Comment by xoa
4 days ago
>Is it “you are not allowed,” or Cupertino isn’t going to bother developing and testing?
It is very firmly "you are not allowed". In fact you're not even allowed to switch back to iOS 18 at all. Only actively signed iOS IPSWs can be installed (barring historical cases where someone had saved signing tickets). You can see the current status at sites like https://ipsw.me and if you're on any iOS 26 supported iDevice currently only 26.3.1 is signed. The last iOS 18 version was 18.6.2 from August of last year. If you go back to the iPhone XS/XR, you'll see they're still updating iOS 18, with 18.7.6 released two weeks ago (March 4), but they've chosen to force anyone who wants security updates to move to iOS 26 instead.
The rollback provisions, granted. But I’m arguing the other stuff requires QC attention Apple may not want to provide to a legacy line. That isn’t not allowing something that can be done. It’s not building something they don’t want to.
>But I’m arguing the other stuff requires QC attention Apple may not want to provide to a legacy line.
Oh come on. This is HN, we know how development works, how modular an OS, how the patch process works and what that entails for testing in an incredibly restricted and limited hardware base. We know they have no issue doing retroactive updates for quite awhile on the same code base for Macs, which have enormously more hardware variance then iDevices. These are extremely high profit margin premium products. You really don't need to carry water for the multi-trillion dollar megacorp with absolute wide eyed credulity.
And on other systems, even if it wasn't supported, it'd be perfectly possible for hardware owners to patch various components or implement workarounds. It's only on iOS that Apple is utilizing technical controls to stop that dead.
>That isn’t not allowing something that can be done.
Yes, it is. They are 100% using their technical controls built into the underlying hardware and then on up for not allow something that can be done. They could trivially allow hardware owners, even if only as a buy-time option, to have the ability to add their own certificates to the iOS root of trust, and in turn install and modify any software they wished on their own to the extent of their abilities. Apple wouldn't have to do anything except not exert maximal artificial control.
They don't do that. They have the power. It's their responsibility in turn. It's pretty irritating anyone who has been around the block as much as you have would try to white wash that. FFS.