If your first impressions of the latest iOS 16 beta weren’t positive, you’re likely facing performance-related issues that are normal with early experimental software. The good news is that you can always roll back the iOS to the latest public version.
Before You Downgrade From the iOS 16 Beta to iOS 15
Downgrading the software on your iPhone is not as easy as upgrading it. You’ll need a few things before you can get started with the process:
You must have an old iPhone backup, created prior to your iOS 16 installation. This is crucial if you want all your data back, since you can’t restore iOS 16 backups to iOS 15. You need access to a computer. This can be a Mac or a Windows PC, but you must use iTunes if you’re on the latter. Also, make sure you have your iPhone’s charging cable ready since you need to establish a wired connection. You need an IPSW file, which is nothing but the iOS update file. To get this, head over to IPSW. me, select your iPhone model and click on the latest signed IPSW to download it. You need to temporarily turn off Find My iPhone, which will allow you to restore the device. Go to Settings > [Your Name] > Find My > Find My iPhone to disable this feature.
How to Downgrade From the iOS 16 Beta to iOS 15
Got everything prepared? Let’s check out the actual procedure then. The following steps are identical on both macOS and Windows, except you’ll be using iTunes on Windows:
Launch Finder on your Mac (or iTunes on Windows). Select your iPhone from the Finder sidebar. In iTunes, you have to click on the iPhone icon right below the menu bar. This should take you to the Summary section. Now, if you’re on Mac, press the Option key and click on Restore iPhone. On Windows, press the Shift key while doing the same. Yu will be prompted to select an update file. Find and select the IPSW file that you downloaded earlier. If you didn’t download it yet, go to IPSW. me and get it now. You’ll get a confirmation prompt informing you that your computer will erase your iPhone. Click on Restore to begin the process. At this point, all you need to do is wait for the restoration process to finish. This could take several minutes to complete.
Alternatively, you can put your iPhone in recovery mode and restore it to iOS 15 when you get the pop-up in Finder. This eliminates the need to download an IPSW file beforehand, but you’ll actively rely on your internet connection during the restoration process. With the IPSW method we recommend using instead, you don’t have to worry about bricking your iPhone if you get disconnected from the internet.
Restoring Your Data to iOS 15
Once your iPhone boots up, you’ll need to go through the initial setup process like it’s a new device. Your iPhone will not have any of your data, but you’ll have the option to restore from a previous iCloud backup during the setup. Of course, you can connect to a computer and restore your iPhone from a local backup too.
However, if the backup is an iOS 16 backup, you’ll get the message that your backup is incompatible with this version of iOS. If that’s the only backup you have, then you have no other choice but to use it as a new device and wait for iOS 16’s release to use an iOS 16 backup for restoration.
Downgrade iOS If Your iPhone Is Unstable on the Beta
If your iPhone is unstable after updating to iOS 16 and you’re facing too many problems, downgrading the software to the latest public version would be the best step to take. Of course, you can always install a newer beta build down the line if you want to see if Apple has addressed those issues yet.
Also, don’t forget that you can only downgrade to an iOS version signed by Apple, which is usually the latest public build.
