How can I downgrade from iPhone firmware 3.1?

How can I downgrade from iPhone firmware 3.1?

As we reported earlier, many iPhone users have encountered problems with the iPhone 3.1 firmware upgrade. Until Apple comes out with fixes for these bugs, the solution may be a downgrade to earlier software versions.

If you're having problems with the iPhone 3.1 update, try this restore to downgrade to iPhone OS 3.0.1:

- Download the correct iPhone 3.0.1 IPSW file for your iPhone:
http://www.quickpwn.com/2009/07/iphone-3-0-1.html has the IPSW files from Apple under "iPhone 3.0.1 Download Links."

- Make sure your iPhone is connected to the computer.
- Open iTunes, then hold down "Option" and select "Restore" on your Mac (Shift and Restore in Windows) when your iPhone mounts.
- Choose the downloaded 3.0.1 IPSW file.
- This will restore your iPhone to OS 3.0.1.
- Now you can restore to your latest iPhone backup.

To downgrade your iTunes to version 8 or 7.7 see instructions here.

Newest iPhone FAQs

VIEW ALL FAQS

tags: 
Downgrade
Downgrade

Comments

Anonymous replied on

This does not work.

I tried updating my phone 3G 16GB to 3.1, update failed and I had to restore the phone to new 3.1 configuration.
I attempted to downgrade to 3.0.1 and it failed. Towards the end of the update process iTunes displayed error 1015. According to apple website it is for attempted downgrade of the apple firmware (which is categorically stated to be not-supported)
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1275

Anonymous replied on

Doesn't work for me either. Gives me lots of error messages

enteng replied on

same here....i followed instructions but nothing happened

Anonymous replied on

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1278569&p=3#r56

You have to use iRecovery to set the boot options: this way you can get past the "1015" error you are probably stuck at.

Victor replied on

me neither why has everything have to be so hard

rainfairy replied on

Thank you! This worked for me*. I had tried uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes, using a different computer to restore, setting up a different Windows user. I was about to put iPhone in the TARDIS and downgrade iTunes...but I found the above suggestion and tried it as follows:
(not sure if it makes a difference but I have not performed a jailbreak on my iPhone)

*With iTunes uninstalled, I used the link above to download 3.0.1 IPSW file for my 3G (there is a different one for each iPhone, so pick appropriately).
*I reinstalled iTunes9.
*I restarted my computer. (included from someone else)
*As my desktop booted, I plugged the USB cable into iPhone (no cradle) and opened iTunes.
*I acknowledged that my iPhone was screwed up and needed to be restored.
*I held down the Shift key and clicked Restore.
*I located the downloaded 3.0.1 IPSW file and selected it.
*After a few minutes my iPhone was functional, albeit with just the basic features.
*I fully restored my iPhone using the last back-up file which luckily was just a few hours old.
*When the option came up to install the 3.1 update at the very end, I clicked Cancel. After all, the whole point of this is to downgrade the firmware and get the phone working while Apple figures out what to do. ;-)

Maybe it was a fluke that it worked, but it did. Thanks again.
Cheers!

Anonymous replied on

This doesn't work, it will always fail no matter how many times you try since you can't restore with 3.0 firmware anymore, if you don't believe try it 20 times

Charles replied on

I tried this and it worked. Here's how...

First of all, thank you to the author of this article, it pointed me in the right direction.

To do this, you need iTunes 8.x and it doesn't need to be on the machine that you normally sync to. Go through the process as described above. Most (if not, all) of you will get the "1015" error and you'll have the USB arrow to iTunes picture on your phone. Now...

1) Read these instructions in their entirety before starting.
2) Unplug your phone.
3) Install or downgrade to iTunes 8.x (I used 8.2.0.23 for Windows), preferably on a computer your phone is NOT synced with, otherwise preserve your iPhone backup data first
4) Make sure iTunes is not running/closed
5) Plug your phone in using the USB cable
6) RESET your phone (Hold the 'Home' and 'Lock' buttons down for 15 sec. then hold down just the 'Lock' button for 2 sec.)
7) When your computer recognizes the phone again iTunes will start and your phone will come back on-line.
8) Connect to the machine that your phone is synced with and restore from backup. Note: The latest backup that you can use will be the backup created when you upgraded to 3.1. Any changes made after that will be lost.

This worked for me, and I hope you find it helpful.

Charles

Alibear replied on

Note, however, that 3.1 included a new baseband (101). If there are any issues associated with the baseband (battery drain?) it will NOT be downgraded by reloading a previous version of software (see the dev team blog et al for more info). My 3G with 3.1 is now slower, clunkier, has periods where it appears to do nothing, then catches up - especially when typing messages and comletely locks up from time to time requiring rebbots and - once - reconnection to itunes to get it to restart again. Horrible. Just hope Apple is on top of this and releases a fix pronto...

Alibear replied on

Update:

Sorry - you can downgrade the baseband by jailbreaking and using a a baseband loader, but it's a considerable amount of work...
See http://www.redmondpie.com/downgrade-iphone-3g-firmware-3.1-baseband-05.11.07-to-04.26.08/

Luck...

Anonymous replied on

Its easy to downgrade, when u get downgrading error simply put the phone into dfu mode :) search YouTube on how

Anonymous replied on

it work after first tried error recieved,put the phone back to restore stage ,second tried went smoothly happy with it,thank you very much for use full info