Apple Stops Signing iOS 17.5, Downgrading No Longer an Option

Tuesday May 28, 2024 3:07 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today stopped signing iOS 17.5, preventing iPhone users from downgrading to that version of iOS. The update is no longer being signed after the May 20 release of iOS 17.5.1.

iOS 17
It is not unusual for Apple to stop signing an older version of iOS, and it typically happens a week or two after a new version of iOS comes out. When an update is no longer signed, it means it is no longer able to be installed on an iPhone per a server side software verification check.

Apple prevents users from installing older versions of iOS to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date with the latest security improvements.

iOS 17.5.1 addressed a corruption bug that could cause deleted photos to reappear on an iPhone. The update is now the only publicly released version of iOS available.

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• 32 comments

Top Rated Comments

lkrupp

29 months ago

I wanted to do the same, I figured they might un-sign it at any moment once they got back into the office from the long weekend so I installed it yesterday on a secondary device. Fortunately/unfortunately nothing seems to have happened so far.

Well then maybe you should believe Apple when they say the bug is extremely rare and affected a very small number of people. Why is it always Reddit that MacRumors gleans its reports from? I spend a lot of time on the Apple Support Communities forums and this issue was reported by maybe two or three users there. No big surge of outrage or hundreds of me-too posts like some issues, mostly crickets on this subject.

And then there’s the undisputed fact that the internet amplifies everything negative. All it takes is two or three people commiserating their similar issues to start the ball rolling, along with counting Google hits. Bingo, you have another -gate making the rounds.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

phenste

29 months ago

since nobody seems capable of saying it in a non-irritating way- good on Apple to stop signing this so quickly, the .1 update was more-than-necessary. glad they were able to provide a thorough explanation of what caused the bug and, most importantly, fix it in a relatively timely manner.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)