You can no longer downgrade your iPhone to iOS 16.6.1. Following the release of iOS 17.0.3, Apple has stopped signing the last stable iOS 16 release for its iPhones.
So, if you did not like iOS 17 for some reason, there’s no way you can downgrade your iPhone to iOS 16 now.
Apple is no longer signing iOS 16 builds
Alongside iOS 16.6.1, Apple has stopped signing iOS 17 and iOS 17.0.1, making downgrades impossible. It is typical of the company to stop signing older iOS releases after a while to block downgrading. If your iPhone or iPad is on the latest iOS 16 build, this won’t affect you, and the device will continue to work normally. But once you install the latest iOS 17 build, you can’t return to iOS 16.
Apple had also released iOS 16.7, but only for iPhone X and iPhone 8, as these phones are not compatible with iOS 17.
iOS 17.0.3 contains an overheating fix for the new iPhones and several important security patches. So, there’s no reason to stick to an older iOS build on your iPhone.
Usually, people stick to an older iOS release in hopes of a jailbreak tool being available. But with Apple tightening the bolts around iOS security in recent years, interest in jailbreaking has declined. Another reason could be a performance or battery drain bug in the latest iOS build. However, Apple is nowadays quick to roll out updates to fix these problems.
iOS 17.1 is coming soon
Apple is already beta testing iOS 17.1, the next major iOS 17 release. The company has seeded two beta builds, packing many new features and changes. This includes NameDrop on Apple Watch, custom Mail and Messages tones, support for new game controllers, and more. You can find everything new in iOS 17.1 beta here.
The stable iOS 17.1 build should be released to the public in late October or early November.
