XR - 14.8 not possible?

Trying to get 2 Iphone XRs on 14.8. They are both on 14.3. Only option is for ios15. I thought apple was giving us the option, not forcing to ios15?? What am I missing here?

Download the 14.8 IPSW for your specific device and manually restore.
14.8 is still being signed by Apple, so no worries there.

Don’t wait too long on getting the IPSW file and doing the manual update though, ss they will likely stop signing it soon. I’m surprised they haven’t done so yet.

BTW, iOS 15 is fine on my iPhone XR. iPadOS 15, on the other hand, was horrible so I downgraded my iPad Air 2020 back to 14.8.

w5jck said:

iPadOS 15, on the other hand, was horrible so I downgraded my iPad Air 2020 back to 14.8.

^^ This -- 110%

I was so happy to be able to downgrade.

Don't wait - do it now.
You can always go up to iOS 15 later, but downgrading will likely be a limited time thing.

IPSW file will allow me to update without wiping phone? How does that work?

OnlyGerman said:

IPSW file will allow me to update without wiping phone? How does that work?

Will be a wipe and restore from backup

OnlyGerman said:

I thought apple was giving us the option, not forcing to ios15??

Not sure where you heard this, I haven't heard anything saying either way, but I really hope Apple makes it possible to downgrade past new release. This is getting so old, new busted software with removed or lesser functionality and we can't do anything about it other than hunt down non-updated devices. Even if they are just niches, it really makes these devices feel less like our own and more like on-lease equipment...

I think they are giving people on iOS 14 to not upgrade to iOS 15 -- but given the option to downgrade in perpetuity, I sort of doubt honestly

retta283 said:

Not sure where you heard this, I haven't heard anything saying either way, but I really hope Apple makes it possible to downgrade past new release. This is getting so old, new busted software with removed or lesser functionality and we can't do anything about it other than hunt down non-updated devices. Even if they are just niches, it really makes these devices feel less like our own and more like on-lease equipment...

They have promised that older phones which cannot update to 15 can update to 12.x and will be able to get security updates. But I haven’t heard anything about those who stay on 14.x. As long as 14.8 remains unsigned though, the OP can make a backup of his 14.3 installation, download 14.8 IPSW file to a Mac, connect the iPhone XR with 14.3 to the Mac and do a clean install of 14.8 onto it. Afterwards he can then use the 14.3 backup to repopulate the apps and data on the now iPhone XR 14.8. It sucks to have to do it that way, but not much we can do but to complain, not that Tim boy will ever listen…

turbineseaplane said:

Will be a wipe and restore from backup

This is incorrect. You can upgrade using an IPSW and keep your data without wiping and restoring. This is how I updated my devices to iOS 15 using the RC IPSWs, and it should work the same way going from 14.3 to 14.8.

In Finder/iTunes, you Option-Click (or Shift-Click if using Windows) on the 'Check for Update' button instead of the 'Restore' button. This allows you to select the IPSW to upgrade with. Always still a good idea to do an encrypted backup first, but it will not be needed to restore if the upgrade is successful.

retta283 said:

Not sure where you heard this, I haven't heard anything saying either way, but I really hope Apple makes it possible to downgrade past new release. This is getting so old, new busted software with removed or lesser functionality and we can't do anything about it other than hunt down non-updated devices. Even if they are just niches, it really makes these devices feel less like our own and more like on-lease equipment...

w5jck said:

They have promised that older phones which cannot update to 15 can update to 12.x and will be able to get security updates. But I haven’t heard anything about those who stay on 14.x. As long as 14.8 remains unsigned though, the OP can make a backup of his 14.3 installation, download 14.8 IPSW file to a Mac, connect the iPhone XR with 14.3 to the Mac and do a clean install of 14.8 onto it. Afterwards he can then use the 14.3 backup to repopulate the apps and data on the now iPhone XR 14.8. It sucks to have to do it that way, but not much we can do but to complain, not that Tim boy will ever listen…

See here: So Apple will be providing updates to iOS 14 for users who choose to stay on it. When it comes to whether they will continue to sign iOS 14 through computers (allowing downgrades) that isn't as clear. If Apple is truly dedicated to supporting iOS 14 then they should continue to sign it as there are people and use cases where someone would prefer to install updates through their computer (plus possible device restores if something goes wrong).

OnlyGerman said:

Trying to get 2 Iphone XRs on 14.8. They are both on 14.3. Only option is for ios15. I thought apple was giving us the option, not forcing to ios15?? What am I missing here?

What you've missed is that the ability to install multiple versions through the Settings app was added in a later version of iOS 14. If you were on 14.7 for example you would have a choice between 14.8 and 15.

BigBlur said:

This is incorrect. You can upgrade using an IPSW and keep your data without wiping and restoring. This is how I updated my devices to iOS 15 using the RC IPSWs, and it should work the same way going from 14.3 to 14.8.

In Finder/iTunes, you Option-Click (or Shift-Click if using Windows) on the 'Check for Update' button instead of the 'Restore' button. This allows you to select the IPSW to upgrade with. Always still a good idea to do an encrypted backup first, but it will not be needed to restore if the upgrade is successful.

This is helpful, I will give a try! Thank you!

BigBlur said:

This is incorrect. You can upgrade using an IPSW and keep your data without wiping and restoring. This is how I updated my devices to iOS 15 using the RC IPSWs, and it should work the same way going from 14.3 to 14.8.

My error - I was thinking of downgrading (which is what I had just done recently)

I would like to see iOS be on the same cadence as macOS and receive security updates and stay supported without having to go to the next version. if iPadOS is any indication of the future, my 3 iPads are staying on 14 forever.

Apple has just stopped signing iOS and iPadOS 14.8

So I just bought an iPhone 8, which arrived today from swappa and is running iOS 14.3. The only option is to update to 15.0.1, which I don’t want to do at this point. There is no option for 14.8. Yet Apple had said iOS 14 was going to remain an option for folks to stay on.
So…I guess I’m waiting for some iOS 14.8.1 to come out, so I can update the phone to that? I don’t get what it means for Apple to say they will continue to support iOS 14, but yet not allow devices on iOS 14 to update to the latest version of it.
Any thoughts?

Hopefully they will actually sign the IPSWs for the upcoming releases and not just make them OTAs, but I suspect they will keep them as OTAs forcing restores to take you to 15 or higher. I think this is an intentional move, very disappointing.

I guess supporting 14 was a lie. Glad I got the iPads to/back to 14.8 in time.

Apple said they would periodically release security updates for older iOS and iPadOS versions. I don't interpret that to mean they will continue to update pre-15 versions with bug fixes or new features. It is in Apple's interest to provide security updates on older versions, but they likely will never address general bug squashing or new features. They released a 12.x version for some devices which cannot upgrade to 15. That is likely all you will see for pre-15 versions, other than an occasional security update.

It sucks, to say the least, and at the very least they should have allowed those on 14.x more time to upgrade to the latest 14 level (14.8). Apple is still all about "here is what you get and be happy with it."

walt7788 said:

So I just bought an iPhone 8, which arrived today from swappa and is running iOS 14.3. The only option is to update to 15.0.1, which I don’t want to do at this point. There is no option for 14.8. Yet Apple had said iOS 14 was going to remain an option for folks to stay on.
So…I guess I’m waiting for some iOS 14.8.1 to come out, so I can update the phone to that? I don’t get what it means for Apple to say they will continue to support iOS 14, but yet not allow devices on iOS 14 to update to the latest version of it.
Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

Your version is just slightly too old, the capability for the Settings app to provide a version choice when updating was added in 14.5.

This is a new thing so we don't really know how it will work, we're going to have to wait and see if Apple starts signing a version of iOS 14 again in the future.

Jack Neill said:

I guess supporting 14 was a lie. Glad I got the iPads to/back to 14.8 in time.

I feel cheated! I too was under the impression that both 14 and 15 would be available concurrently until next years release. I had intended to update my iPad and iPhone from 13 to 14 a long while back but life happened. I have the iTunes update (14.7.1) downloaded on my Mac but I don’t suppose that makes any difference now???

Thanks!

bmac89 said:

I feel cheated! I too was under the impression that both 14 and 15 would be available concurrently until next years release. I had intended to update my iPad and iPhone from 13 to 14 a long while back but life happened. I have the iTunes update (14.7.1) downloaded on my Mac but I don’t suppose that makes any difference now???

Thanks!

They will never sign anything older than 14.8 again unless they sign all IPSWs which is highly unlikely. It's just a matter of seeing whether they lied about continued support; or if they do support it if it's done by OTA only and not signing IPSW files.

retta283 said:

They will never sign anything older than 14.8 again unless they sign all IPSWs which is highly unlikely. It's just a matter of seeing whether they lied about continued support; or if they do support it if it's done by OTA only and not signing IPSW files.

Well I would happily upgrade to any version of 14 instead of 15... if I could!

I did not think they would un-sign iOS 14.8

The upgrade option to iOS 15.x was tempting but it's a good thing I did not upgrade... I already hate the changes introduced in iOS 14.x and I hate more the changes introduced in iOS 15.x

So if ever I will be able to buy an older model device, I'll keep it on whatever version it was at the time of purchase until the next iOS 14.x update becomes available...

bmac89 said:

Well I would happily upgrade to any version of 14 instead of 15... if I could!

It is a shame especially with Apple leading us on that maybe the end of their horrible downgrade policy was here. I had been hoping to buy a second iPad and keep it on 14, but now that's unlikely. I'll have to find and confirm one that's not updated, but then I'm buying used parts.