How to Downgrade iOS 16 and Revert to iOS 15
If you recently updated your iPhone to iOS 16 and have decided it’s not for you, perhaps due to some incompatibility or battery issue or otherwise, you’ll be excited to know you can downgrade from iOS 16 and revert back to iOS 15.
This article will cover an easy approach to downgrading, and you’ll be removing iOS 16 from your iPhone in no time at all.
Prerequisites to downgrading iOS 16
- Download iOS 15.7 IPSW here that matches your iPhone model
- The iOS 15.x IPSW firmware must be actively signed by Apple, you can check IPSW signing status here
- A Mac or Windows PC with Finder or iTunes
- A USB Lightning cable to connect iPhone to the computer
- An internet connection
- A full backup of your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, in the event something goes wrong so you can get your data back
Assuming you meet those requirements, you are ready to remove iOS 16 from your iPhone and revert back to iOS 15.
How to Downgrade iOS 16 on iPhone Back to iOS 15
Be sure to backup your iPhone before beginning this process. If you fail to backup, you could have permanent data loss and lose everything on your device.
- Open Finder on the Mac, or iTunes on a Windows PC, and select your iPhone from the sidebar menu
- Go to the “Summary” section, then hold the OPTION key on a Mac, or SHIFT key on a PC, and click on the “Restore” button
- Navigate to the iOS 15 IPSW file that matches your iPhone model that you already downloaded
- Choose “Restore”
After the downgrade has complete, your iPhone will boot back into iOS 15.7, assuming the whole process went well anyway.
This approach attempts to downgrade without erasing the iPhone, but it’s critical to have a backup made beforehand in the event that something goes wrong, or that you choose the wrong option, or that the downgrade fails, backups allow you to restore your data to your device.
Remember, downgrading is only possible for as long as iOS 15.x firmware (or other iOS 15 releases) are being digitally signed by Apple, so don’t expect to be able to do this forever.
Did you decide to downgrade iOS 16 and revert back to iOS 15? If so, why? How did the process work out for you? Let us know your experiences in the comments.
The iPad that works running 13 wants me to change to 16, meanwhile the iPad I use at work loaded 16 when I wasn’t looking, and now none of my accessories Or peripheral‘s work! Chargers don’t work, the interface I use that gives me separate tracks to process at work doesn’t connect to the iPad! I don’t know what to do. This blew me out of the water, this is horrible. How does Apple get away with this? I think there should be a law. What are they doing? sitting in cubicles just messing with us. Our expensive gear that we bought from Apple needs to work. This isn’t the first time they’ve done that to me, and I can’t even describe how I feel about it! What now?
All my settings are wrong…alarms going off at 7 when focus is set to wake at 7am but no alarm… my walll paper is gone and I can’t find the original picture again that I used fir my wall paper… i had to set new wall paper and it has made my Lock Screen picture change as well… it took me ages yesterday trying to reset both… at one point it was not saving any picture, and my background was just grey
Sorry apple have stop allowing people to downgrade back to ios 15 on both iPhone and iPad devices. So if you waited too long then you are out of luck and stuck with ios 16.2 or newer only on the iPhone. And also the iPad if you click/tap on the ios 16 update by accident and forgot to cancel it. As for the iPad you can stay on ios 15 for a little longer with no problem beacuse iPad OS 15.7.2 was a option to update to. If your really ready then there was another option that said also available iPad OS 16
There is no “restore” button there.
Ok well these iOS versions are now all unsigned so it does not work anymore. Might be good to update the article.
Everything below 16 is now unsigned. Will they sign them again in the future?
The iOS 15.7 firmware is not signed right now so it’s not possible wait until iOS 15.7.1 and then maybe it is possible again
But there is no reason to downgrade from iOS 16, it is better all around and barely different.
Bob,
some of us want to revert to an earlier version because the new update has caused many issues on our phones. From refusing charging, including not recognizing previous chargers, issues with not recognizing microphone on dictation, etc..
Unfortunately, it seems this has not become Apple’s playbook. I had the same issues after an update to my old 5S.. Surprise surprise, apple response (whey they have the decency to respond to the glitched they cause) was that they did not support that phone so they “recommend to upgrade”…. How nice… They do not support older versions but they have no issues damaging them with software updates…
I believe Apple should not be required to support older phones, but should be required to fix issues created by software updates.
Downgraded from16 to 15.7. No problem. Worked smoothly. But previously 16 backups do not work. Nor does transfer from another 16 iphone. The contacts pics and all icloud stuff returns. No problem there but apps need to be reconstructed.
bad tutorial, mt iPhone was reset to factory settings, you you said I won’t loose any thing, now am back to square one
I have fond memories of my first iPhone, the 3GS. The first generation of this model did not have a locked bootloader so could be upgraded and downgraded at will. Today, if you are not satisfied with an upgrade and you’re not quick, downgrading is not possible. iOS 15.7 and 16 being available at the same time is an exception. When Apple have released 16.1 and 15.7 is no longer available, you can not upgrade to this level ‘just to test it’ if you want to be able to downgrade again to a level known to work well for you and your apps.
Thanks for the apology.