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tommyh89
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Asked: 2025-06-29T15:54:00+00:00 In: ,

Is It Possible to Revert Back to iOS 18.5 After Updating to iOS 26?

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After updating to iOS 26 my iPhone has been lagging and draining battery. I’m thinking of rolling back to iOS 18.5, but I don’t know how to do it without losing data. Has anyone here successfully downgraded their iPhone?

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12 Answers

  1. davidoss

    Steps I followed:

    1. Backup iPhone (if you can).
    2. Download iOS 18.5 IPSW file from ipsw.me.
    3. Turn off Find My iPhone.
    4. Put phone in DFU mode.
    5. Restore through iTunes (Shift+Restore on Windows, Option+Restore on Mac).

    After that I set it up as new and pulled what I could from iCloud. Took me about an hour. Did you already archive a backup from 18.5 before updating? If not, you’ll lose more than you think.

  2. lucasmartin

    Honestly, if you didn’t archive before installing 26, you’re kinda stuck. I made that mistake too. Had to wipe and start fresh. Painful but at least the phone works fine on 18.5 again. Why don’t Apple warn more clearly during updates?

  3. jhossy

    bruh i lost all my msgs. icloud only brought back photos 😭 never downgrading again.

  4. luckytrend

    How do I downgrade from iOS 26 to iOS 18.5? please help…
    I updated my iPhone to iOS 26 and honestly it’s been nothing but trouble. The battery is draining super fast, apps are lagging, and the whole phone just feels slower than it did before. On iOS 18.5 everything was running smooth, so now I’m really wishing I never updated.
    Is there any way to go back to iOS 18.5? If yes, what’s the actual process step by step? Do I need a Mac to do this or can I also use a Windows PC with iTunes? And what about backups  will an iCloud backup made on iOS 26 even work if I roll back to 18.5, or will I lose everything?

  5. danielhelly

    I downgraded last week.
    – Backed up what I could.
    – Grabbed 18.5 IPSW from ipsw.me.
    – DFU restore through iTunes.
    Took me about an hour. Had to set up as new and only got my iCloud data back. Painful but it worked.

  6. animalewis

    man i regret updating 😭 battery is dead in half a day. i want to go back to 18.5 so bad. anyone know if i can do this on windows? i don’t own a mac.

  7. davidoss

    same problem here on my 13 mini. super annoying

  8. sarahjenkins

    So you want to roll back from 26 to 18.5? The big question is, did you make an archived backup before jumping on 26? If not, you can’t restore that data on 18.5. I tried and lost all my messages. Only the iCloud stuff came back. Photos, contacts, notes were safe, but app data was gone.

  9. danielhelly

    Tip for you: Apple sometimes stops signing old versions pretty quick. If 18.5 is already closed, you’ll only be able to downgrade to 18.6. Did you check signing status yet? I wasted a whole evening once not realizing it was blocked.

  10. oliviahunter

    If you don’t own a computer, you can’t do it. Simple as that. I had to borrow my friend’s laptop just to roll mine back. Do you maybe have access to one? Without Finder or iTunes you’re stuck on 26.

  11. jhossy

    Steps are pretty standard: download 18.5 IPSW, turn off Find My iPhone, put the phone in DFU, restore through iTunes or Finder. But can I ask, are you looking for 18.5 because you liked how stable it was, or just because you regret updating to 26 too fast?

  12. animalewis

    Check out Apple’s support article on removing the beta. Just a heads up though, you’ll need a backup from iOS 18 (before you updated to 26). Without that, restoring might not work properly and you could lose your data.
    How to uninstall iOS or iPadOS beta software – Apple Support

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