ports/cables, also try USB 2.0 ports
  • IPSW file integrity will be verified before restoring and/or creating custom IPSW (if custom IPSW is already created, this will be skipped)
  • For users having issues with missing libraries/tools: To re-install dependencies, run ./restore.sh Install
    • Alternatively, delete the libimobiledevice folder in resources then run the script again
  • macOS users may have to install libimobiledevice and libirecovery from Homebrew or MacPorts
    • For Homebrew: brew install libimobiledevice libirecovery
    • For MacPorts: sudo port install libimobiledevice libirecovery
    • The script will detect this automatically and will use the Homebrew/MacPorts versions of the tools
  • Windows users may encounter errors like Unable to send APTicket or Unable to send iBEC in the restore process. To fix this, follow steps 1 to 5 here then run the script again
  • For A7 devices:
    • If you want to restore your A7 device on Windows, you need to first put the device in pwnDFU mode with signature checks disabled. Since entering pwnDFU mode is not supported on Windows, you need to use a Mac/Linux machine or another iOS device to do so. If your device is not in pwnDFU mode, the restore will NOT proceed! For entering pwnDFU mode, use ipwndfu, iPwnder32, or iPwnder Lite (Tutorial)
    • Do not use USB-C to lightning cables as this can prevent a successful restore
    • ipwndfu is unfortunately very unreliable on Linux, you may have to try multiple times (Linux users may also try in a live USB)
    • If the script cannot find your device in pwnREC mode or gets stuck, you may have to start over by force restarting and re-entering recovery/DFU mode
    • Use an Intel or Apple Silicon PC/Mac as entering pwnDFU (checkm8) may be a lot more unreliable on AMD devices
    • Apple Silicon Mac users running macOS 11.3 and newer may encounter issues entering pwnDFU mode (see issue #114)
    • For more troubleshooting steps for entering pwnDFU mode, see issue #126
    • Other than the above, unfortunately there is not much else I can do to help regarding entering pwnDFU mode.
  • For 32-bit devices:
    • To make sure that SSH is successful, try these steps: Reinstall OpenSSH/Dropbear, reboot and rejailbreak, then reinstall them again
    • To devices with baseband, this script will restore your device with the latest baseband (except when jailbreak is enabled, and on iPhone5,1 where there were reported issues)
    • This script can also be used to just enter kDFU mode for all supported devices
    • This script can work on virtual machines, but I will not provide support for them
    • If you want to use other manually saved blobs for 6.1.3/8.4.1, create a folder named saved, then within it create another folder named shsh. You can then put your blob inside that folder.
      • The naming of the blob should be: (ECID in Decimal)_(ProductType)_(Version)-(BuildVer).shsh(2)
      • Example with path: saved/shsh/123456789012_iPad2,1_8.4.1-12H321.shsh
  • For DFU advanced menu:
    • To enter DFU advanced menu, put your iOS device in recovery (A6 only), normal DFU (also A6 only), kDFU, or pwnDFU mode before running the script
    • There are two options that can be used in the DFU advanced menu
    • Select the "kDFU mode" option if your device is already in kDFU mode beforehand. Example of this is using kDFUApp by tihmstar; kDFUApp can also be installed from my repo
    • For A6/A6X devices, "DFU mode (A6)" option can be used. This will use ipwndfu (or iPwnder32 for Mac) to put your device in pwnDFU mode, send pwned iBSS, and proceed with the downgrade/restore
    • For A5/A5X devices, "pwnDFU mode (A5)" option can be used, BUT ONLY IF the device is put in pwnDFU mode beforehand, with checkm8-a5 using an Arduino and USB Host Shield
  • For the jailbreak option:
    • If you have problems with Cydia, remove the ultrasn0w repo and close Cydia using the app switcher, then try opening Cydia again
    • p0sixspwn will be used for iOS 6.1.3, and EtasonJB or daibutsu for iOS 8.4.1
    • For some devices, EtasonJB untether is unstable and not working properly, so daibutsu jailbreak will be used. See PR #129 for more details
    • For devices jailbroken with EtasonJB, there is no need to install "Stashing for #etasonJB" package, as stashing is already enabled
    • For devices jailbroken with daibutsu, add the system repo for future updates to the untether: https://dora2ios.github.io/repo/
  • My Cydia repo: https://lukezgd.github.io/repo/ - for installing Dropbear and kDFUApp if needed

Tools and other stuff used by this script: