Apple just tightened up things with reports that the Cupertino company has now whittled down operating system downgrades to iOS 10.0.2. Mobile operating systems below that will no longer be signed meaning jailbreaking phones under previous iOS versions will no longer be supported.
The sudden move raises a lot of questions, particularly with the instability of iOS 10. As most know, the latest iOS version has debuted with lots of buys tied up to device performance and security issues. That includes the iPhone 7 audio call row as well as the weaker encryption singled out by Elcomsoft via iTunes, as mentioned in a previous post here on Yibada.
Curiously, iOS 10.0.2 was the version pegged to address the call audio issues but it is the recent iOS 10.0.3 version pegged to resolve the security concerns. It remains to be seen what further bugs and problems may crop up though of equal concern is the status of iOS 10 jailbreaks.
The last notable crack was for iOS 9.3.5. With Apple’s decision to whittle down the iOS signings, folks still under iOS 9 may opt to hold off upgrading to iOS 10 for different reasons. One is to keep the doors open for potential iOS jailbreaks and the other is more on the compatibility issues that iOS 10 has so far become notorious for, Apple Insider reported.
Moving forward, the number of people who have devices running on iOS 10.0.1 and below is unknown though it would not be surprising to find some delaying their device updates with the recent issues iOS 10 has been racking in. Though iOS 10.0.3 is rolling out, many will be thinking twice before applying since it technically means that there is no turning back to previous OS versions in case compatibility and other issues crop up, WCCFTECH reported.
As far as jailbreaks are concerned, Pangu and individual hacker showed off their iOS 10 jailbreaks though nothing has been made public. Pangu is reportedly busy working on one while Todesco is not expected to roll out his claimed crack anytime soon.
For those who want to know more about how to downgrade their OS, the video below may be of some help.