Today, I have some good news for you all. Hacker alitek123 has discovered a new re-restore bug that allows you to downgrade iOS 10 to unsigned iOS 9.x firmware. Let’s find out more about this bug.

Re-Restore Bug Allows iOS 10 Downgrade

Trevor Schmitt and alitek123 were about to release a 9.3.x downgrade tool. But after the discovery of this new bug, they are testing it extensively on other devices and firmware as well.

This is a huge find as 32-bit devices don’t have a jailbreak for iOS 10, 10.1.1 or 10.2.

The new tool will also allow you to downgrade iOS 10 to iOS 9. Here’s a tweet that confirms this.

Me and @alitek123 were able to successfully downgrade my iPhone5,1 from 10.2.1 to 9.3.4! w000t! pic.twitter.com/lXibXyFkqY

— ee_csw (@ee_csw) March 28, 2017

Here are a few of its uses –

• If you are on iOS 4, 5, 6,7 or 8, you can easily upgrade to a jailbreak-able iOS 9 firwmare.
• If you are on iOS 10, you can go back to iOS 9. You can then jailbreak it with Home Depot or Pangu jailbreak.

This tool is based on the same principle behind Prometheus downgrade utility by Tihmstar.

What are the Requirements of this Downgrade tool?

Currently, the exact requirements and details about this tool are not known.

However, this tool has one major requirement – correct SHSH blobs. If you have properly saved your blobs, you will be able to downgrade or upgrade to your destination firmware.

Only a few details were revealed by the developers for now. Some of the requirements are given below –

• A 32-bit iOS device running iOS 6,7,8,9 or 10.
• Destination firmware is iOS 9.x ONLY.
• SHSH blobs for the destination firmware.

Even the SHSH blobs needed must be of OTA type. Here’s a picture screenshot that confirms this.

Cant say for sure yet whether the type of blob influences the bug, but dumped or queried certainly doesn't. pic.twitter.com/701rPiPnWM

— Markus L (@DjSn0wfall) March 11, 2017

The hackers will soon release another tool for checking the validity of your saved SHSH blobs. If they are valid, you can then proceed to use this downgrade tool.

What Should I Do Now?

Here’s what you should do right now.

• Save your SHSH blobs for your destination firmware.
• If on iOS 9.3.5, do not update to iOS 10.
• Save SHSH blobs for iOS 9.3.5 as well, just in case. Due to the recent jailbreak breakthroughs by Fried Apple Team, Apple might release a firmware update for iOS 9 users to close the exploits.

If you are stuck on iOS 9.3.5, you have the following options –

• Stay on your current firmware and wait for Fried Apple Team’s untethered jailbreak.
• Downgrade your device to jailbreak-able iOS 9 firmware.

Since this tool is being tested, the release would be delayed by a few weeks. So hold tight for now!

In the end, it will be worth the wait for all those who are using iOS 10. You will be able to easily go back to the stable iOS 9 firmware.