iOS firmware signature – what is it, how to check and can it be bypassed? How to find out if Apple signs the firmware Does Apple sign iOS 10.3 1

Most often, users experience problems with iPhone and iPad after updating to a new version of iOS. Often it is not possible to fix such problems, after which the question arises of rolling back to the previous firmware version. In this instruction, we will talk about the easiest way to find out which latest version of iOS and its other operating systems Apple is still signing.

Why find out

Not everyone knows, but you cannot roll back an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to any previous version of iOS. Apple stops signing old firmware some time after the latest updates are released. Apple does this for security reasons, since in new versions of iOS the company’s engineers fix various critical vulnerabilities that pose a real threat to users’ personal data. In older iOS builds, these vulnerabilities remain.

So it turns out that in order to successfully roll back from a problematic version of iOS, the user first needs to find out which firmware it is possible to roll back to. We have presented the fastest way to identify firmware still signed by Apple below.

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Hello! Any person who uses an iPhone (iPad) sooner or later is simply bound to encounter such a concept as “iOS Firmware Signature”. Most likely, this will happen at a time when for some reason he does not like the new update and he has a great desire to “return everything as it was” (roll back to the old version of iOS).

Desire is good, but “I want” alone is clearly not enough. After all, to return the firmware, the most important condition must be met - Apple must sign this version of the software. What kind of signature is this and is it possible to do without it? Now I’ll quickly tell you everything - let’s go!

Let's start, of course, with the basics.

What is iOS firmware signing?

In simple terms, this is the “go-ahead” from Apple to install a certain firmware version. Don't understand what we're talking about? Let's take a closer look...

The most important thing to remember:

Apple (in most cases) only allows you to install the latest version of the software. There are no intermediate options or free “jumps” from one version to another. Do you want to reinstall, restore, update the operating system on your iPhone or iPad? You have only one option - installing the latest iOS.

This is precisely why “firmware signature” was introduced. How does it work?

Before installing iOS, a request is always sent to Apple servers. If Apple sees that the firmware version is different from the latest, then the installation is prohibited (iTunes “gives” error 3194).

Thus, the company more or less controls the situation with the software on the devices it produces.

How to check if Apple signs the firmware?

It was not for nothing that I made a small clarification and wrote that “Apple (In most cases) allows installation of only the latest version of iOS." After all, sometimes installing the previous version of the firmware is still possible!

And when does such an opportunity arise? (I highly recommend you check it out!). But if you’re too lazy to read, here are the two most common options:

Immediately after the release of a new version, Apple signs the previous one for some time. This usually does not last long - a week at most.
The company "just has something going wrong" and is starting to sign much older versions of iOS. This happens very rarely and lasts a very short amount of time - a day at most.

So how do you know which version of iOS is currently signed by Apple for a particular iPhone or iPad? Everything is very simple:

Important! The information on the site is always up to date - Apple firmware signatures are checked almost every minute.

You can immediately download the file to your computer, and then install the firmware directly on the device.

Is it possible to install firmware without signature?

No, a signature is always required. Although, for fairly old devices, such as:

iPad 1.
iPad 2.
iPhone 5 and younger.

There are still some workarounds. But they require too many conditions to be met: a jailbreak has been made, the presence of a saved SHSH certificate, certain firmware and a suitable device model.

If all these terms are familiar to you, then you can try to roll back the firmware without a signature. How to do it? I had the idea of writing all these instructions here, but then I changed my mind:

Firstly, the article would have turned out to be simply huge.
Secondly, it would be useful to too few people.
Thirdly, if a person owns an iPad 1 and purposefully saved a SHSH certificate for it, then “without my snotty advice” he knows how to return the old version of iOS for his tablet.

So there is only one thing left for me to do - to report not very good news to all owners of the iPhone 5S, iPad 3, iPad Mini and older models. So, attention - you cannot install firmware on all these devices without a signature. No way. Even with the help of special programs. Even for money. Even... in general, at the moment this possibility is completely absent.

Why find out

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