You Can’t Downgrade from iOS 26 to iOS 18 – But a Goofy Workaround Has Been Found

When there’s a will, there’s a way. And in this case, some iPhone users are so committed to finding a way back to iOS 18, that they’ve come up with a fairly unconventional yet creative workaround to get away from iOS 26.

As you likely know, there’s no longer any way to downgrade an iPhone from iOS 26 back to iOS 18. This is because Apple stopped signing and verifying iOS 18 IPSW files. That means once you upgrade to iOS 26 and install it onto your iPhone (or iPad), you can’t revert back to iOS 18, and you’re effectively stuck with iOS 26 moving forward.

So, how can iPhone users get iOS 18 onto their iPhone again? How can you get an iPhone with iOS 18 when you can’t downgrade from iOS 26? This is where the wild workaround comes in, and it’s probably not what you think. There are no hacks, jailbreaks, or tweaks involved, the solution is creative yet sillier than that.

The weird workaround: buying an iPhone that is still running iOS 18.

Yes, some users are actually buying used or refurbished iPhone models that are still running iOS 18, as a way to get away from iOS 26.

Then, once the iPhone with iOS 18 is setup and running, they sell their iPhone running iOS 26. Since many users are doing this with the exact same iPhone model, the cost of the new iPhone with iOS 18 is basically the same as the iPhone running iOS 26. The only real cost then is your time and effort required to see this through completion.

This is obviously not a true downgrade, but if you buy the exact same iPhone model (or a different one for that matter) that is still running iOS 18, you effectively have an iPhone with iOS 18 again. So you downgraded from iOS 26, kind of?

While this certainly works to get an iPhone running iOS 18 again, it is tricky for many reasons, some obvious and some not.

First, you have to find an iPhone for sale that was never upgraded to iOS 26, and that is still running iOS 18 of some version. That alone can be challenging, though you can certainly find iOS 18 equipped iPhone models for sale on Ebay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Swappa, and the usual spots to buy used devices online.

Second, if your current iPhone is running iOS 26, you can’t restore that backup to your freshly bought iOS 18 device. You can, however, enable iCloud for every possible service and get stuff like your contacts, notes, iCloud Photos, Passwords, and other data to sync to the iOS 18 device. But again this is not restoring from a backup, so you’ll be missing a lot of stuff, including any and all customizations, and data stored on the device (rather than in iCloud).

Third, this is obviously a lot of work and effort. You have to find an iPhone with iOS 18 that is for sale, verify that it’s a legitimate listing and running iOS 18, engage in the online purchasing process, wait to get it shipped to you, get it all setup, then erase and reset the iPhone with iOS 26, and engage in the selling process yourself.

Is all of this worth it? Almost certainly not for most of us, but for some intrepid users who really loathe the iOS 26 experience for any number of reasons, it must be. I stumbled into this strategy being discussed on MacRumors Forums, and honestly I was kind of impressed at the level of commitment to get away from iOS 26.

Look, I can understand the frustration with iOS 26. When I first installed iOS 26 I absolutely hated Liquid Glass, I found it hard to read and use, and the performance felt slow while my battery life initially plunged and the iPhone ran hot to the touch. But the truth is, after the initial hiccups, visual ick, and sluggish indexing period, and after configuring and customizing the Liquid Glass interface to my liking, I actually kind of like Liquid Glass and iOS 26 on iPhone now. I can’t say the same for macOS Tahoe 26 (yet anyway), but I imagine after an update or two that I’ll have a similar experience with Tahoe as well (but for what it’s worth, you can still downgrade from macOS Tahoe 26 back to MacOS Sequoia rather easily, especially if you use Time Machine backups).

What do think of this strategy to get back to iOS 18 on an iPhone? Is buying a used iPhone with iOS 18 worth it, just so that you can get away from iOS 26? Since downgrading to iOS 18 from iOS 26 isn’t possible, this is really the only way to get an iOS 18 device again. But why not just wait for a future iOS 26 update to fix the issues or complaints that you have? We want to hear your thoughts and opinions on this topic, share away in the comments!