How to downgrade iOS 7 to iOS 6.1.3

Downgrade

Apple makes it sound like a life or death scenario when developers decide to install iOS 7 beta on a test device. In fact, it’s always done so with its beta releases. In the notes for iOS 7, Apple states that “Devices updated to iOS beta can not be restored to earlier versions of iOS.”

The thing is, that simply isn’t true. I’ve always been able to successfully downgrade my firmware in the past for a beta test device, and I’ve confirmed that the process still works perfectly fine on iOS 7. In fact, it’s extremely easy to downgrade your firmware from iOS 7 to iOS 6.1.3; it doesn’t even require any special tricks or techniques like some downgrades do. Check inside as I walk you through the extremely simple step-by-step process for downgrading iOS 7 back to iOS 6.1.3.

Video walkthrough

To downgrade your firmware from iOS 7 beta to iOS 6.1.3, do the following:

Step 1: Download the iOS 6.1.3 (or 6.1.4 for the iPhone 5) to your desktop from our downloads page.

Step 2: connect your iOS device running iOS 7 beta to your computer.

Step 3: open iTunes, select your device, and option+click (shift+click in Windows) on the Restore button.

Step 4: point to the firmware you downloaded in step 1.

Step 5: watch as your device restores back to iOS 6.1.3 successfully.

Note: keep in mind that you may only downgrade to the latest publicly available firmware for iOS on an A5 device, even if you have SHSH blobs saved. For older devices like the iPhone 4, you may be able to downgrade to lesser firmware if you happen to have your SHSH blobs saved.

So there you have it, an extremely simple method for downgrading back to iOS 6.1.3. No tricks or special techniques required. What do you think? If you’re running iOS 7, would you consider downgrading back to iOS 6.1.3?