How to reliably check Apple’s firmware signing window

IPSW.me

If you accidentally upgrade to iOS 8.1.1 or any other non-jailbreakable firmware in the future, it’s always a good idea to go out and check Apple’s signing window to see if you can downgrade your device to a previous firmware. For example, if I upgrade my device to iOS 8.1.1 today, or if I want to check out Apple’s iOS 8.2 beta, I know that I can do so and downgrade back to iOS 8.1 with no issue.

But remember, Apple’s signing windows are subject to relatively quick closure. It’s been four days since Apple released iOS 8.1.1, but the signing window for iOS 8.1 is still open, making it possible to downgrade now. That can, of course, change at any time. In fact, Apple could decide to close the signing window as you’re reading this post.

For that reason, its a good idea to downgrade now if you ever want to jailbreak iOS 8. But it’s also good to get familiar with how to check the signing window, and this handy website allows you to do just that.

IPSW.me is a website manned by @icj_ and @iNeal, and it’s updated every single minute of the day to provide you with the most accurate signing window status reports. You can even set up an IFTTT recipe to alert you when signing statuses have changed.

I use IPSW.me because it makes it super easy to quickly check the signing status of a particular firmware for a particular device. It also allows you to check the status of a particular firmware across all devices using a simple URL. For example, I can use http://ipsw.me/8.1 to check the signing status of all 8.1 firmwares.

IPSW 8.1

This is one of the sites that has become a go-to of sorts for me, and it’s particularly useful when jailbreak season rolls around. If you’ve got a device that’s running iOS 8.1.1 or the iOS 8.2 beta, as of the time of this post, it’s entirely possible to downgrade back to iOS 8.1 according to the signing status found on this site. It’s a great resource to use to double check the signing status of firmware before making any important decisions.

What tool do you use to keep up with Apple’s firmware signing windows? Do you care at all? Sound off down below in the comments.

[IPSW.me]