Downgrade iPhone Firmware 2.2 to 2.1

Firmware update 2.2 surprised a few people who accidentally updated their iPhone. If that happened to you, you now have 2 choices: either stay and 2.2 and wait for the Dev Team to come up with a jailbreak method for 2.2, or you can try to downgrade from 2.2 to 2.1.

I personally don’t have this issue. I haven’t updated to 2.2 but I figured that some of you guys may have, so I started looking for a solution to post here. The problem is there doesn’t seem to be a solution that works for one main reason: 2.2 updates your baseband and once your baseband is updated, you can’t downgrade it to 2.1 (not as yet anyway).

From what I read, only 2-3 people were actually able to get their iPhone back to 2.1 without issues but it is very unclear what they did exactly… Now let’s have a look at these different methods that supposedly show you how to downgrade from iPhone firmware 2.2 to 2.1.

Note that I haven’t tried this and I do not approve it. If you choose to try any of these methods, understand that you’re doing it at your own risks. If I were you, I would just wait for a new jailbreak method by the Dev Team.

I found the first method on MegaLeecher.net and here is how it goes:

For downgrading iPhone Firmware 2.2 to an earlier version you will need to downgrade the baseband and firmware, for this following software are needed:

1. ZiPhone patched by kIREmK (Pls. read this comment).
2. QuickPwn v 2.1.
3. Apple iTunes.
4. Firmware IPSW file : 2.1 firmware 3G or 2.1 firmware 2G.

Once you have got all the above softwares, follow the process below:

1. Use Ziphone to downgrade the baseband using the settings as shown below.

2. Now restore the firmware to an earlier version using the IPSW file via iTunes, if you receive errors during this procedure simply ignore and proceed further.

3. Now, use Quickpwn to unlock and jailbreak using the same firmware flash file used to restore in previous step.
4. Your iPhone should be jailborken and unlocked now.

Please read the comments on MegaLeecher and you’ll see for yourself that it is not a really safe way to downgrade…

Now the second method that I found on iPhoneHacks.com.

First you need to download iPhone firmware 2.1 (for 1st iPhone, use this download link and for iPhone 3G, use this download link).

You can then follow these steps to downgrade from iPhone firmware 2.2 to firmware 2.1:

• Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC select your iPhone from the list of devices in iTunes. If things had gone horribly wrong while hacking your iPhone and iTunes does not detect your iPhone then you will need to put it in DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode.

• • You can follow these steps to put your iPhone in DFU mode (this is required only if iTunes does not recognize your iPhone):
    • Connect your iPhone to your computer.
    • Turn iPhone off.
    • Hold power and home together for 10 seconds (exactly).
    • Release power but keep holding home until the computers beeps (observed on a PC) as a USB device is recognized.
    • A few seconds later iTunes should detect your iPhone.

• In the Summary Tab, Hold down Option and press the “Restore” button. If you are using Windows hold down Shift and press the Restore button. (This is an important step as just pressing the “Restore” button will result in restoring your iPhone with the latest firmware which is firmware 2.2 currently, by holding down Option in case of Mac or Shift in case of Windows, allows you choose the firmware file that you want to downgrade to.)

• You should be able to see all the older iPhone firmware files you had downloaded so far, select iPhone firmware 2.1 file (iPhone1,1_2.1_5F136_Restore.ipsw) to restore your iPhone or browse to the folder where you have downloaded it and select it.

• You might get the any of the following errors: 1011, 1013, 1015, you can ignore them. However, if you get errors such as: 1601, 1602, 1600 or anything else then try putting the iPhone into DFU mode and try again.

• Your iPhone should now be restored to iPhone firmware 2.1 (Settings -> General -> About). You can then jailbreak and unlock your 1st gen iPhone or jailbreak iPhone 3G.

Again, I highly suggest that you read the comments about this method…

If you have successfully downgraded your iPhone from 2.2 to 2.1, please let us know how you did that.