How to Downgrade iOS 10 Beta to iOS 9.3.3

Are you running iOS 10 beta but have decided you’d like to downgrade and revert back to a stable iOS 9.3.3 release? That’s understandable since iOS 10 beta is sort of buggy, and it’s not intended for a prime time audience yet. We will show you exactly how to revert from iOS 10 beta back to iOS 9. The downgrading process is relatively simple, so if you have had finished testing iOS 10 beta or are just done with the bugs, you can quickly return back to iOS 9 on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

To get started, you’ll need a USB cable for the iPhone or iPad to connect to the computer, and the latest version of iTunes installed in Mac OS X or Windows. Aside from that, reverting back to iOS 9 is simply a matter of using the proper firmware ipsw file to downgrade from iOS 10 beta with.

Downgrade iOS 10 Beta Back to iOS 9.3.3

The downgrade from iOS 10 works by restoring a device to iOS 9.3.x. This will effectively erase the iPhone or iPad so you’ll want to be sure you have a backup made, otherwise you’ll lose your stuff.

1. Before doing anything else, back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (if you already have a pre-iOS 10 beta backup, you can restore from that too, either way be sure you have a backup)
2. Download the iOS 9.3.3 IPSW file from here for your iPhone or iPad and place it somewhere obvious, like the Desktop – the model must match the IPSW for the downgrade to work otherwise you will get an error in iTunes
3. Launch iTunes and then connect the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the computer with a USB cable
4. Choose the device within iTunes and go to the Summary page, then do the following:

• For Mac OS X: OPTION + click the “Restore iPhone” button
• For Windows: SHIFT + click the “Restore” button

To be perfectly clear, this will erase the device and downgrades from iOS 10 beta to iOS 9.3.x, it works like any other IPSW restore in that sense.

Once the downgrade has completed, you can restore from a backup made previously.

If you did not make a backup prior to downgrading (or updating to iOS 10 in the first place), you will lose all of your data on the iPhone or iPad. This is why it’s important to backup, and why it’s important to only run beta system software on a non-primary device that does not have important information or media on it.

Downgrading iOS 10 Unsuccessful? Try Downgrading in Recovery Mode

Some users report the typical downgrade process to uninstall iOS 10 and remove the beta is unsuccessful. This is likely due to a procedural issue, but regardless of causes, another option is to downgrade the iPhone or iPad in Recovery Mode, which removes iOS 10 with a Recovery Update and Restore process instead.

Back up before beginning, as always.

1. Connect the iOS device to downgrade to a computer and open iTunes
2. Force restart the device into Recovery Mode by pressing the Home and Sleep / Power button for about 15 seconds until you see the Apple logo – continue holding the buttons until you see iTunes notify of a device in recovery mode
3. Choose to “Update and Restore” from the Recovery Mode screen – this will erase the device and place a clean install of iOS 9.x onto the device, thereby uninstalling iOS 10 completely
4. When the Recovery Update and Restore is complete, choose to restore from a backup, or setup the device as new

Any questions or comments? Let us know your experience downgrading iOS 10 beta in the comments below.