How to Downgrade From iOS 11

Getty

Upgrading to iOS 11 has been detrimental to the batteries of some iPhones.

The good news is that it is possible to downgrade from iOS 11 to a previous version of iOS 10, but it’s not an easy or quick process.

There are a few things that you’ll need to know before you go through with downgrading to a previous iOS. The process requires deleting everything on your phone completely. You’ll lose your contacts, photos, apps and everything else that’s on your phone.

According to macworld, you can restore from a backup once you’re running iOS 10 again, but you won’t be able to access anything that you’ve used since iOS 11. If that backup happened while you had the most recent iOS installed on your phone, you’ll be forced to start from scratch or restore older data.

If you’re okay with all of that, you can continue with the process. It’ll take about 40 minutes, but it should save your battery life.

Here’s how to downgrade from iOS 11:

1. 1. On your computer, install the latest version of iTunes. In order to do that, go to iTunes > Account > Check for Available Downloads. 
2. 2. Download the iOS 10.3.3 IPSW file for your device to your desktop.
3. 3. Turn off Find My iPhone on your phone. To do so, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Find my iPhone and toggle that to “Off.”
4. 4. Connect your phone to your computer.
5. 5. Enter DFU mode by resetting your iPhone. If you have the iPhone 6, you’ll have to hold down the power and home buttons at the same time until you see a message on your computer telling you that your phone is in recovery mode. For newer models, hold down the volume down and home buttons and follow the same process.
6. 6. On Windows, hold down shift. If you have a Mac, hold down Option. Then, click “Restore iPhone” and select the file you downloaded earlier.
7. 7. Follow the instructions on screen to restore your phone to iOS 10.3.3.

Hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy your phone more now that it’ll be faster and your battery will last longer.