Apple unsigns iOS 18.0 following newer iOS 18.0.1 release, stopping downgrades

Apple on Thursday stopped signing iOS & iPadOS 18.0, a move by the Cupertino-based company that will prevent anyone who made the jump to iOS & iPadOS 18.0.1 firmware last week from being able to downgrade to the original iOS & iPadOS 18 release.

It’s certainly not the first time that Apple has unsigned an older firmware release; in fact, Apple does this often after releasing something newer. They do this to corral more people into installing the latest firmware, which helps prevent users from running outdated firmware that can: 1) have security vulnerabilities that put users’ data at risk; and 2) have security vulnerabilities that can make jailbreaking that firmware possible.

Importantly, this is the first time that Apple has stopped signing an iOS & iPadOS 18.0 firmware, which indicates that the company has no intention of letting up on its tight grip on what firmware users are allowed to install.

While the jailbreak community were once the largest group of people who ever downgraded the firmware on their iPhones or iPads when it was easy to do back in the day, it holds true that even non-jailbreakers sometimes partake in this practice. It’s most common when users run into bugs that affect their daily device usage after updating to newer firmware. In this case, downgrading remedies the problem until Apple fixes it.

While such horrendous bugs can be rare, that’s not to say they don’t happen. In fact, there are quite a few instances we can list by example:

• iPadOS 18.0 bricking M4 chip-equipped iPad Pros
• iOS 16.0 over-prompting users on clipboard access when pasting copied content into another app
• iOS 14.7 breaking the Apple Watch’s ability to be unlocked with the host iPhone’s Touch ID sensor
• iOS & iPadOS 13.2 imposing incredibly aggressive background management on backgrounded apps

At zambiatek, we think that users should have the right to install whatever firmware version they want on their iPhone or iPad, whether they’re into jailbreaking or not. Apple obviously disagrees, or they wouldn’t make firmware downgrades so tough. That said, the only way we think Apple will ever be forced to change their tune is if governments reign in on the brand as they have with other issues that users don’t appreciate.

In any case, if you’d like to see what firmware is or isn’t being signed for your device in particular, then you can use the helpful IPSW.me website to see exactly that. Moreover, you can download any firmware file you might necessitate from our dedicated Downloads page.

Are you upset to see that iOS & iPadOS 18.0 is no longer being signed by Apple? Let us know why or why not in the comments section down below.