Don’t like iOS 10? It’s too late to downgrade

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Safari iOS 11
The iOS 9 era is over. For downgraders at least.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you’re not feeling iOS 10, it’s too late to downgrade, since Apple has stopped signing iOS 9.3.5 for compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch models — thereby bringing an end to users’ ability to revert to iOS 9.

iOS 9.3.5 was released in late August this year as the final update for iOS 9. Its most significant update was the fixing of a serious vulnerability which allowed devices to potentially be snooped on. Software created by Israeli company NSO Group took advantage of this hole to read text messages and emails, to record calls and steal contacts.

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Apple’s decision to stop signing iOS 9 is nothing out of the ordinary for the company, which typically does this several weeks after old software updates are superseded. Unlike Android — that typically has a large percentage of its users working with old versions of the operating system — Apple typically pushes users to upgrade as soon as possible to ensure a cohesive experience.

Just two weeks after being made publicly available, iOS 10 overtook iOS 9 with its install base: reaching 48.16 percent of all devices, while iOS 9’s share has dropped to 47.79 percent.

Most recently, Apple rolled out iOS 10.0.3 to address cellular connectivity issues with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The update is not available to download on older handsets, which were not affected by the bug.

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