AppleInsider › Forums › Mobile › iPhone › Apple says devices updated to iOS 5 beta can't be restored to earlier versions
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Apple says devices updated to iOS 5 beta can't be restored to earlier versions

post #1 of 30
6/6/11 at 4:11pm
Thread Starter 
In releasing several pieces of pre-release software -- iTunes 10.5, Apple TV 2 beta, Xcode 4.2 Preview and Lion Preview 4 -- to its developer community, Apple on Monday warned testers of its new iOS 5.0 software that any devices updated to the beta cannot be reverted or downgraded to previous versions.

"Devices updated to iOS 5 beta can not be restored to earlier versions of iOS," the Cupertino-based company reported wrote in an advisory to developers. "Devices will be able to upgrade to future beta releases and the final iOS 5 software."

The warning appears to indicate that developers opting to experiment and test their applications using iOS 5.0 on one of the company's iOS devices will be best advised make sure they install the software on a device solely dedicated to development purposes.

According to people familiar with the software, the note to developers accompanied the release of several pieces of pre-release software tied to iOS 5.0, including Xcode 4.2 Developer Preview (build 4C104 for Snow Leopard and 4D5031b for Lion), iTunes 5.0 beta (for activating iOS 5.0 on development devices), Apple TV Software beta (for mirroring content from an iPad 2 to an Apple TV over AirPlay), and iOS 5.0 itself (build 9A5220p).



Separately on Monday, Apple also equipped developers with Safari 5.1 Developer Preview and Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 4 (build 11A480b), the latter of which contains about a half dozen known issues each for Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Lion Server.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 30
6/6/11 at 4:18pm
Apple always publishes the warning that devices CANNOT be rolled back to previous versions of iOS, this is nothing new.

Of course, with previous betas you were able to get the devices to roll back, one way or another.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 30
6/6/11 at 4:20pm
Challenge accepted, Apple.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #4 of 30
6/6/11 at 4:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by irnchriz View Post

Apple always publishes the warning that devices CANNOT be rolled back to previous versions of iOS, this is nothing new.

Of course, with previous betas you were able to get the devices to roll back, one way or another.

While it's usually possible to roll back the firmware, I've never been able to rollback the baseband, which can lead to issues with WiFi and cellular radios. As such, I can't stress this enough, if you want to play around with an iOS 5 beta, GET A SEPARATE DEVICE!
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 30
6/6/11 at 4:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dagamer34 View Post

While it's usually possible to roll back the firmware, I've never been able to rollback the baseband, which can lead to issues with WiFi and cellular radios. As such, I can't stress this enough, if you want to play around with an iOS 5 beta, GET A SEPARATE DEVICE!

Although the baseband can't be rolled back this has never presented any issues for me on the 3G, 3GS or iphone 4. The only thing it would stop you doing is Jailbreaking. Of course, I would not recommend running the beta on your main device and dagamer's advice stands.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 30
6/6/11 at 4:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dagamer34 View Post

While it's usually possible to roll back the firmware, I've never been able to rollback the baseband, which can lead to issues with WiFi and cellular radios. As such, I can't stress this enough, if you want to play around with an iOS 5 beta, GET A SEPARATE DEVICE!

Just rolling back the firmware is a little bit of a task, but I don't see too many problems for the people who want to play with it now.
But I say this as I'm currently downloading it Worse comes to worse though, I have another device to go to if all else fails. So what Dag said.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 30
6/6/11 at 4:46pm
This is not new at all. This has been there since I think iOS 3.0 Beta 1
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 30
6/6/11 at 5:09pm
iTunes 10.5 or 10.3? I thought it was 10.3.

And this only seems to be available to US customers. Going to apple.ca (for Canada) doesn't display any mention of iTunes 10.3, as apple.com does. Attempting to download gives 10.2.2.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 30
6/6/11 at 5:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post

iTunes 10.5 or 10.3? I thought it was 10.3.

And this only seems to be available to US customers. Going to apple.ca (for Canada) doesn't display any mention of iTunes 10.3, as apple.com does. Attempting to download gives 10.2.2.

I'm in Indiana, and the link to 10.3 still routes to the 10.2.2 file. I'd imagine it will probably be late tonight or tomorrow before 10.3 actually gets put up.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 30
6/6/11 at 5:38pm
Is Lion Dev Preview 4 available via software update?
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 30
6/6/11 at 6:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hittrj01 View Post

I'm in Indiana, and the link to 10.3 still routes to the 10.2.2 file. I'd imagine it will probably be late tonight or tomorrow before 10.3 actually gets put up.

im also in Indiana, just north of Indy, and I am also not able to get 10.3 mac or Windows.
You can't quantify how much I don't care -- Bob Kevoian of the Bob and Tom Show.
Reply
You can't quantify how much I don't care -- Bob Kevoian of the Bob and Tom Show.
Reply
post #12 of 30
6/6/11 at 6:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoogH View Post

Is Lion Dev Preview 4 available via software update?

i think they said it is going to devs in the app store so I ould just log into the app store as your paid dev account.
You can't quantify how much I don't care -- Bob Kevoian of the Bob and Tom Show.
Reply
You can't quantify how much I don't care -- Bob Kevoian of the Bob and Tom Show.
Reply
post #13 of 30
6/6/11 at 7:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post

iTunes 10.5 or 10.3? I thought it was 10.3.

And this only seems to be available to US customers. Going to apple.ca (for Canada) doesn't display any mention of iTunes 10.3, as apple.com does. Attempting to download gives 10.2.2.

10.3 for everyone. 10.5 for developers.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #14 of 30
6/6/11 at 10:55pm
Whatever happened to XCode 4.1? It got up to Preview 5 corresponding to Lion DP3 and now Lion DP4 jumps straight to XCode 4.2 without XCode 4.1 ever being released.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 30
6/6/11 at 11:15pm
Hey all -
So, Ive downloaded the iOS 5 beta. (Im not a developer, just super eager to get these enhancements).

I get that I may not be able to roll back or restore to 4.3. Is my backup of text messages and other cache at risk in the event iOS 5 has problems?

Can I

O
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 30
6/6/11 at 11:28pm
People say it's going to be there. I'm still waiting for software update myself... but so far, no luck, probably have to get it from an account in mac App Store
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 30
6/7/11 at 1:43am
I just upgraded my iPad 2 to iOS 5 and I'm digging it. There are quite a few new and cool looking welcome/setup screens. Lots of new eye candy to be had.

I would NOT have done it if I still had my iPad 1 because of the jailbreak. It doesn't look like an iPad 2 JB is coming anytime soon, so this is worth it. My iPhone 4 will definitely not get the iOS 5 treatment but OS X Dev. Preview 4 will be on my shiny new MBP later on today. Woohoo.

Shot a bunch of pics and videos of the upgrade process, if anyone is interested.

(Mid-2012) 15.4" MacBook Pro w/ IPS Retina Display | Quad Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz / 3.6GHz Max. Turbo | 16GB DDR3-1600MHz RAM | 256GB Samsung 830 SSD-based NAND Flash ETA 9/5

Reply

(Mid-2012) 15.4" MacBook Pro w/ IPS Retina Display | Quad Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz / 3.6GHz Max. Turbo | 16GB DDR3-1600MHz RAM | 256GB Samsung 830 SSD-based NAND Flash ETA 9/5

Reply
post #18 of 30
6/7/11 at 5:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikereade View Post

Is my backup of text messages and other cache at risk in the event iOS 5 has problems?

Yes.

That's the price of doing something you're not supposed to do. Hope that iOS 5 is more stable than it should be as a beta.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #19 of 30
6/7/11 at 6:50am
Hi,
Would you be able to post or email me some of the videos and pics that you took. I want to upgrade my iPad2 with the new iOS 5 for now and Ill hold off on my iphone 4 until a future release.
thanks for your help

Jon

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunch View Post

I just upgraded my iPad 2 to iOS 5 and I'm digging it. There are quite a few new and cool looking welcome/setup screens. Lots of new eye candy to be had.

I would NOT have done it if I still had my iPad 1 because of the jailbreak. It doesn't look like an iPad 2 JB is coming anytime soon, so this is worth it. My iPhone 4 will definitely not get the iOS 5 treatment but OS X Dev. Preview 4 will be on my shiny new MBP later on today. Woohoo.

Shot a bunch of pics and videos of the upgrade process, if anyone is interested.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 30
6/7/11 at 6:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jra_46 View Post

Hi,
Would you be able to post or email me some of the videos and pics that you took. I want to upgrade my iPad2 with the new iOS 5 for now and Ill hold off on my iphone 4 until a future release.
thanks for your help

You're not a developer. Don't do it. You won't understand why it exists.

And, no, he can't post anything. If he's a legitimate developer, he's under NDA.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #21 of 30
6/7/11 at 8:26am
AirPlay mirroring is actually the interesting part of this one. For now it only mirrors the full display, but what if you could have separate content displayed on the TV than you have on the iPad? It would be nice to see your Keynote slide deck on your iPad, but have only the current slide showing on the TV, yes? Only a matter of time.

But the kicker for opening something like that to developers is that suddenly Apple TV + iOS could compete directly with console platforms in things like games (e.g. everyone's iOS device links to whichever one's driving the TV via Bonjour and becomes their game controller).

Boy, Apple loves shaking up markets.
Reply
Reply
post #22 of 30
6/7/11 at 8:46am
Finally 64 bit iTunes. Woo hoo.
Reply
Reply
post #23 of 30
6/7/11 at 9:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by minderbinder View Post

Finally 64 bit iTunes. Woo hoo.

I figured this was coming this year but I'm surprised they aren't marketing it iTunes X when they've done so with many other 64-bit rewrites.
Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
Reply
Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
Reply
post #24 of 30
6/7/11 at 9:51am
I upgraded my iPad2 (64GB 3G GSM) to the iOS5 beta, but it would not activate, either OTA or through iTunes, as I'm not a registered developer. It wouldn't show up at all in iTunes. It was only then that I found the warnings about being unable to downgrade. I couldn't get iTunes 10.5 beta to recognize it in restore mode either, so I was afraid I had bricked it.

I took it to the Apple store, and they WERE able to downgrade it to 4.3.3. All appears to be functioning normally after a restore from my 4.3.3 backup.
Reply
Reply
post #25 of 30
6/7/11 at 9:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CanadianBurger View Post

I upgraded my iPad2 (64GB 3G GSM) to the iOS5 beta, but it would not activate, either OTA or through iTunes, as I'm not a registered developer. It wouldn't show up at all in iTunes. It was only then that I found the warnings about being unable to downgrade. I couldn't get iTunes 10.5 beta to recognize it in restore mode either, so I was afraid I had bricked it.

I took it to the Apple store, and they WERE able to downgrade it to 4.3.3. All appears to be functioning normally after a restore from my 4.3.3 backup.

1) I care not that you circumvented their system to play with iOS 5.0 but I also have no symphony for the resulting issues. (Not that you were looking for sympathy)

2) If you install Xcode you will get more options than in iTunes for dealing with attached iDevices. Namely, you'll be able to see your UDID so you can register that device after you become a proper dev. (this is more for others that may have forgotten to add their device before upgrading)
Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
Reply
Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
Reply
post #26 of 30
6/7/11 at 10:15am
My point was that it IS possible go back to 4.3.3 after the 5.0 beta. (although the apple guy wouldn't tell me what he did, other than to warn me not to do it again...)
Reply
Reply
post #27 of 30
6/7/11 at 12:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CanadianBurger View Post

I upgraded my iPad2 (64GB 3G GSM) to the iOS5 beta, but it would not activate, either OTA or through iTunes, as I'm not a registered developer. It wouldn't show up at all in iTunes. It was only then that I found the warnings about being unable to downgrade. I couldn't get iTunes 10.5 beta to recognize it in restore mode either, so I was afraid I had bricked it.

I took it to the Apple store, and they WERE able to downgrade it to 4.3.3. All appears to be functioning normally after a restore from my 4.3.3 backup.

If Apple can restore your device there shouldn't be a reason for you not to be able to do that yourself. Which you can; shamelessly copied from edepot:

DFU Mode

You can force your device into a special "DFU" mode (Device Firmware Upgrade). In this mode, the iBoot is not running on your device. You need a USB cable connected to your iPhone for this mode to be activated.

Connect one end of the USB cable to your iPhone. Connect the other USB cable end to a computer. Turn off your iPhone (fully off, not just in sleep mode). Press and hold both Power and Home button for 8 seconds. The LCD screen should turn on with the Apple logo and then go blank again during that 8 seconds. Keep holding both down for 2 more seconds and then release Power button only, but keep holding down Home button for about 10 more seconds. Your iPhone is now in DFU mode with screen still blank. Note that if at any time during this process you see an Apple logo on the screen (besides the initial one in the beginning), then you have done it wrong. You can now use iTunes to flash new firmware without iBoot running. To confirm you are in DFU mode, you can disconnect the cable and try to power on the iPhone normally (it should be unresponsive).

To exit DFU mode without re-flashing, disconnect the cable and hold both Power and Home button for 10 seconds. Turn on your device again, and it should be back to normal.

Cheers,
Phil
I wish Google was drowning, so I could describe the water for them.
Reply
I wish Google was drowning, so I could describe the water for them.
Reply
post #28 of 30
6/8/11 at 6:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CanadianBurger View Post

I upgraded my iPad2 (64GB 3G GSM) to the iOS5 beta, but it would not activate, either OTA or through iTunes, as I'm not a registered developer. It wouldn't show up at all in iTunes. It was only then that I found the warnings about being unable to downgrade. I couldn't get iTunes 10.5 beta to recognize it in restore mode either, so I was afraid I had bricked it.

I took it to the Apple store, and they WERE able to downgrade it to 4.3.3. All appears to be functioning normally after a restore from my 4.3.3 backup.

Did you register your device in the Developer area?
Reply
Reply
post #29 of 30
6/8/11 at 6:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism View Post

I figured this was coming this year but I'm surprised they aren't marketing it iTunes X when they've done so with many other 64-bit rewrites.

Likely because iTunes is already on version ten...\

Quote:
Originally Posted by S8ER01Z View Post

Did you register your device in the Developer area?

And if you'd actually read his post, you'd see he isn't a developer at all.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #30 of 30
6/8/11 at 4:54pm
Here is how to downgrade from iOS 5 to whatever the current non beta version is.
The first half of the guide is how to put it in DFU mode, and the second half is dealing with the "This device is not eligible for the requested build" error that some people get.

You should hopefully only need to do the first half of the guide.


http://www.you-foo.com/iphone/unbrick.php

Hope that clears things up
you-foo.com
Reply
you-foo.com
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: iPhone
  • Apple says devices updated to iOS 5 beta can't be restored to earlier versions
AppleInsider › Forums › Mobile › iPhone › Apple says devices updated to iOS 5 beta can't be restored to earlier versions