{"id":752593,"date":"2026-07-09T13:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752593\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:13:15","slug":"apple-stops-signing-ios-versions-for-several-older-iphones-and-ipads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752593\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple stops signing iOS versions for several older iPhones and iPads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t<img width=\"1344\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iphone-5c-colors.jpg\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"  decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Update: Apple has stopped signing additional devices since this article was first published. You can find the updated list below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">iPhone and iPad users hanging on to older devices will no longer be able to restore or downgrade to several older iOS versions starting today. Here are the details.<\/p>\n<p>Only older iPhones and iPads affected<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As spotted by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aaronp613\/status\/2074933700383367290\" rel=\"nofollow\">Aaron Perris<\/a> on X, Apple stopped signing over-the-air (OTA) and direct IPSW installs for several older iPads and iPhones:<\/p>\n<p lang=\"in\" dir=\"ltr\">Today, Apple has begun unsigning old iOS versions for legacy devices:<\/p>\n<p>iPhone 5c (GSM)\/(CDMA) (iPhone5,3)\/(iPhone5,4)<br \/>10.3.3\/10.3.4 IPSW<\/p>\n<p>iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular (iPad2,6)<br \/>8.4.1 OTA<br \/>9.3.5\/9.3.6 IPSW<\/p>\n<p>iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (CDMA) (iPad2,3)<br \/>6.1.3 OTA<br \/>8.4.1 OTA<br \/>9.3.5\/9.3.6 IPSW<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron (@aaronp613) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aaronp613\/status\/2074933700383367290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This means that starting today, Apple will no longer validate:<\/p>\n<p>IPSW installs of iOS 7.1.2 on the iPhone 4 (CDMA)<\/p>\n<p>OTA installs of iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 8.4.1, and IPSW installs of iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 on the iPhone 4S<\/p>\n<p>OTA installs of iOS 8.4.1, plus IPSW installs of iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 on the GSM and CDMA iPhone 5;<\/p>\n<p>IPSW installs of iOS 10.3.3 on the GSM and CDMA iPhone 5c;<\/p>\n<p>OTA installs of iOS 8.4.1, and IPSW installs of iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 on the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular;<\/p>\n<p>OTA installs of iOS 8.4.1, and IPSW installs of iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 on the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular MM;<\/p>\n<p>OTA installs of iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 8.4.1, and IPSW installs of iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 on the CDMA iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G;<\/p>\n<p>OTA installs of iOS 8.4.1, and IPSW installs of iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 on the iPad (4th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a reminder, Apple split iOS and iPadOS starting with iPadOS 13, which means that iPads running older system versions ran iOS. Interestingly, iOS 10.3.4 came out only for the iPhone 5, while the iPhone 5c topped out with iOS 10.3.3. So it is possible that the iPhone 5 is also affected by today\u2019s signing changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While it is more common for Apple to stop signing <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/2026\/07\/07\/apple-stops-signing-ios-26-5-1-after-critical-security-fix-release\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">more recent versions<\/a> of iOS and iPadOS, generally days after releasing important security fixes for newer releases, the company also occasionally stops signing older versions for legacy devices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, this move affects a relatively small percentage of its user base. However, it still closes off restore and install paths for users who keep legacy devices around for testing, app compatibility, or preservation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do you still own any of the affected devices? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n<p>Worth checking out on Amazon<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/9to5mac.com\" aria-label=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"google-preferred-source-badge-dark\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/google-preferred-source-badge-dark.png\" alt=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"google-preferred-source-badge-light\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/google-preferred-source-badge-light.png\" alt=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\">FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/about\/#affiliate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Update: Apple has stopped signing additional devices since this article was first published. You can find the updated&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-752593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}