Apple servers briefly enabled signing of older iOS firmwares, allowing users to downgrade ...
Apple's servers started to sign older versions of iOS for a number of hours on Wednesday night, an issue that gave iPhone and iPad owners a brief opportunity to downgrade iOS to an earlier release, with some hardware found to be downgradable to iOS 6.
The servers were signing firmware versions for iOS from the latest version 11.2.2 update, released earlier this week, to as early as version 6, according to Reddit. The version available to users shown on tracker IPSW.me depended on the model of iPhone used, with newer devices able to revert as far back as the version of iOS available at its initial release.
By signing older versions, this allowed any user to take advantage of iTunes' firmware restore facility to use the earlier versions. This also made it easier for users wanting to jailbreak their devices, by allowing the iOS device to downgrade to a breakable version of the operating system.
The signed iOS bonanza took place for a number of hours before Apple's servers reverted back to their previous state, where only the more recent releases for each iPhone were signed and usable. It is highly likely that this was either a bug or a mistake performed by Apple employees, and was completely unintentional.
Apple has yet to comment on the event.
Shortly before the mass firmware signing took place, another post on Reddit noted that some iOS devices no longer had any signed firmware versions available. At one point, the first to third-generation iPads, iPad mini, third and fifth-generation iPod touch, and the iPhone 4S did not have a restorable version of iOS, after Apple's servers unsigned iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 5.1.1.
Apple has a policy of preventing older versions of iOS from being used on its mobile hardware, with legacy operating systems unsigned as newer firmware updates become available. Unsigning stops users from reinstalling legacy versions, forcing them onto newer releases that cannot be jailbroken, offer more security, and have the latest features available for Apple's hardware.
The servers were signing firmware versions for iOS from the latest version 11.2.2 update, released earlier this week, to as early as version 6, according to Reddit. The version available to users shown on tracker IPSW.me depended on the model of iPhone used, with newer devices able to revert as far back as the version of iOS available at its initial release.
By signing older versions, this allowed any user to take advantage of iTunes' firmware restore facility to use the earlier versions. This also made it easier for users wanting to jailbreak their devices, by allowing the iOS device to downgrade to a breakable version of the operating system.
The signed iOS bonanza took place for a number of hours before Apple's servers reverted back to their previous state, where only the more recent releases for each iPhone were signed and usable. It is highly likely that this was either a bug or a mistake performed by Apple employees, and was completely unintentional.
Apple has yet to comment on the event.
Shortly before the mass firmware signing took place, another post on Reddit noted that some iOS devices no longer had any signed firmware versions available. At one point, the first to third-generation iPads, iPad mini, third and fifth-generation iPod touch, and the iPhone 4S did not have a restorable version of iOS, after Apple's servers unsigned iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 5.1.1.
Apple has a policy of preventing older versions of iOS from being used on its mobile hardware, with legacy operating systems unsigned as newer firmware updates become available. Unsigning stops users from reinstalling legacy versions, forcing them onto newer releases that cannot be jailbroken, offer more security, and have the latest features available for Apple's hardware.
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Even if this was a goof up in an already bad year of goof ups, I'm given the veery slim hope that they're going to start allowing these all the time in response to the performance degradation complaints (not the battery ones). Only thing would be they'd have to at least security patch them.
Your argument is NOT really practical. There are plenty of people (we are talking about few hundred millions of people here) with more than 2 years old iPhones/iPads and they DO face significant performance issues EVERY year after upgrading to the LATEST and supposedly GREATEST version of iOS. Your solution to them is - Learn to live with it because it is secure OR replace it with a newer device (which is what you are more likely doing hence you probably never faced the slow-down issue). And you assume this is good enough for each and everyone owning an old iPhone/iPad. Apparently it is NOT enough of a solution for the people who are struggling with older devices. People who are reasonable about this issue asks for a different solution - Allow the people to downgrade to previous version of iOS which did NOT exhibit significant performance issues AND provide security updates alone to even older versions of iOS for 4 years.
You may argue it costs additional money for Apple to support older versions of iOS. But that is another short sighted view, purely from a shareholder point of view, with total disregard for end-users. If you are an Apple customer, you should demand the best for you as a customer. In this case, good performance for life time of the device (i.e. 4 years) AND security updates for 4 years. Maximizing Apple's profit SHOULD NOT be your objective as a customer.
My pattern had been I used to upgrade every 3 years on Applecare cycles - now running 2010/11 across the board still, incidentally since the current governance (since the passing of Jobs) moved to a shareholder (which I am) annual (rather than on merit) software upgrade cycle...
Does the boiling of the frogs continue...?
Single reason why this is no longer an option is jailbreaking. This was Apple solution to stop Jailbreaking, That is why jailbreaking is not a big thing anymore, without the ability to forward and backward on software people have been unwilling to jailbreak. Hacker can no longer guarantee they can hack the next version forcing people to stay on old version of IOS which limits what they can do. When Apple started this practice, the whole jailbreak community came to a halt.
There is no evidence to back that statement up, even time a new IOS come out we always hear complains their phone slowed down some how or battery life is killed. When people dig into it, the reality of the situation, the majority of people's perceptions are completely off. Battery issue are usually contributed to the fact most people spend more time playing with their phone after the upgrade to see what is new and how it works so the battery runs down quicker, when they go back to normal usage the battery life is exactly what it was. When people say their phone is slow most time they compare it to someone else's newer model on the same IOS version and they believe their 2 yr technology and slower processor should be as fast as the current day technology and processor.
No empirical data has been presented showing an IPhone of various vintages ran so fast on a previous iOS and ran slow on the new iOS. There has been some data to show the opposite, old phone doing better with the new iOS release because Apple cleaned up some code.
I will give you Apple has broken things on new releases and sometime no work around and you need to downgrade. My solution to this problem, wait, since my phone is critical to my daily work I do not upgrade immediately I wait to see what the impatient must have it now types uncover. Once everyone report it is stable and no real functional issues I upgrade. I personally have not move to iOS 11 and I am glad i waited due to some minor issues people reported.
My question is why would Apple take extreme measures to prevent it if a user decides they want to do so anyway? Sure, it should not be easy. IMO that's an issue on Android, it's relatively simple for a user to disable built-in security safeguards if they want to install software from outside the Play Store. They'll get warnings about it if disabling security features that prevent it, and the setting isn't obvious, but if they've actively made the choice and having been forewarned of the potential pitfalls they can do so. Even there Google will still offer scanning for malware no matter the source, and will still block a recognized malicious app from installing to begin with even if it didn't come from the Play Store.
Rooting, the Android equivalent of jail-breaking isn't nearly as simple or straightforward and not something very many Android users (relatively speaking) would ever attempt.I certainly would not attempt it. But if they're determined they can certainly do so. Why does Apple work so hard at blocking any and all jail-breaking, I believe at one time attempting to claim it was illegal to do so? Serious question. Not saying Apple is wrong for it, just curious about the reasoning.
https://www.futuremark.com/pressreleases/is-it-true-that-iphones-get-slower-over-time
But hey- don’t let annoying little things like THE FACTS get in the way of a rant/diatribe!
The first X.0 version has lots of new features, these features functioning correctly is of utmost importance and not optimised tight code. Each new version of the OS will have more bugs fixed and more optimisations, with the final iterations having mostly optimisations. This explains why X.2, X.3 are usually faster than X.0.
The priority number 1 is functioning correctly, only after things are working properly can optimisation take place, writing the best optimised code out of the gate is very rarely possible.
For example, I have seen a warehouse picking task where it involves using an RF terminal to scan a barcode, picking an item from a location, then repeating that procedure for each location on their assignment. But more than once people have done an override of the scan (which is intentionally quite time-consuming), wrote down the location and quantity for every item (usually a few hundred locations/items on the assignment), then take their manually generated paper list and pick the items. It takes longer, has a high error rate, yet it provides a small degree of freedom they apparently desire. Those people didn't last long due to poor productivity and poor error rates.
This also creates a mess for developers too so you have to look at that end of it as well. Why do you think Android apps are such a mess?