Downgrade iOS 5 GM To iOS 4.3.5 On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch (Guide)

by Jad George on October 5, 2011

Yesterday was a big day starting from the iPhone 4S to the recently released iOS 5 GM for developers. Since iOS 5 GM is installable by everyone, you may have updated to iOS 5 by now. In case you didn’t like the tethered jailbreak, found a few problems on your iOS device or discovered some apps that were not supported, that you desperately needed…  you’re in luck: you can downgrade iOS 5 to iOS 4.3.3, iOS 4.3.5 or older.

Before you downgrade, please remember you can only downgrade your iDevice firmware if, and only if, you have saved your SHSH blobs somewhere safely, hopefully with Saurik’s Cydia server, or locally on your machine.

From now on, I will assume you have saved your blobs on Saurik’s Cydia server.

STEP 1: To start with, you need to make sure you have a copy of iOS 4.3.5 or whatever firmware you need to downgrade for your device which you can find and download from here.

STEP 2: Next, you need to make sure your hosts file is pointing to Saurik’s server, and not Apple’s. If you haven’t done this then please check this guide.

Alternatively, use TinyUmbrella to make iTunes look at Cydia’s Server in the Advanced options.

STEP 3: Now plug in your iOS device, and switch it off, but leave it plugged in.

STEP 4: Put your device into DFU mode, our guide here.

STEP 5: Select your firmware manually to restore to. (Shift on Windows, and option on a Mac)

It says that it will talk to Apple when really, it is talking to the Cydia servers.

Screenshot of the Restore procedureHey presto! Your device should now have downgraded without a hitch…

But, should  your phone should now have an error, such as error 1015, DO NOT PANIC! This is normal and has a quick fix. Just download anduse Recboot to kick it out of recovery mode – check guide here.

In case you’re facing in problems, please let us know in the comments section below.

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Tagged as: Guides, iOS 5, News

  • Osaten

    awesome, but
    if you have installed the “ipad baseband” you should see the 1015 error, if u didn’t u theres no error you play a clean restor :)

    thanks

  • Adit2351

    Hey I dnt have the shsh saved hw can I do without that???help

  • http://twitter.com/tot_and_ham Jadon William George

    I have seen somewhere while trawling the web a method that does not need SHSH files…

    I am skeptical about this as it is a general rule of thumb that you need SHSH files to downgrade. I will research this and try and find out what i can. The only devices that can downgrade without SHSH files are iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch 2nd Gen or lower

  • http://www.avatarlounge.com/downgrade-ios-5-gm-to-4-3-5-%e2%80%93-4-3-3-on-iphone-ipad-ipod-touch.html Downgrade iOS 5 GM To 4.3.5 – 4.3.3 On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch … | blog, iphone, app, creative, games, programming, project, various

    [...] more: Downgrade iOS 5 GM To 4.3.5 – 4.3.3 On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch … Tagged as: device-or-discovered, discovered-some, few-problems, like-the-tethered, tethered, [...]

  • Sebastianwkey

    1015 error, when I get out of recovery it just reboots back into recovery

  • Sebastianwkey

    1015 error, when I get out of recovery it just reboots back into recovery

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= S Ninty Six B

    open tinyumbrella and start TSS running and open itunes and do the Custom restore,you won’t get any error s :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= S Ninty Six B

    open tinyumbrella and start TSS running and open itunes and do the Custom restore,you won’t get any error s :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= S Ninty Six B

    its ok ,just jailbreak it with redsn0w not other tools (limera1n,greenpois0n..etc) wait till redsn0w jailbreaks it and go to the recboot.exe or tinyumbrella click on “kick out of recovery” this helps ,,i just tried many times ,don’t worry that worked for me

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= S Ninty Six B

    its ok ,just jailbreak it with redsn0w not other tools (limera1n,greenpois0n..etc) wait till redsn0w jailbreaks it and go to the recboot.exe or tinyumbrella click on “kick out of recovery” this helps ,,i just tried many times ,don’t worry that worked for me

  • Amitahuja

    I’m sooo screwed, I’m on iOS 5, and I can’t put my device into dfu mode because everytime I put it in DFU iTunes shows the pop-up. When I press ok, it doesn’t go away… FML

  • Amitahuja

    I’m sooo screwed, I’m on iOS 5, and I can’t put my device into dfu mode because everytime I put it in DFU iTunes shows the pop-up. When I press ok, it doesn’t go away… FML

  • http://twitter.com/christian_craik Christian Craik

    Hey,

    I’ve tried the iOS 5 GM on my iPhone 4 but when I want to downgrade to 4.3.5, I always get an error “The device couldn’t be restored. There was an unknown error (1).” – I used Tiny Umbrella with saved SHSH from 4.3.5 and manually chose the 4.3.5 firmware from the menu… I also tried to wake the device from recovery mode via Tiny Umbrella but it reboots into recovery mode again afterwards… Hope you can help me because I want to get back to iOS 4.3.5 as certain Apps don’t work on iOS 5 and the graphics performance isn’t as good as with iOS 4 :/

    before I forget tech. details:
    * MacBook Pro (OS X Lion)
    * iTunes 10.5 Beta 9 (10.5b132)
    * iPhone 4 (GSM) 32GB with iOS 5 GM
    * saved SHSH from iOS 4.3.5

    Best regards,
    Christian

  • Oswald

    Hi, I am getting the following error when I try to downgrade from iOS 5 GM (jailbroken) to 4.3.3. Please help.

    The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (3194).

  • http://twitter.com/BryanG Bryan Gibson

    my iPhone is really douched…I managed to somehow downgrade from iOS 5 GM to iOS 4.3.5 (using redsnow) but now I can’t update back to iOS 5.  I keep getting errors about the server being busy and when I try to restore with tiny umbrella, I keep getting an error (1).  WTF?  This should be a lot easier…

    UPDATE: oddly enough, I managed to get updated to iOS 5 through the normal route. I suppose there actually was truth to the busy server message…

  • tomi

    I`m in the same boat :| hope somebody can help us :(

  • stickybeak

    Follow Step 2 above procedure.

  • Chris

    Hmmm. I’ve used Tinyumbrella to save my SHSHs, and I’m trying to downgrade my iPhone 3GS with iOS5 back to iOS 4.3.3, but after getting the phone ready for a restore, the phone shows the “connect to iTunes” logo, and iTunes gives an error (20).

  • loyd

    i am getting “this phone can’t be restored. error 20″ too, hope to get a solution…

  • Michael F.

    I have an error 1600. I have tried and tried and tried. I hope to find a solution soon.

  • Chris

    I was able to restore the phone to iOS5 with iTunes 10.5, so at least I’m back to a working state even if it’s not quite what I wanted….

  • विनोद सोबले

    I tried to restore my iPhone 3GS from IOS5-GM to 4.3.3 but all I get is ‘No Service’ in the top left corner & connect to iTunes on my phone. I also see ‘There is no SIM card installed in the iPhone you are attempting to activate’ error in iTunes (10.5)

    PLEASE , PLEASE , PLEASE Help me guys. Is my phone completely broken? I dont mind going back to IOS4.
    Somebody help me (Sobbing)

  • Htrinidadb

    I was on 4.3.5 unlock with baseband 6.15.00 i downgrade to 4.3.3 i used redsn0w to enter pwned dfu to accept custom ipsw then i used tiny umbrella i start tss server went to itunes right shift to restore custom ipsw 4.3.3 everything went good til the end went into revovery then i used tiny umbrella to kick out of recovery bam it works hope this helps guys

  • Htrinidadb

    Just follow js everything is correct just used redsn0w to enter pwned dfu follow the instructions u guys should be fine

  • Htrinidadb

    Sorry guys one more thing make sure in tiny umbrella in the advanced tab make sure everything is unchecked

  • Farr_steven

    You need to do a edit of your host files back to normal. Try taking the phone to another computer and upgrade that way it should fix it if you have any problems you can find me on facebook Stevens Iphone Repair

  • Farr_steven

    I have been able to downgrade Iphone 3gs to 4.1 weather or not it has had shsh saved you might look into trying that. If you have any questsion you can find me on facebook. Stevens iphone Service.

  • Bhavitpyarra

    i tried to restore but it doesn’t work …it says an unknown error occured 3134…and it could not be restored

  • dude01

    error (1013) recovery loop, Recboot doesn’t work! I’m stuck at the ‘plug-in to itunes’ picture, HELP!

  • Dhaval M Mistry

    I purchased phone from my friend and I dont have SHSH of iOS 4.3.3. My iphone 4 has iOS 5 (4.11.08 baseband ). How can I downgrade my iphone 4?

  • Sticks191

    i have the same problem, IOS 5 GM with 4.11.08 baseband. no saved shsh or whatever that means. let me know if you found a solution.

  • Spam

    iTunes 10.5 / TinyUmbrella / Trying to downgrade from iOS 5 to a freshly downloaded 4.3.3 ispw. Closest I can get is Error 1600. I do not have my saved SHSH files. I’ve triple checked my host file; tried every combination of checkboxes in TinyUmbrella’s Advanced tab; flush cache repeatedly; rebooted; relaunched apps.

    I do not believe that TinyUmbrella is successfully tricking Apple servers to verify the SHSH.

  • Nike123dj

    IM having error 1 and its getting annoying any fix?

  • Tenzinpalden

    Does it work with iphone 4 ios 5 downgrade to 4.3.3 ??? Does anybody has clue how to downgrade ios 5 to 4.3.3 or later.??? thank you and help will really be appreciated.

    tenzin

  • Nike123dj

    now i got to emergency call screen, where at the top it says searching where itunes would activate it
    but itunes does not it says “we are sorry we are unable to continue with your activation at this time.”

  • VishKi

    Hello,

    I want to downgrade my iPod 3g from iOS5 to 4.3.3, but i didn’t backup the SHSH Blobs from the 4.3.3 version. Is it still ok if i downgrade my to 4.3.3?

    Cheers,
    Vish

  • Vgonzalo

    I have tried to downgrade from iOS 5 to iOS 4.3.5 on a factory unlocked iPhone 3GS but i always get stuck in recovery mode. When i use fixrecovery43 or fix recovery i get just a blank screen (after the green poison doing its thing)

  • RammTodds

    I keep getting itunes error 2005, i have unplugged replugged into different ports, restarting between each.

  • Nobody

    Tinyumbrella unloaded a ton of spyware and trojans on to my computer.. wtf

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= Rahul Ira

    error 3194

  • boo hoo guy

    is it ok if my 4.3.3 is not saved shsh?

  • boo hoo guy

    and i want to downgrade ios 5

  • Anonymous

    I also keep getting error 2005 Is there any fix for that?

  • CC

    Hi
    Is it possible to to downgrade my iPod Touch 4G from iOS5 to 4.3.5 (or basically anything that isn’t 5) but i didn’t backup any SHSH Blobs? I use Windows and my device has never been jailbroken before.

  • Lml

    No But by using ishshit witch is in Cydia it might work?

  • Nade-lou

    I keep getting error 3194. Trying to downgrade from 5.0gm to 4.2.1

  • Hans Accus

    well….the downgrade worked from ios5 baseband 4.11.08 to ios4.3.5, but the baseband does not change still 4.11.08

  • Crco8900

    I believe this does not work with itunes 10.5

  • Djanimelord

    uninstal bonjour apple device support apple software update and itunes and then reinstall itunes and maybe even a reboot that fixed it for me

  • Djanimelord

    to fix error 1600 u have to go into pwned dfu mode.

  • Djanimelord

    try fixrecovery and tinyumbrellas fixrecovery feature. try and use ireb to fix it by going to the 2nd tab on the program (iReb)

  • Matthewericneff

    When I open the hosts file, I copy the 74.208.10.249 and it stays open, do I need to save it and close it? Because it doesn’t let me. The iphone gets about 3 quarters through the restore process then fails and says. “The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred. (1). I’m running iTunes 10.5, on 10.6.8. What am I doing wrong?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1336620131 Mike Biondi

    Mine begins to downgrade, the progress bar almost completes then I get an error “for an unknown reason your phone cannot be restored” and it goes into recovery mode. I get it out of recovery mode easily using “fix recovery”, I then put it back into DFU mode and try it all over again, it will not work, tried so many times, it just keeps doing the same thing. I get so far but last second it shits out on me. I really hate Apple for not allowing users to choose what they’d like their phone to run, it’s their way or nothing. Any help in the would be very much appreciated!

  • Matt S.

    I get error 3194 even after upgrading to iTunes 10.5, any ideas?

  • jpc

    Yep – I get the same error as Mike Biondi describes below with “The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred. (1). I’m trying to downgrade iOS 5 to 4.3.3 – even using iTunes 10.4 – as thought it might be an issue with 10.5 – no luck. Not sure I was really able to downgrade iTunes as I’m simply using a backup version of the iTunes application I recovered from TimeMachine. The error occurs during the “restoring firmware” phase of the restore. After I kick it out of Recovery mode using RedSn0w I’m only able to dial emergency numbers. However I have tried this a number of times. I’m able to Jailbreak the phone, but although the iOS is 4.3.3. the base band is still 04.11.08.

  • SLT

    Hello, when I try to do the following downgrade, such error occurs – “This device isn’t eligible for the requested build” What may be the steps to overcome this problem, since iOS 5 doesn’t work properly on my iPod. :|

  • Bilalh88

    does this work with itunes 10.5?i have the shsh blobs for firmware 4.2.1 4.3.3 and 4.3.5 please help me out when i try to downgrade it gives me an unknown error saying iphone cannot be retored when it is in the restoring firmware phase

  • Saqlainsaleem

    u r right. i have tried so many times but no use in 10.5

  • Katunadzer

    no, you have to have you shs blobs saved, thats the part taht makes it suck! :(

  • Amzi7067

    iphone 4g error 1 while downgrading from ios5 gm to 4.3.5
    please help

  • http://www.facebook.com/YokOshintO Mike Lunge

    not true, apple sign both 4.3.5 and ios 5GM simultaneously for a while, its when they stop signing the older firmware that you have issues

  • http://www.facebook.com/YokOshintO Mike Lunge

    for all those having errors when you’re trying to restore, as stupid as it sounds…try a different usb port. If that doesn’t work, try reverting back without tiny umbrella but make sure your host file isn’t blocking apple servers. (tiny will edit your host file if you’ve used it before)(

    failing that try with tiny umbrella but put a untick the box that says something like “for clean install untick this”

  • Claydees

    same here.

  • Pich

    yeah

  • Unknownly

    Error 1 likewise

  • Lolz550

    me to :s me because of baseband

  • sadman

    same here 5.0 to 4.3.5. error 1. iphone 4. itunes 10.5 :(

  • sadman

    OK, here’s the fix to error 1. You will need latest tinyumbrella and redsn0w 0.9.9b7 mac or win. It worked for me. Full kudos to delusion950 from ModMyI:

    1. Put your iPhone in DFU mode.

    2. Open TinyUmbrella, go to advanced and UNCHECK all except SET HOSTS ON CYDIA ON EXIT 3rd option.

    3. Dont close TU. DO NOT click anything else in TU !

    4. Next Open iTunes and iTunes will tell you that you’re in Recovery that it needs to restore. HOLD SHIFT find(browse) and select 4.3.5 STOCK firmware.

    5. Once iTunes restores your phone you will get an error 1(if you do get error 1, if not then look for your issues else where on modmyi)

    6. No panic yet ! Now open redsn0w 0.9.9b7, Go to EXTRA’s.

    7. Now Select Recovery Fix and follow the rest of the redsnow instructions meaning it will ask you to put your phone in DFU mode while you’re still in recovery. Hold POWER BUTTON and HOME BUTTON it will put you in DFU. Phone will do some cool things we’re used to seeing and it will boot up. You’ll need Simcard to activate the phone once it boots up.

    Now enjoy stock 4.3.5 !

  • sadman

    OK, here’s the fix to error 1. You will need latest tinyumbrella and redsn0w 0.9.9b7 mac or win. It worked for me. Full kudos to delusion950 from ModMyI:

    1. Put your iPhone in DFU mode.

    2. Open TinyUmbrella, go to advanced and UNCHECK all except SET HOSTS ON CYDIA ON EXIT 3rd option.

    3. Dont close TU. DO NOT click anything else in TU !

    4. Next Open iTunes and iTunes will tell you that you’re in Recovery that it needs to restore. HOLD SHIFT find(browse) and select 4.3.5 STOCK firmware.

    5. Once iTunes restores your phone you will get an error 1(if you do get error 1, if not then look for your issues else where on modmyi)

    6. No panic yet ! Now open redsn0w 0.9.9b7, Go to EXTRA’s.

    7. Now Select Recovery Fix and follow the rest of the redsnow instructions meaning it will ask you to put your phone in DFU mode while you’re still in recovery. Hold POWER BUTTON and HOME BUTTON it will put you in DFU. Phone will do some cool things we’re used to seeing and it will boot up. You’ll need Simcard to activate the phone once it boots up.

    Now enjoy stock 4.3.5 !

  • Omnom201

    I keep running into a recovery loop!

  • Kelvinthaballer

    I NEED HELP.
    I got an iPhone3gs running on 5.0GM firmware and 05.16.050-6.4_M3S2 baseband.
    I have a T-Mobile SIM Card ready, but I don’t know how to activate / jailbreak and unlock.

    I’m currently stuck on the activation screen, and I CAN’T go to DFU mode, for some reason.
    Everytime I power off, it disconnects itself from the computer, and then when I boot it back up it doesn’t go to DFU so I can’t redsn0w it or anything.

    I can go into recovery mode but when I try to restore to earlier firmwares it gives me error (1304)… what can I do… someone help please

  • Kelvinthaballer

    error 3104*

  • Shehan

    Did this work for anyone??? I’m trying and getting the same error. I bought a IOS05 upgraded iPhone 4 and trying to unlock it. Does anyone know how to?? I’ve been trying more that 8 hours doing different things. Please.

  • Gully

    can you please tell me what is shsh blobs? where it s and how to do ?

  • iKushal

    Im getting error 1

  • iKushal

    I mean error # 1

  • Victor Tipton

    After thinking I had bricked my 3GS and paying £15 to a phone shop to get it out of recovery mode i persevered and now have a downgraded jail broken 3GS on 4.3.3 previously on 5.0.1
    I used tiny umbrella to make sure i had my shsh saved then iTunes to restore to downloaded 4.3.3 ipsw then got error xxxx(but not error 1)i used red snow to get it out of recovery mode but it got stuck in emergency call mode. I used red snow again and again but after the 3rd time it worked!!

  • Crimson_clord

    if your getting error 1 then congratulations your one step closer to your goal!lol!
    step 1.redsnow 9.9b8 then go to extras and select ipsw(select your firmware,4.3.3 if your going to downgrade to 4..3.3)after you selected your firmware press recovey fix
    step 2.reconnect your usb then sync to itunes!!BIOLA!!YOUR BACK TO 4.3.3!

  • Crimson_clord

    download redsnow 9.9b8 first

  • Alialmhdi

    Thank you Sooooooooooooooooo much i spend 1 day and 12 hours until get this solution
    thanks it’s work for me

  • Sirgroh1

    Thank you sir it worked for me love you for this…….

  • VD

    I am trying to downgrade ios 5 to ios 4.3.5 on my apple iphone 4 with model firm ware 4.11.08 and am not able to as when i select the ipsw 4.3.5 file itunes throws the following message “The iphone “iphone” could not be restored because the firmware file is not compatible.”

    P.S. I have jailbroken the device without using a custom ipsw or preserving earlier basebands, can anyone please help as without changing the baseband i am not able to use the phone on any other netwrk outside US

  • Oscarllarell

    Im getting error 2005……please help!

  • Bass2barry

    It looks like many of us have the same problem here… will you guys let me know when you find a solution please? Thanks a lot.

  • Bass2barry

    I have the same problem… please let me know when you find a solution. I need a nw phone plan but I have to unlock my phone first… thanks

  • Francojuandaniel

    Does anybody know how to downgarde the ipad2 ive tried it and i almost lost every app!!!!

  • Kaka

    Okay, I have an iphone 4 ios 5.0.1 baseband 4.11.08, I have not saved the SHSH is possible I can get it unlocked or downgraid?

  • Zuleikaguti

    please i need help big time cannot restore to 4.3