How to Downgrade from iOS 27 Beta to iOS 26

The iOS 27 beta has overall been a very positive experience for many beta testers, but if you have “>installed iOS 26 beta onto your iPhone or iPad and decided that it’s no longer for you, perhaps due to some incompatibility, critical bug, or other issue, then you can downgrade your iPhone from iOS 27 beta reverting back to iOS 26 (and yes, the same trick works for downgrading iPadOS 27 beta back to iPadOS 26).

Downgrading is a multistep process that is somewhat technical, but don’t be too intimidated by it. The big thing to remember is that to downgrade successfully and keep all of your stuff, you’ll have need to have made a backup of your iPhone or iPad prior to updating to iOS 27 beta. If you don’t care about keeping your data, then you can downgrade and just setup the iPhone or iPad as a new device running iOS 26.

And yes this works the same for downgrading either the iOS 27 developer beta or the public beta.

Important iOS 27 Downgrade Considerations

• You need iOS 26 Backups: We are going to reiterate this because it is so important. If you want to downgrade and preserve all of your data, you will need to have made a backup to a computer while running iOS 26. If you do not have an iOS 26 backup, then you will not be able to downgrade and keep your data because iOS 27 backups are not compatible with iOS 26.
• You will need a computer: To downgrade successfully, you need a Mac or PC with your iOS 26 backup. You will also need a USB-C/Lightning cable to connect the iPhone/iPad to the computer

Again, if you do not care about preserving your data, then the backup situation does not matter, and you can downgrade and setup the device as new.

Because there is potential for data loss here (you are restoring an iPhone or iPad, and if you don’t have a compatible backup, your data, contacts, photos, etc will be gone), some users may decide it is better to not downgrade from iOS 27 beta at all. That is up to you.

How to Downgrade from iOS 27 Beta Back to iOS 26

You will probably want to backup your iPhone or iPad to iCloud before beginning the downgrade process. This allows you to recover your device (and all of your data) back to iOS 27 beta if something goes wrong.

1. Connect the iPhone/iPad to the Mac or PC that contains your backup by using a USB-C or Lightning cable
2. Once the iPhone/iPad is connected to the computer, put it into Recovery Mode by doing the following: press and release Volume Up, press and release Volume Down, press and hold the Side/Power/Lock button until the iPhone/iPad goes into recovery mode
3. On the computer, you’ll see that a device has been detected in recovery mode, click on “Restore”, this will erase the iPhone or iPad and install the most recent iOS 26.6 stable release onto the iPhone or iPad
4. The restore process will begin and can take a while, let it complete and do not interrupt the iPhone or iPad
5. Soon, the iPhone/iPad will boot back into iOS 26 as a brand new iPhone, and during the setup process you can now choose to restore the iPhone/iPad from the backup made on the computer that is compatible with iOS 26, otherwise setup the device as new

And there you go, you’re back on iOS 26 or ipadOS 26 in no time.

Remember that if you do not have a backup compatible with iOS 26, you can not restore an iOS 27 beta backup to the device running iOS 26. If you want your data, that means you’ll have to either upgrade back to the iOS 27 beta and restore it from the iOS 27 backup made to iCloud.

Downgrading from iOS 27 beta is not as common as some prior beta testing versions, because iOS 27 beta is widely reported as being quite stable and performs well. Personally I haven’t experienced any major issues with iOS 27 beta, nor any major incompatibilities, but everyone has a unique experience with iPhone, iPad, and beta system software.

Have you downgraded from iOS 27 beta back to iOS 26? Have you downgraded from iPadOS 27 beta back to iPadOS 27? Have you considered it, or decided against it? Share your experiences, thoughts, and comments below, we’re curious to hear from you.