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How to Downgrade from the iOS 7 Beta

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The iOS 7 beta is out and available for practically anyone to try months ahead of the fall iOS 7 release. While there is officially no way to downgrade from the iOS 7 beta to iOS 6, after running into some issues we’ve discovered how to revert to iOS 6.

Apple doesn’t support this with an easy one click and done downgrade from the iOS 7 beta, but the process is easy to follow.

If you think you will need to downgrade from the iOS 7 beta we recommend not backing up while on iOS 7 to your computer or iCloud. Apple does not let users restore form a backup made on a later version of iOS, which will leave you without a backup and possibly some data.

Downgrade from iOS 7 beta to iOS 6.

Downgrade from iOS 7 beta to iOS 6.

If you make a backup before upgrading to the iOS 7 beta, use the beta and then decide to downgrade to iOS 6, you should be ok to restore as long as you didn’t make a new backup.

Read: 50 iOS 7 Features You’ll Actually Care About

When downgrading from iOS 7 to iOS 6, users can only downgrade to the current versions, iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 6.1.4. This means there is no way to try the iOS 7 beta and jump back to an iOS 6 jailbreak as there is no iOS 6.1.3 jailbreak or iOS 6.1.4 jailbreak.

How to Downgrade from iOS 7 Beta to iOS 6

To downgrade from the iOS 7 beta to iOS 6 you will need to first download the iOS 6 file for your iPhone. Apple doesn’t offer a direct download to non-developers, but iOSday.com does offer iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 6.1.4 downloads free of charge, and with speedy downloads too.

1. Download the right iOS 6 ipsw file for your iPhone. Check this support page if you need help figuring out which iPhone model you have.

2. Open iTunes. It’s a good idea to be on the latest version of iTunes.

3. Put the iPhone into Recovery mode. This is also called DFU mode. While in recovery mode, you will be able to install the earlier version of iOS.

  • Turn the iPhone off and plug it in to your computer.
  • To do this press and hold the power button and the home button. You need to do this at the same time.
  • Hold both buttons for 10 seconds.

    Put the iPhone into DFU mode to downgrade from the iOS 7 beta to iOS 6.

    Put the iPhone into DFU mode to downgrade from the iOS 7 beta to iOS 6.

  • Release the power button and keep holding the home button until the message above pops up telling you the iPhone is in recovery mode.
  • Click OK.

The video above explains how to put the iPhone into DFU Restore mode.

4. From here, it’s just like installing the iOS 7 beta. In iTunes we need to click on Restore and pick the iOS 6 file downloaded at the start of this guide.

  • On Mac, Option click restore.
  • On PC Shift click restore.
The last major step to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6.

The last major step to downgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 6.

Next, find the file you downloaded and click on it then click Open.

When prompted click Restore and wait for the iPhone to restart to a stock iOS 6 installation.

5. If you have a valid iOS 6 backup, you can restore from that, if not you will need to start as a new iPhone.

17 Comments

17 Comments

  1. Mike Castillo

    06/11/2013 at 9:00 pm

    Selling UDID activations for $5! Email your UDID to me at [email protected]

    GET IOS 7 BETA 1 NOW!
    FAST ACTIVATION LESS THAN 15 MINUTES!
    PayPal is accepted only!

    • KristenY

      06/12/2013 at 5:59 pm

      didnt work for me at all……. says my device is not registered….. i wouldnt have done it if i knew i was going to lose everything….

      • MW

        06/12/2013 at 6:44 pm

        same thing happened to me :(

    • Caden

      06/16/2013 at 7:54 pm

      Still selling them?

  2. Sam

    06/12/2013 at 2:14 am

    Thanks, nice to know

  3. Bart

    06/12/2013 at 5:15 am

    So, do I have to restore to a clean version of iOS 6 first and THEN restore from my iOS 6 backup file? Or can I skip step 4 and just to step 5 in place? :)

  4. [email protected]

    06/12/2013 at 1:41 pm

    Udid activation for 4$!! Fast 10 min email me [email protected]

  5. MW

    06/12/2013 at 6:45 pm

    I actually backed up while I had the iOS 7 beta. At this point I don’t care if I have to start from scratch. I just want my phone to work

  6. bornslacker

    06/12/2013 at 7:14 pm

    Can anyone report if the downgrade worked for them? I also had troubles with the iOS7 beta… even though I did register my UDID, it said it wasn’t and would not activate. I’ll try to downgrade and let you guys know what I find out.

    • mm

      09/01/2013 at 4:19 pm

      did it work?

  7. Rizky Syazuli

    06/13/2013 at 2:20 am

    i can’t turn off my iPhone. it refuses to shut down. every time i turn the power off, it keeps restarting :|

  8. govtpro

    07/01/2013 at 1:02 am

    Anyone having any luck with the downgrade? I read somewhere that a phone is never truly “bricked”. Guess they’ve never seen my phone. Assuming I’ve tried all of the options below, Is there anything you can do to unbrick a iPhone?

  9. Gloworm

    07/25/2013 at 9:15 am

    The downgrade does work. I put ios7 on my wifes 4S. She did not like it so I had to downgrade her back. I got the unregistered error. Then I did the recovery mode and it worked like a charm. I installed clean ios6 and then did a restore from her backup I made before ios7 migration.

  10. Jwzg

    07/25/2013 at 8:40 pm

    Just use the configurator utility. That’s what I did and it worked.

  11. Stephanie

    09/20/2013 at 10:22 pm

    THIS DID NOT WORK! Now my phone is stuck in recovery mode AND I keep getting an error message halfway through the restore…

    • Gloworm

      09/21/2013 at 12:30 pm

      You do an update to install it. Not restore. Even though the file says restore, use update.

  12. Mad Dog

    09/23/2013 at 5:46 am

    I tried it and everything seemed to be working but then I got an “unknown error” message. Anyone else have this happen?

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