How to Uninstall iOS 11 and Downgrade iOS 11 to iOS 10.3.3

iOS 11 Uninstall iOS Posted by Estrella H.| Last Updated: Oct. 11, 2017

Get annoyed with iOS 11 errors? Try to uninstall and downgrade iOS 11 right now

iOS 11 was officially released on September 19, 2017 introducing fresh design, app updates and major improvement for iPad. It receives a lot of likes due to adoption of highly compressed HEVC and HEIF formats, support of GIFs, more photo editing tools and so on. In turn, dislikes arrive here and there for various errors, e.g. poor battery life, slow to wake up iPhone/iPad with Home Button, not actually turning off Wi-Fi/Bluetooth with Control Center. Some fans who have updated to iOS 11 expect the next version to fix bugs while some others try to uninstall iOS 11 and downgrade iOS 11 to iOS 10.3.3.

What You Should Know Before Uninstalling and Downgrading iOS 11

1. You can only downgrade iOS 11 to iOS 10.3.3.
Apple stopped signing pre-iOS 11 firmware files making them unavailable to restore except iOS 10.3.3. If you try to remove iOS 11 and downgrade it, iOS 10.3.3 is the only choice.

2. iOS backup is essential.
All data on your iPhone iPad will be erased when you uninstall and downgrade iOS 11. You must make an iTunes or iCloud backup and then restore. However, iOS-11 based backup may not be recovered correctly to an iOS 10.3.3 device so that it is recommended to get the backup before you install iOS 11. Otherwise, you can use third-party iOS backup software to copy all content from iPhone iPad to computer and then transfer them back.

How to Uninstall and Downgrade iOS 11

Step 1. Download iOS 10.3.3 IPSW File
Ipsw.me gathers current and previous of iOS firmware for almost all models of iPhone iPad. Open this site and then follow its tutorial to download the signed iOS 10.3.3 IPSW for your device.

Step 2. Connect Your iOS 11 Device with iTunes
Confirm that your iTunes has been updated to the latest version. Now, plug in your iPhone or iPad into computer via a USB cable. Open iTunes and then you will see the device icon on iTunes window if the connection succeeds. >> How to Fix iPhone not Connecting to iTunes

Step 3. Put Your iOS 11 Device into DFU Mode
If you want to downgrade iOS 11 on iPhone, please turn off "Find My iPhone" at first. Go to Settings > iCloud > switch off Find My iPhone.

Turn off your iOS device and keep it connected to computer. Next, put it into DFU mode. Ways vary from devices.

Step 4. Install iOS 10.3.3 Firmware
Click Restore iPhone in iTunes while holding Option button on Mac or Shift button on Windows. Now, it will ask you to select the IPSW file you just downloaded. After confirming the selection, an iTunes message about restoring iOS 10.3.3 on your iPhone iPad will be shown. Click Restore. If it requires entering PIN on your devices during restoration, do it and wait for its finish.

Step 5. Restore Data to Your Devices
All data is removed when you uninstall and downgrade iOS 11. So, you need to restore the content from backup. As mentioned above, iOS 11 backup will not be compatible with iOS 10.3.3 device. So you need to restore a backup before installing iOS 11.
>> Further Reading: How to Fix iPhone not Restoring Backup from iTunes/iCloud

If you use third-party iOS backup software, for example WinX MediaTrans, to make a data copy, you can directly transfer data back to iPhone iPad without incompatibility problem.

After all is done, you successfully uninstall iOS 11 and get iOS 10.3.3 back to your iPhone iPad.