iPhone 5 or earlier Apple stops signing IOS 6.1.3 for iPhone 4S

[Minneapolis208]

Hello,
I was going to flash an IOS 6.1.3 IPSW to a huge batch (like 500) iPhone 4S. As most of you know, Apple started signing IOS 6 IPSW for iPhone 4S to allow official downgrades in 2018. It failed to flash to all of them. So I went to the Ipsw.me website to download a new IPSW file, thinking the one I had was corrupted/ malfunctioning. The IOS 6.1.3 ipsw for iPhone 4S is no longer in the "signed IPSW" section and is now in the "Unsigned IPSW" section. I honestly hate the look of IOS 9 on the iPhone 4S and so do most of my clients. Is Apple stopping to sign iPhone 4S IOS 6 IPSW just temporarily or forever?

 

[808drums]

Hello,
I was going to flash an IOS 6.1.3 IPSW to a huge batch (like 500) iPhone 4S. As most of you know, Apple started signing IOS 6 IPSW for iPhone 4S to allow official downgrades in 2018. It failed to flash to all of them. So I went to the Ipsw.me website to download a new IPSW file, thinking the one I had was corrupted/ malfunctioning. The IOS 6.1.3 ipsw for iPhone 4S is no longer in the "signed IPSW" section and is now in the "Unsigned IPSW" section. I honestly hate the look of IOS 9 on the iPhone 4S and so do most of my clients. Is Apple stopping to sign iPhone 4S IOS 6 IPSW just temporarily or forever?

View attachment 878690 View attachment 878686

Apple closed the signing window for any iOS past 9.3.6 for devices launched before 2012... due to a GPS/Time zone bug.

 

[Minneapolis208]

That's strange, because I have several IOS 5 & 6 iPhone 4S in my house, and the GPS and time zone works perfectly fine on all of them.
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Also, It looks like Apple is still signing IOS 9.3.5 for the iPhone 4S. They really got to stop doing this kind of stuff. We, as customers, should be able to downgrade our iPhones to any version we want.

 

[Shirasaki]

It’s 2019 and customer carries no value, especially for companies like Apple.
Security updates or whatever is not that important to most people I’d argue, and running an older version of OS is perfectly fine.

 

[Minneapolis208]

I guess that we can only hope that they start to sign IOS 6 again someday. Perhaps with a lot of outburst from customers, they will.

 

[now i see it]

I use iOS 9 on a daily basis and it has reached the end of its usefulness as a daily driver because of Safari. Soooo many websites now don't render properly and shopping carts don't work using iOS 9.3.5 Safari. It used to be bad but now the situation is really bad.
Yeah, the phone still works and messages & stuff but a lot of apps don't and new apps never will.
iOS 9 Safari won't even work on Apple's website anymore and you can't even access the store.

So if iOS 9 is close to death, I can't see any value at all running a device on iOS 6.

(Yes iOS 9 on a iPhone 4S is dreadfully slow. I've got one. It pretty much ruined that phone)

 

[Elitegate]

Hello,
I was going to flash an IOS 6.1.3 IPSW to a huge batch (like 500) iPhone 4S. As most of you know, Apple started signing IOS 6 IPSW for iPhone 4S to allow official downgrades in 2018. It failed to flash to all of them. So I went to the Ipsw.me website to download a new IPSW file, thinking the one I had was corrupted/ malfunctioning. The IOS 6.1.3 ipsw for iPhone 4S is no longer in the "signed IPSW" section and is now in the "Unsigned IPSW" section. I honestly hate the look of IOS 9 on the iPhone 4S and so do most of my clients. Is Apple stopping to sign iPhone 4S IOS 6 IPSW just temporarily or forever?

View attachment 878690 View attachment 878686

Hello,
I was going to flash an IOS 6.1.3 IPSW to a huge batch (like 500) iPhone 4S. As most of you know, Apple started signing IOS 6 IPSW for iPhone 4S to allow official downgrades in 2018. It failed to flash to all of them. So I went to the Ipsw.me website to download a new IPSW file, thinking the one I had was corrupted/ malfunctioning. The IOS 6.1.3 ipsw for iPhone 4S is no longer in the "signed IPSW" section and is now in the "Unsigned IPSW" section. I honestly hate the look of IOS 9 on the iPhone 4S and so do most of my clients. Is Apple stopping to sign iPhone 4S IOS 6 IPSW just temporarily or forever?

View attachment 878690 View attachment 878686

iOS 6 is arguably better for the 4s, because iOS 9 is horribly slow on the 4s, but still, iOS 9 provides more support, on iOS 6 there is almost no support now. Good Luck finding more than 3 third-party apps in the App Store that work on your iOS 6 device. I know the pain, i have an iPhone 5 on 6.1.4.

But yes, it's probably forever unsigned now, Apple unsigned 6.1.3 for both the 4s and the iPad 2 weeks ago. I don't know why they were still signed for so long. I'll highly doubt that 6.1.3 will be ever signed again, not even for a day.

Note that you can also jailbreak your iPhone 4s on 9.3.5/9.3.6 and install the CoolBooter tweak, which enables you to dual boot between iOS 9 and any other existing firmware for the 4s. I use this to go back to 6.1.4 on my 5, i wish that Apple would just give us the option to downgrade an iOS version if we really want to.

 

[Freakonomics101]

This is a shame because all devices that stopped at iOS 9 were given a rotten Apple due to iOS 9 killing performance. Having iOS 6 as an option was a great option. Shoot, even iOS 7 would be acceptable.

 

[retta283]

I guess my 4S on iOS 6 is now worth something again. Bummer, I was gonna get a black one and downgrade it. Too late unless I use jailbreak.

 

[eyoungren]

I use iOS 9 on a daily basis and it has reached the end of its usefulness as a daily driver because of Safari. Soooo many websites now don't render properly and shopping carts don't work using iOS 9.3.5 Safari. It used to be bad but now the situation is really bad.
Yeah, the phone still works and messages & stuff but a lot of apps don't and new apps never will.
iOS 9 Safari won't even work on Apple's website anymore and you can't even access the store.

Are you aware that other web browsers exist inside the App Store?

Browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Dolphin, Puffin, etc, etc?

I mean, okay, lots of people like, prefer and tend to just use Safari. But Safari is not the be all end all of iOS web browsers.

 

[Minneapolis208]

Are you aware that other web browsers exist inside the App Store?

Browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Dolphin, Puffin, etc, etc?

I mean, okay, lots of people like, prefer and tend to just use Safari. But Safari is not the be all end all of iOS web browsers.

Lol, Puffin browser for IOS is non existent anymore. Also, Dolphin and Opera Browsers are too slow and crappy. Google is spying on you too much with Chrome. The only decent browsers on the market right now are Safari, Firefox and Samsung Internet.

 

[eyoungren]

Lol, Puffin browser for IOS is non existent anymore. Also, Dolphin and Opera Browsers are too slow and crappy. Google is spying on you too much with Chrome. The only decent browsers on the market right now are Safari, Firefox and Samsung Internet.

My point is that there are other browsers and particularly ones that still work on iOS 9 and below.

Granted, Apple does not give third-party browsers access to the engine that Safari uses, but there are still good alternatives. Incidentally, jailbreaking can give you that engine access that Apple denies you.

In any case, use whatever suits you. Personally, I hate Safari on every OS it runs on. Usually I use it once - to download a different browser.

 

[Minneapolis208]

My point is that there are other browsers and particularly ones that still work on iOS 9 and below.

Granted, Apple does not give third-party browsers access to the engine that Safari uses, but there are still good alternatives. Incidentally, jailbreaking can give you that engine access that Apple denies you.

In any case, use whatever suits you. Personally, I hate Safari on every OS it runs on. Usually I use it once - to download a different browser.

OK, but still, what you just said is really off topic. This thread is about comparison of IOS Versions on the iPhone 4S, not about comparison of IOS web browsers.

 

[eyoungren]

OK, but still, what you just said is really off topic. This thread is about comparison of IOS Versions on the iPhone 4S, not about comparison of IOS web browsers.

Off-topic?

Reread the original post I quoted. It wasn't me that brought up Safari. Here's the original post I quoted. You may note that the person that brought it up does not have the same username as I do.

I use iOS 9 on a daily basis and it has reached the end of its usefulness as a daily driver because of Safari.

 

[Minneapolis208]

Off-topic?

Reread the original post I quoted. It wasn't me that brought up Safari. Here's the original post I quoted. You may note that the person that brought it up does not have the same username as I do.

OK, but please just stop banging my notifications with off-topic replies or I'll close this thread. Thank you.

 

[Burebista]

I downgraded my 4s to iOS 6 earlier this summer to see what it was like and play around. While it was fun, and definitely more smooth than iOS 9 I can’t say that the speed and fluidity were still anywhere near modern iOS standards, even on older devices like SE on iOS 13. And of course pretty much no apps worked, so it became useless as a smartphone.

So I voluntarily upgraded back to iOS 9. Yes, it stutters, but Music and Podcasts work so at least it can be useful as a stationary iPod. And all the other critical apps like maps, messengers etc still work fine, so it can serve as a functioning backup smartphone.

I couldn’t see any use cases for it on iOS 6 other than a dumb phone for calls.

 

[pika2000]

It’s 2019 and customer carries no value, especially for companies like Apple.
Security updates or whatever is not that important to most people I’d argue, and running an older version of OS is perfectly fine.

Huh? The fact that Apple pushed out a patch for a phone that is 8 years old tells you the customers carries no value for Apple? Care to share what phone you are using and which company that supports their phones better than Apple?
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Hello,
I was going to flash an IOS 6.1.3 IPSW to a huge batch (like 500) iPhone 4S. As most of you know, Apple started signing IOS 6 IPSW for iPhone 4S to allow official downgrades in 2018. It failed to flash to all of them. So I went to the Ipsw.me website to download a new IPSW file, thinking the one I had was corrupted/ malfunctioning. The IOS 6.1.3 ipsw for iPhone 4S is no longer in the "signed IPSW" section and is now in the "Unsigned IPSW" section. I honestly hate the look of IOS 9 on the iPhone 4S and so do most of my clients. Is Apple stopping to sign iPhone 4S IOS 6 IPSW just temporarily or forever?

View attachment 878690 View attachment 878686

It will be forever due to the GPS bug. You can probably still use your iPhone though. Just keep it on iOS 6 if you can, and be prepare to upgrade it to ios9 using a Mac/PC (no OTA) if you got hit by the bug.

 

[CooperBox]

Hi, 'iPhone newbie' here.
I have 2 phones, a 4 and a 4S that were recently gifted, functional but in bad condition. The 4 currently has iOS 7.1.2. and the 4S with 9.3.5.
Until last month I knew nothing about iPhones, but just as a personal challenge I've just completely reconditioned both. Both now superb with new screens and back covers and functioning perfectly. Last month I also downloaded 4,1_6.1.3_10B329_restore.ipsw
Is this restoration file still valid, i.e. will it still function to roll back to 6.1.3 on either; more to the point is it worth it? I have no plans to sell either.

 

[now i see it]

Are you aware that other web browsers exist inside the App Store

Definitely- and I've tried several, but there's a sneaky difference between trying different browsers on iOS and different ones on the Mac.

On iOS, every browser MUST use Apple's WebKit browser rendering engine so every browser renders a page exactly the same. They are all basically Safari with a different skin and interface. I thought it was strange that Chrome & Firefox etc rendered the same messed up pages exactly the same messed up way as Safari - and did some research to find out about the WebKit BS strong arming by Apple.
So don't fool yourself when using a different browser on iOS. They're all just variants of Safari.

 

[retta283]

Hi, 'iPhone newbie' here.
I have 2 phones, a 4 and a 4S that were recently gifted, functional but in bad condition. The 4 currently has iOS 7.1.2. and the 4S with 9.3.5.
Until last month I knew nothing about iPhones, but just as a personal challenge I've just completely reconditioned both. Both now superb with new screens and back covers and functioning perfectly. Last month I also downloaded 4,1_6.1.3_10B329_restore.ipsw
Is this restoration file still valid, i.e. will it still function to roll back to 6.1.3 on either; more to the point is it worth it? I have no plans to sell either.

The file is not blessed on download, it is signed when you do the restore in iTunes. You can try, but it probably won't work.
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OK, but please just stop banging my notifications with off-topic replies or I'll close this thread. Thank you.

The OP can close a thread? I thought mods had to do that...

 

[Shirasaki]

OK, but please just stop banging my notifications with off-topic replies or I'll close this thread. Thank you.

Just a heads up. Only mods with proper access can close a thread. However, feel free to “unwatch” this thread so that you wont receive any notification from it.

 

[Jack Neill]

When the window was still open I put my 4s on iOS 8. It will stay on that forever

 

[Shirasaki]

Huh? The fact that Apple pushed out a patch for a phone that is 8 years old tells you the customers carries no value for Apple? Care to share what phone you are using and which company that supports their phones better than Apple?

Yes, they release a software update for an iOS version that is 8 years old. However, what about designing an iOS WITH this GPS bug in mind? Or at the very least, patch the bug before iOS 9? A company truly care customers design a product with customer in mind, not providing band-aid solutions for a problem that could’ve been fixed a while ago. Look no further than butterfly keyboard scandal throughout 2016-2019 until the latest 16” MacBook Pro.

I am not saying Apple should not provide band-aid solutions. Bad things happen all the time. However, some of them could be avoided if some issues are not overlooked. Maybe just a thought when writing iOS, and bam, no more headache later on.

 

[Minneapolis208]

UPDATE: A lot of rage has been building up on the internet lately about IOS 6 no longer being signed. Hopefully Apple will regret this decision ?

 

[TechSteph]

Is this thread still active if so, allow me to say something...


I got my iPhone 4S as a gift for my birthday. When i switched it on, i was devastated and tried to find a solution to downgrade to ios 6.1.3 in hopes of making my sluggish iphone 4s faster. I downloaded an ipsw file and tried to restore it to 6.1. but no avail. I lost all my data and was very dissappointed. I decided not to do it ever and ever again. After a few months, i decided to try again once more as i was more familiar on the procedure to downgrade. But when i checked the ipsw website, i was COMPLETELY shocked. I sent a suggestion to Apple for Apple to start signing 6.1.3 again. I never heard back since.

Is there any other method to downgrade? PLEASE share me ur thoughts and ideas.