How to downgrade to iOS 7 from the iOS 8 beta

Apple officially announced iOS 8 at its Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday. While the software won't be available to the general public for several months, the first of several beta versions has already been issued to developers.

The content of these betas is protected under a non-disclosure agreement (albeit one that many other sites won't adhere to), but it's not difficult for you to access them even if you don't develop software. Opt into Apple's $99-per-year iOS developer program, and you'll be able to download and test this software well in advance of the general release.

Apple's official line is that you shouldn't use devices you rely on to test these early betas, but we know you. You're a power user. You want to try out the latest features without waiting. So maybe you installed the software on the iPhone or iPad you use every day before you stopped to consider how unstable and buggy these early betas can be. While Apple will tell you that these devices can't be downgraded to non-beta iOS versions once they've been upgraded, this is only partially true.

We're going to walk you through the directions you can follow to downgrade an iDevice running an iOS beta to the current shipping version of iOS (7.1.1 as of this writing, though it may well change between now and the general release of iOS 8). We'll also tell you the pitfalls and caveats you should know before you ever upgrade your iDevice to beta software in the first place.

Before you begin

The first and most important thing to note about this process is that it is destructive—it will erase all apps and data on your device. If you think you'll just be able to restore everything from a backup, be careful; while iOS 7 backups can be used to restore an iOS 8 device, iOS 8 backups cannot be used to restore devices running iOS 7. If your iCloud or iTunes backup has been "upgraded" to iOS 8, you'll have to start from scratch once your device is back on iOS 7.

You should also know that this process will stop working once the final version of iOS 8 ships. Apple's servers will only sign the most current version of iOS. Once iOS 7.1.1 was released, you couldn't downgrade to iOS 7.1. Once iOS 7.0 was released, you could no longer downgrade to iOS 6. If you find this article after the general release of iOS 8, we're sorry, but we can't do anything for you.

If you've taken all of this into account and still want to proceed, you'll want to download the iOS 7.1.1 software update package (also called IPSW files) for your exact device. IPSW files can be downloaded from the developer portal, though some Googling will find you sites that provide hard links to the files on Apple's servers. Remember, since Apple's servers won't sign older versions of iOS, using an older iOS 7.1 or 7.0.x IPSW file will result in an error message.

You may need to locate your model number to download the correct file. iDevice model numbers are usually in fine print on the back of iPhones, iPads, and iPods, beginning with the letter A followed by a four-digit number. My AT&T iPhone 5S, for example, is model A1533.

Update: Ars reader Jerome71 suggests that you can just click the "Restore" button in iTunes after putting the device in recovery mode, which will prompt iTunes to download the correct iOS 7.1.1 update automatically. If this doesn't work for you, downloading the IPSW file manually is still your best option.

Accessing Recovery Mode

The first thing you'll need to do is put your device in Recovery Mode, which isn't difficult. Turn your phone or tablet off as you normally would, then plug it in to a computer with a Lightning or 30-pin cable while holding down the Home button. Continue to hold the Home button until the device turns on and displays the Recovery Mode image shown here.

Restoring iOS 7

If iTunes doesn't automatically start, launch it, and it should tell you that it has detected an iOS device in recovery mode. You should see a screen like this when you try to interact with the device.

Click Restore while holding down your Mac's Option key (or the Shift key, if you're using Windows). This should open a file explorer window, which you'll use to navigate to and select the IPSW file you downloaded earlier.

iTunes should replace your iOS 8 beta with iOS 7, and once the phone reboots you'll be able to activate it through iTunes or via the setup wizard just as you would a new iPhone or iPad. If you get an error at this point, it's usually because you tried to apply an update for a different device (trying to restore a Verizon iPhone with the IPSW for an AT&T iPhone, for example), or because you downloaded an IPSW file for a less-than-current version of iOS. Provided you performed every step correctly, you can now enjoy stable, non-beta software when you want to while still jumping back to new iOS 8 developer betas as they're released.