Oliver Haslam on September 25, 2019, 5:01 am

How To Downgrade iPadOS 13.1 To iOS 12.4.1

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to downgrade iPadOS 13.1 to iOS 12.4.1 on your iPad or iPad Pro device.

Now that iPadOS 13.1 is available to the public there are plenty of people who are updating. Whether that’s by choice or because auto-update has worked its magic, those updates are likely to be installed at a fair old pace. But as people are finding out, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the update.

If you’ve found that things aren’t quite as you would have hoped after installing iPadOS 13.1 and want to go back to iOS 12.4.1, here’s how you can go about doing exactly that.

Step 1: Make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer. You’ll also need to download the IPSW file for iOS 12.4.1 which you can grab from here.

Step 2: Now you need to disable Find My iPad by heading to Settings > iCloud > Find My iPad and flicking the switch. You’ll be asked to enter your password, too.

Step 3: Connect your iPad to your computer. You should find that iTunes will start of its own accord, but you can start it manually if not. You’re also going to need to put your iPad into DFU mode, too. We’ve covered that before in the guides below.

2018 iPad Pro owners can follow the instructions in this guide.
If you have any other iPad, follow the instructions here.

Step 4: Once your iPad is in DFU mode, iTunes will recognise that and ask if you want to get things moving,.

Step 5: Now press and hold the Option key on a Mac or the Shift key on a PC and click the Restore iPad… option in iTunes. Now you’ll be asked which IPSW file you want to use – select it from wherever you saved it to earlier.

Step 6: Now iTunes will work its magic and once your iPad has restarted once or twice you’ll be back up and running. Welcome to iOS 12.4.1!