How to downgrade iOS 7 beta back to iOS 6

Lots of people itch to try new iOS beta versions when they become available and iOS 7 has definitely attracted lots of people that were curious to try out the new features ahead of time. If you were one of those and didn't heed our warning about betas, you may find yourself frustrated with lots of bugs and annoyances.

Fortunately, there's a pretty easy way to get back onto iOS 6 without too much fuss. If you're regretting the decision to install iOS 7 beta, follow along and we'll help you get back to iOS 6.

Update: Are you on the official version of iOS 7?

As of writing this, Apple has released the official version of iOS 7 to the public and has stopped signing iOS 6 altogether. Which means as of now, you can not downgrade to iOS 6 from iOS 7 any longer.

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We are receiving tons of messages from users still trying to downgrade. You will get an error message saying you are not eligible for the selected build. These directions were for users trying to downgrade from a beta version of iOS 7 before it was released to the public. If you're running the public version, these instructions will no longer work.

You've been warned.

Before you begin

Please keep in mind that if you downgrade back to iOS 6, you'll only be able to go to the most current version, which is 6.1.4 for iPhone 5 users and 6.1.3 for iPhone 4S and below. When it comes to iCloud backups, you won't be able to use an iOS 7 backup on an iOS 6 device, so be aware that you're going to lose any information you may have in those backups.

You also won't be able to recover any jailbreak with saved blobs. If you're still wanting to downgrade after understanding all this, continue on...

How to downgrade from iOS 7 beta to iOS 6

  1. First download the most recent firmware file for your device from our downloads section. Save it somewhere easy to access such as your desktop.
  2. Launch iTunes on your Mac or PC.
  3. Now you'll need to plug in your device and put it in DFU mode, NOT recovery mode. If you don't know how to do this, you can click here for directions. Once it's in DFU, return to this guide to complete the downgrade. Make sure the screen is black and does not say connect to iTunes. This is recovery mode, not DFU. Try again until you successfully achieve DFU mode and have a black screen before continuing.
  4. Once you're device is in DFU mode, you'll see a message pop up from iTunes saying the device can't be used until it's restored. Just click Ok.
  5. Now hold down the alt/option key (Shift for PC users) on your keyboard and click on Restore iPhone in iTunes.
  6. Navigate to the firmware file for iOS 6 that you saved in the first step and click Open.

Now just let iTunes do its thing and if all goes according to plan, your device should eventually reboot and be downgraded to iOS 6 again.

If you've managed to successfully downgrade your device to iOS 6 again, let us know how it went in the comments!