Downgrade Iphone Firmware 2.2 to 2.1

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Aramis November 22, 2008 197 Comments

iphoneonsteroids_small While apple release the iphone update 2.2, you may want to hold on until you see there are no bugs. For those of you, like me, that update to the new version but would like to go back to 2.1. I put together a step by step video so you can do this, check the video below and let me know if it worked for you.

Once you are done it will bring the iphone back to version 2.1. You can use the latest version of itunes to do this. You will also need the 2.1 Firmware which is found below, and  QuickPWN 2.1 so you can activate the 2.1 version once completed.

First download the 2.1 firmware by CLICKING HERE . Save it to a place you will remember then open iTunes, connect your iphone 3G and while pressing the shift key click on the restore button in iTunes. This will bring up a window that will let you look for the firmware you downloaded. You will also need QuickPWN which you can download by CLICKING HERE if the link fails try this one CLICKING HERE

This tutorial video below is for the iPhone 3G, but it will work for the 1st generation iPhone if you use the firmware below.

If you have the First generation iphone (The Old one) then CLICK HERE for the firmware that works on that model. You might also need the bootloaders 3.9 and 4.6 you can download them by clicking on the following links.  3.9 Bootloader   4.6 Bootloader

iphone_small 
Iphone, Itouch Format available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

197 thoughts on “Downgrade Iphone Firmware 2.2 to 2.1”

  1. Hello. Would you know anyway to downgrade from 2.2 to 1.1.4.
    I need to do this , but keep getting an error in itunes 7.5 when I try a restore in dfu mode.
    thx
    al

  2. I have a locked iPhone on 2.2 and no supported SIM and hence am unable to access iTunes to downgrade. What do i do?

  3. Hello I get an error saying ‘ the ipod could not be restored. an unknown error has occurred (5).’ could I please have some help with this. thankyou

  4. hi! youve helped a lot of people hope u can help me. ive just jailbreak my iphone 3g 2.1 to 2.2 using quickpwn now im having problems like i cant send sms, i cant play flash movie w/ my iphone and cant send emails. ive done this too to my 2 friends & experiencing the problms too. is there a safe way i can restore the iphones to their original settings. cause ive red blogs that they’ve brick their phones. i dont want to take the risk of doing that so could you pls help me out. thnk u vry mch!

    one more thing if ever the iphones wer restore to their original settings is it possible to jailbreak them again w/o any hassle at all… thnk you very much though! more power to you! hope to hir from u asap! 18/01/09

  8. hey when i put the firmware at the end i get an error what do i do and can someone tell me what BFU mode is

  9. welcome to Poland!
    Two days ago one carrier gave the possibility to unlock that fu….simlock for free!!!
    With soft 2.2 all you need is to connect an iPhone to iTunes with a different sim card and wait few minutes
    And all the mess is gone
    My wife loves me again 🙂

  10. Does this work for the itouch new gen and if i do it, will anything happen like will it get damaged? Is it possible to switch it back to 2.2 version after?

  11. how come when i do it no window comes up even if i hit the shift key. Is that because i have a itouch?

  12. Help ME!!!!!!!!

    My iphone has put automatic the update on my phone the version 2.2.1_5H11

    Can i downgrade it back to 2.2 pleas let there be a yeskan i use the same trick like the version from 2.2 to 2.1

    Help me because i don’t know when i can jailbreak it again

  13. this didnt work at all the option on itunes where u hold down “shift” doesnt come up at all it just goes into the loading and hits the ERROR 1013″ and on my mac when i run quickpwn it doesnt even recognize the phone it just stays in the “plug in your phone page” The iphone is still stuck on the usb cord hooking up to itunes page Its frustrating makes me wanna throw my phone against the wall and regret ever jailbreaking it . alx85chi@gamil.com running mac osx 10.5.4 itunes 7 and iphone 3g mistakingly JAILBROKE and currently stuck in “recovery mode”

  14. Hey, I have an iphone that was unlocked, and after I updated the software it told me that my sim card isn’t supported and to put in the one that was originally given to me..is there any way I can go through this process of restoring the iphone with a tmobile sim card to begin with? if there is, that would be awesome if you could email me about how!
    -Hannah

  15. Hi There, I too got sucked in to the new software and my jailbroken phone is no longer unlocked…. My problem is when I go to downgrade in itunes (holding shift, clicking restore), I can find the file I need but it does not open? It just opens the files inside it, and again and again – never extracting them???? I have no idea why I can’t just click on it and hit “open” but it just opens subfolders etc…. Please help!!!!

  18. hey i have a question i need answered asap. i have quickpwn22-1 and i clicked the box for unlock with my cincinnati bell sim in the iphone. it ran threw the nueter or whatever and it make my modem firmware to 4.05 and i did some more lookin and found yellowsn0w and i did all that it registered my cincinnati bell sim and now registers my number and stuff but it only lets me call from the emergency call. but i can still call and receive calls. what do i do?. please help me.

  19. i have moidem firmware 2.3 on iphone 3g and it was jailbroken. after installing 2.3 i lost my apopos, i wish to go back to 2.2, is this possible?

  20. i was wondering it work the steps you told me to do but my sim card for 2.1 version is not working anymore but it used to work……what do i need to fo for my universal sim card works…

  21. Everytime I try to downgrade to any other frimware i get a error 1403 can some help me with that??? ”PLEASE!!!!

  24. hi, so i have a iphone but not a sim card so i use my iphone for music but i put version 2.2 on and now it’s locked i can’t jailbreak

  25. idont know what geneartion iphone i got i kno it has 4gb and model a1203 my question is i just instaled an update and now it wont use my sim no more it let me make phone calls and thats it please help

  27. If it is unlocked then I don’t know what when wrong. If you have it with ATT then try it again because I did 3 of my iphones and it works no problem. Best of luck

  28. DFU stands for Device Firmware Upgrade. You can search on google for how to do that. If you want to downgrade it all you need is to follow the instructions on my video.

  29. To make it easier for you below is the instructions. Best fo luck.

    This is how to achieve DFU mode. You can do it on every phone:

    * Attach the phone to the pc
    * Turn the phone off
    * Hold power and home together for *exactly* 10 seconds
    * Release power but keep holding home until the pc beeps as a USB device is recognized.
    * At no point will the display come on. Now your restore should work.

  32. Hi,

    I have watched your video to downgrade from 2.2 to 2.1. It was too good.. I followed the same steps you have specified. I am using Mac. When i encountered the error 1013 and ignored it also. But when i did launch the Quickpwn 2.1 for Mac it is not showing any info regarding the pressing Home and sleep button as it showed in your video. Anyhow, i did press both. After that iPhone doesn’t boot. I mean it still shows in the recovery mode. I did also try to restore from the DFU mode. Then also iphone is in the recovery mode. kindly help in moving forward. What else I need to do?

  33. When I click on QuickPwn I get an error message: “The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application. What then?

  34. Ok Ive done what I was told I have an iphone 3g and when my phone is in recovery mode I click quickpwn and it loads with no message telling me to hold my iphone 🙁 This is very frustrating, I was dumb enough to upgrade my phone and I just want my cydia back ;'( Help my email is lg_piper@yahoo.com

  35. Hi Aramis,

    I followed the same procedure as per mentioned in your video (downgrading 2.2.1 to 2.2). Everything worked perfect except the QuickPwn is not detecting my iphone. When I am clicking on the QuickPwn , it is not showing the popup window as per mentioned in the video. It is launching from the start and asking me to connect iphone. My iphone is already connected to my mac machine and I am able to access it through iTunes but QuickPwn is not detecting it. And that why my iPhone is not able to come out from the recovery mode. Can you tell me what can I do to come out from this situation ?
    Any information on this is highly appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Pandit Pakhurde

  36. hi aramis my name is adam i have iphone 3g and it was unlock before and i by mistakely upgrade my iphone with firmware 2.2.1 and after upgrade it doesn’t show any network main problem is my iphones modem firmware shows 2.30.03 .so i watch ur video and downgrade it my iphone to 2.0 but still it shows same modem firmware so what should i do to change it to 2.28.00 please give me sollution.thank you adam.

  37. i downgraded to 2.2 but it still shows 2.30.03
    what should i do bc i cant use yellowsn0w?

  38. Well yes it does downgrade back to 2.1 but the “model firmware” remains the same it can’t be brought lower than what it is currently.

  39. Hy everybody,

    i`ve upgraded my iphone from 2.2 to 2.2.1 because with version 2.2 i couldn`t check my mails, didn`t work and i don`t know why but now my iphone writes an sim errsor my simcard can`t get identified so what should i do?? i`m afraid do ddowngrade it because people told me that it could be that my iphone doesn`t work anymore after the downgrade =( heeelp please any ideas??

    Thx,
    Nicki

  40. hi Aramis…i live in jamaica and i got the iphone 3g and my sister updated it on itunes before i got it unlocked..i carried it to get unlocked but im being told i cant get it unlocked…how do i get this phone unlocked if possible ????
    Please help me
    KKB.

  41. Hey, I have an iphone that was unlocked, and after I updated the software it told me that my sim card isn’t supported and to put in the one that was originally given to me..is there any way I can go through this process of restoring the iphone with a optus sim card to begin with? if there is, that would be awesome if you could email me about how please

  42. hi aramis,

    I got an iphone 3g and when i was using it with AT&T, i upgraded that to version 2.2 thru itunes. I moved back to my home country suddenly and hence had to cut the connection with AT&T. Now am back in the US. I wanted to try n use it with another provider … Now i dont have any provider and using this just as an ipod. Does downgrading it from 2.2 to 2.1 help me to switch to a different provider? I dont wanna waste this iphone by using this just as a mere ipod ! Please help

    Rgds
    Bingle

  44. all you need is either a vpn client if your company uses one else you can just use the windows connection manager and makle a vpn connection if you need more help just email me

  46. Hey Man how is the newVideo Calling In OS X Lion Safari, Chrome, Firefox ? I’m looking for a please let me know guys.

  47. Let me know if it worked. If it does not work, the only bad thing that will happen is that you have to restore the iphone again to version 2.2.

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