How to downgrade iOS 9.3.1 back to your comfort zone

Uh, oh. Is the latest Apple iOS "upgrade" making your iPhone go haywire?Apple quickly released an updated iOS, 9.3.1, after they introduced iOS 9.3. The upgrade is available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.It was created to fix a bug that was preventing links from working that has reared its ugly head in the past few days.Here’s a video of the bug in action:With all the bugs that have been happening with these updates, you might want to downgrade back to 9.2.1 or iOS 9.3, if your device is acting all wonky.

Important points

You have 2 options

If you’re looking to downgrade, you can only go back to iOS 9.2.1 or iOS 9.3. Older versions of iOS are no longer digitally signed by Apple so they are no longer supported and offered as downloadable options from the iTunes store.

Get out of jail free card

You can’t jailbreak your iPhone with 9.2.1 or iOS 9.3. Currently no public solution is available for jailbreak enthusiasts who use either of these operating systemsSo, if you’re ok with the notes above and want to downgrade your IPhone, follow the steps below.

Here's how to downgrade iOS 9.3.1 in 6 easy steps

Step 1: You’ll need the iOS 9.2.1 IPSW file for your particular device. You can download that here.Step 2: Open Settings and then go to iCloud > Find My iPhone and disable the this featureStep 3: Connect your device to your PC or Mac using your sync cable.Step 4: Run I Tunes (latest version) on your PC or Mac and make sure that you have selected your device. Then go to the Summary tab and display the info about your connected device.Step 5: Now that you’ve done the prerequisites, you have to restore the phone.Windows: Hold down Shift and click restore iPhone in iTunes.Mac: Hold down Option/Alt and click Restore iPhone at the same time.Step 6: Select the appropriate iOS 9.2.1 IPSW file that you downloaded in Step 1 (you’ll be asked to locate it).iTunes will then walk you through the restore wizard. When it’s done, your device will reboot with a brand spankin’ new (er, old) version of Apple’s iOS.

What's Next: Should you upgrade?

There are still several major iOS 9 releases on the horizon.We still have five months until the highly controversial release of the iPhone 7.The iOS 9.3.1 update is very limited. It was only made to address one problem. If you have this problem with your phone, it's worth upgrading. If you don’t, then don’t even bother with it.There’s absolutely nothing to write home about on this one.Have you experienced the dreaded “links bug”?Let us know in the comments below.Image credits: techradar.com, Youtube.com