How to Use IPSW files
Nov 23, 2010 - 34 Comments
If you’ve recently downloaded an iOS IPSW file, you might be curious how to use it to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. It’s pretty easy, just follow these directions:
How to Use IPSW files
You can use IPSW files on Mac or Windows, both require iTunes.
- Connect your iPhone or iOS device to your computer
- Select the device in iTunes
- On a Mac, hold down the “Option” key and then click on “Update”
- On a Windows PC, hold down “SHIFT” key and then click on “Update”
- Select the IPSW file you downloaded and click “Choose”
- Let the iOS device update as usual
You can also click on “Restore” and select an IPSW instead but you will lose the existing files and settings on your iOS device. Use “Restore” if you want to restore to a custom IPSW file, such as something created with PwnageTool or sn0wbreeze. This is usually only relevant to those who jailbreak and unlock their hardware.
Where do you get IPSW files?
We have several comprehensive lists of iOS IPSW files hosted from Apple’s servers, you can download iPhone ISPW, iPod touch IPSW, and iPad IPSW of all iOS versions after 3.0.
It’s worth noting that if you have multiple iOS devices to update, downloading all of the updates via the direct links and placing the resulting ipsw files into “~/Library/iTunes/(iPad/iPod/iPhone) Updates” will let you update the devices much faster as iTunes won’t download more than one update at a time.
Perhaps next time you could insert, “how to backup a original ispw file” on a brand new ipod Touch 4Gen. It would be nice to backup the original file rather than Downloading some other file which may or may not be compatible. That question brought me here in my search, but it was not discussed.
Thank You.
[...] can find out how to use IPSW files if you are [...]
Thanks, Norman for the hint about renaming the zip file. I was totally confused up to that point.
Thanks for writing this. I searched the entire internet, and a lot of folks did not explain this as simple as you did. Thanks. One other point to note is that Apple sends the files as zip files and you have to rename them .ipsw
Norman,
Thank you so much for noting that you have to rename file as an .ipsw I have been trying all day to restore to an older version and the firmware i download doesnt show up. I will give that a try
I’m new to this, but have successfully downgraded from 4.3 to 4.1 (my shsh blobs had been saved. My question though is this: Is there a difference between cutom .ipsw files and restore.ipsw files. I’ve been reading different sites and those two term are used a lot.
[...] users should update their iOS hardware through iTunes for ease of use, but you can learn how to use IPSW files if this interests [...]
thank you for this nice tip.
Does the phone have to be in DFU mode or whatever?
Yes, you have great tips here that many hackers just fail to explain.
Thanks so much!
i download the ipsw file and it come in zip file i tried to rename it to ext. of ipsw but doesn’t work ?
any idea
thanks
im having the same proplem. its driving me mad.
It is probably doing so because you are using internet explorer. Try downloading it in another browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari
So if I have a jailbroken/unlocked iphone, do I ‘update’ or ‘restore’ using ;an ipsw file? thanks.
to rename zip file go into control panel click on folder options click on view tab on top then unselect hide extensions for known file types click apply then ok then change zip by right clicking then rename change zip to ipsw
[...] (Mac OS X) and click on the restore button within iTunes. You can read more about using IPSW files here if you are not sure. Tags: download 4.3.4 for ipod 2, download and install 4.3.4, download iOS [...]
[...] can read about using IPSW files if you are confused, but most users will be best served by updating through [...]
is it only foripad2 which is on 4.3.2?
mine is on 4.3.1 right now.
not able to use this for 4.3.1? i have tried it with this file
but it has come 3194? error.
thanks.
Go to google and type “iPhone error 3194″ this may fix your problem
Thank you man, you saved my day, this may seem a long while when it was posted but THANK YOU! <3
hi guys…
my Ipod touch is locked! i typed wrong key for three time and it is now Disabled. If i want to restore this device via downloaded IPSW what should i do ?
i mean i have downloaded this from your direct link and renamed it successfully. now what to do ? whats the next step ? when i connect my device to itunes it directly connects to the internet.
What if i want to restore my Locked device with this downloaded file ?
thanks
kader
Thank you so much! this helped me solve my very problem. You are like an angel sent from God.
hi there i have a question to address..
rite now i am using ipod touch gen4 with ios 4.3.3
recently i have downloaded the newest ios5.ipsw
i have installed cydia and installous on my ipod
how can i update my ios4.3.3 into ios5 and how to jailbreak it then ?
tyvm for the asnwer
I have a Windows PC. I pushed down the ‘SHIFT’ key but nothing happens…
Nevermind!!
i dwnloaded 4.2 then i updated my os ……it showed an error and nw my iphone is in recovery mode…..wht shud i do…
[...] 关于IPSW固件区别很大，特比是GSM和CDMA的差异很大，在美国，这是最容易判断的基础上手机提供商AT＆T是GSM， Verizon是CDMA。如果你不知道做什么用的IPSW文件的，你可以阅读我们的怎么识别他们 。 [...]
[...] you’d rather download and install the firmware yourself and you know how to use IPSW files, use the links [...]
Hi,
i updated my iPhone 3GS to iOS5.0.1
now its asking me to activate, and is not recognising the sim… it shows searching network and after a long time it shows no network.
how to get it working
Zaid, I did the same for my 4g and it woked out!
try to get a wifi coverage with the at&t simcard inserted then follow the prompt to activate your phone using your wifi connection. If you have an at&t sim card it should work just fine after the activation.
but if you have another sim card it doesn’t matter whether You had unlocked before the update, you’ll have to unlock it again!
Hi i dont quite understand how to do this
i have iphone 4, its not jail broken i updated to ios5 today – BIG MISTAKE!
i have one back up from july in itunes would that back up to the previous ios4 version i had back then?????
Janet
[...] If the trade offs are worth it to you, installing Whited00r is very easy for anyone familiar with using IPSW [...]
I have an iphone 4S i tried to reboot it two days back and while doing so it got stuck on the boot logo and it is still not moving any further. I tried to google it, and all i could do was ‘restore’. I tried to download the iOS 5.0.1 version from itunes, and it takes forever. I’m now downloading it from the link above. What do i do after renaming to ipsw file? What do i do to get it on my iphone?
Thanks much.