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Downgrade Original iPhone to iOS 1.0

AmazingHenry

AmazingHenry

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 6, 2015
1,285
534
Central Michigan
I've got an original iPhone/iPhone 2G, and I'd really like to downgrade it to iOS 1.0. I tried Google, and I found many guides on how to do this. Some are really easy, but some are long and complicated. What is the easiest way that actually works? I'd appreciate someone who has done the process to link me to some working instructions. Thanks so much!

P.S. I know that it's actually called "iPhone OS" or "OS X".
 
HFTaylor12 said:
I've got an original iPhone/iPhone 2G, and I'd really like to downgrade it to iOS 1.0. I tried Google, and I found many guides on how to do this. Some are really easy, but some are long and complicated. What is the easiest way that actually works? I'd appreciate someone who has done the process to link me to some working instructions. Thanks so much!

P.S. I know that it's actually called "iPhone OS" or "OS X".
Click to expand...
Might want to try over here… https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/jailbreaks-and-ios-hacks.105/

You're probably going to need to be jailbroken.
 
Applejuiced said:
It's a very long and complicated process. The lowest most were able to go is 1.1.4 and not 1.0
Click to expand...
I guess I was pretty lucky to get to 1.1.1, then. I've gotten it downgraded to 1.1.1 but I couldn't jailbreak it.
jr866gooner said:
You should post some pics of the device and screens. For nostalgic reasons of course!
Click to expand...
Once I get it downgraded, I sure will!
eyoungren said:
Might want to try over here… https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/jailbreaks-and-ios-hacks.105/

You're probably going to need to be jailbroken.
Click to expand...
I have a valid AT&T SIM card to activate it with.
 
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HFTaylor12 said:
I have a valid AT&T SIM card to activate it with.
Click to expand...
What I mean is that in order to do any downgrading you will probably have to jailbreak the phone first.

I don't think the SIM card of activation has anything to do with what you are trying to accomplish.

Jailbreaking is that act of using exploits to escalate priviledges. That allows you to do things you ordinarily would not be able to do.

However, I only came in to Apple and iOS with iOS 5 so I have no idea exactly what you need to do.

It seems however @Applejuiced does.
 
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HFTaylor12 said:
I guess I was pretty lucky to get to 1.1.1, then. I've gotten it downgraded to 1.1.1 but I couldn't jailbreak it.

Once I get it downgraded, I sure will!

I have a valid AT&T SIM card to activate it with.
Click to expand...

Wow, you got it that low.
That's pretty good.
Way too many hoops to jump to get it that low.
I would have went for 3.1.3
 
eyoungren said:
What I mean is that in order to do any downgrading you will probably have to jailbreak the phone first.

I don't think the SIM card of activation has anything to do with what you are trying to accomplish.

Jailbreaking is that act of using exploits to escalate priviledges. That allows you to do things you ordinarily would not be able to do.

However, I only came in to Apple and iOS with iOS 5 so I have no idea exactly what you need to do.

It seems however @Applejuiced does.
Click to expand...

I remember that first 74-step jailbreak. One misstep and it was back to square one. Jeesh.
 
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Gathomblipoob said:
I remember that first 74-step jailbreak. One misstep and it was back to square one. Jeesh.
Click to expand...
I read about it a couple years ago. Lots of software/hardware stuff going on. Back when bricking the phone was a real possibility - not this bootloop stuff people freak out over now.

Comparatively, I jailbroke iOS 5 on my 3GS three times before I spotted Cydia on my springboard. It jailbroke the first time but it was so quick and easy I didn't realize it WAS jailbroken until the third time around!
 
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I've managed to downgrade an original iPhone to 1.0.2. 1.0 didn't work for some reason, and 1.0.2 was similar, but with bug fixes.

To be honest, the roadblocks and frustrations it takes to complete the downgrade aren't worth the results. For one, you'll need a spare Windows XP computer to do it (not a VM if I can recall). In my case, the only XP computer I had was from 2001, so that was quite an adventure. Also, you'll need to be prepared to endure through intensive hours of troubleshooting and pulling your hair out. It's a really difficult process, and even if you follow all the instructions, there's still a good chance you'll fall into an error at some point.

And if you can make it through all those barriers and successfully downgrade, you'll quickly realize how limited iPhone OS 1.0 really is. You can't install any additional apps, and after playing around with the included apps (which are quite watered down compared to newer versions), there's a good chance you'll get bored due to what little you can really do. In essence, you're putting yourself through a lot of grief in order to cripple the functionality of your phone.

So unless you like the challenge, cannot live without that dose of nostalgia, or desire to showcase the iPhone like a museum artifact, I wouldn't recommend trying the downgrade. If you do fit one of those three reasons however, I used this YouTube guide to work through the process.
 
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I think I have the first iPod touch in a drawer somewhere which was basically the first phone.
That was back when they wanted to charge money for os updates.
Much better times now.
 
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I have original iPhone jailbroken - would be fun to downgrade it. I forget what the jailbreak is - but it has the Pineapple logo when the phone boots. Good times....
 
Ternary said:
I've managed to downgrade an original iPhone to 1.0.2. 1.0 didn't work for some reason, and 1.0.2 was similar, but with bug fixes.

To be honest, the roadblocks and frustrations it takes to complete the downgrade aren't worth the results. For one, you'll need a spare Windows XP computer to do it (not a VM if I can recall). In my case, the only XP computer I had was from 2001, so that was quite an adventure. Also, you'll need to be prepared to endure through intensive hours of troubleshooting and pulling your hair out. It's a really difficult process, and even if you follow all the instructions, there's still a good chance you'll fall into an error at some point.

And if you can make it through all those barriers and successfully downgrade, you'll quickly realize how limited iPhone OS 1.0 really is. You can't install any additional apps, and after playing around with the included apps (which are quite watered down compared to newer versions), there's a good chance you'll get bored due to what little you can really do. In essence, you're putting yourself through a lot of grief in order to cripple the functionality of your phone.

So unless you like the challenge, cannot live without that dose of nostalgia, or desire to showcase the iPhone like a museum artifact, I wouldn't recommend trying the downgrade. If you do fit one of those three reasons however, I used this YouTube guide to work through the process.
Click to expand...
Applejuiced said:
Wow, you got lots of time and patience:D
But pretty much what you said it's spot on.
It's not worth the aggravation.
Click to expand...
I do like a challenge, and I do still want to do the process on Monday. One question: The only computer I have that can natively boot Windows XP is an old Intel iMac. Would that work?
 
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HFTaylor12 said:
I've got an original iPhone/iPhone 2G, and I'd really like to downgrade it to iOS 1.0. I tried Google, and I found many guides on how to do this. Some are really easy, but some are long and complicated. What is the easiest way that actually works? I'd appreciate someone who has done the process to link me to some working instructions. Thanks so much!

P.S. I know that it's actually called "iPhone OS" or "OS X".
Click to expand...

You can't. The only tools available to achieve this task is called Pwnage Tool which only goes as far back as iPhone OS 1.1.3

Anything behind that is a no go.
 
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jav6454 said:
You can't. The only tools available to achieve this task is called Pwnage Tool which only goes as far back as iPhone OS 1.1.3

Anything behind that is a no go.
Click to expand...
There has been success with downgrading to 1.0 before. As said earlier, I managed to get to 1.1.1 using iTunes 7 on Windows XP.
 
jav6454 said:
No one has done it. Once you hit 1.1.1, there is no way down. The only way possible is if the software was already at 1.0.1 or 1.0.2

Not even through BootNeuter can you achieve this, and that's already pretty complex stuff on its own.
Click to expand...
It has been done. Try
. There are other videos as well. People have successfully downgraded. :D
 
HFTaylor12 said:
It has been done. [...] People have successfully downgraded. :D
Click to expand...

You need Zibri's ZiPhone, you need Dev Team's early BootNeuter and Pwnage versions, you need the iPhone OS bundles and even SSH know how. You even need the first unlocking software patch anySIM which is no longer even there in Cydia.

Many things that are no longer available. Specially given how old every thing is.
 
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