My understanding is you can’t. Once Apple has stopped signing an older iOS version you’re SOL. And “older” doesn’t mean really old, like 8 or 9. It means the version they updated two weeks ago. The walled garden approach is often sold to consumers as being about safety, but in this case it’s just about control and making it cheap for Apple. On macOS they deliver security updates for an OS released two years ago.
That’s what I thought too but based on Al’s comment, I’d hoped he’d figured it out. I only wanted the prior OS which was a few months old at the time.
Diane
You have to be quick about it. The older iOS will only have a valid Apple signature for a few weeks after a release, so if you wait too long you won’t be able to roll back.
-Al-
You don’t. This is by far the best solution for the vast majority of users. The update downloads opportunistically and when you click the option to install, it installs right there, not in 20-30 minutes or 2-3 hours, but now. That’s what users expect, and that is what serves them best.
The number of people who are going to complain about an update being ready to go (or even know it is there) is not just small, it’s vanishingly small.
Ahhh thanks! Good to know there is a way out if an upgrade goes bad.
Diane
And the sentence after the one you quoted says:
But you can and should wait a few days after an update is released to make sure there aren’t any problems with it and then download at a time that works for you.
1 Like
Thank you for this very helpful article.
On my iPad your “iPhone & iPad Storage” is “Storage & iCloud Usage.” Of course, I am keeping my iPad on iOS 10.x, because iOS 11.x on my iPhone 5s has caused greatly shortened battery life.
For some reason I’ve been lucky and never have had an update download in the background, probably because every time iOS nags me to update I just say “NO”. Thus when I DO finally do an update, it takes an hour or more just to download it and this is doing the update over WiFi! If I used iTunes it would be several hours.
How do you do this and on which iOS version? One of the major gripes with the update system on iOS is that it doesn’t give a simple “no” button. Let alone a “no, and don’t ask me again” button.
By simply tapping the “Later” button EVERY time the update “nag” appears. By saying “later” it doesn’t start the download. Someone need to ask Timmy “What part of NO don’t you understand?!”
Oh OK. That method I’m familiar with. I thought you might have found a way to get a proper “No, and leave me the heck alone” button. ;)
You may have a partial update downloaded and taking up space… As Adam says, use Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage and then scroll down the list.
I’ve found that updates download when I have Wi-fi connected and I’m charging my phone, so if I want to avoid a download, I turn of Wi-fi for the duration — a pain, but it seems to work. I did this while I needed a 32 bit App when IOS 11 came out. Thankfully, a 64 bit version has now been released.
You must be lucky! I tap Later now too, but the download is already there. “Later” just prevents it from installing right then.
Diane
It’s really quite ridiculous that that’s what users have to do if they don’t want auto-downloads on iOS. And this all simply because Apple has declared that one size fits all and there shall be no options. It’s almost as if all people updated the same or everybody had limitless high-bandwidth broadband for free. Good thing Apple never charges extra for more memory on iPhones. :p
Actually, you are right for my iPhone 6 w/o SIM which is my backup in case I lose my iPhone 10. I haven’t looked at it for awhile and it DID download the iOS 11.4 update. I’m not going to install it but may do the iOS 12 update when it is released.
Yes, the UI (and feature set) is different in obsolete versions of iOS—I should have specified that I was only talking about the current iOS 11.
But I wouldn’t equate battery life issues on an iPhone 5s with an iPad in general, and certainly not if they aren’t of the same basic age. Most devices have no problems with battery life in iOS 11.
1 Like
When you grow tired of Apple designing a phone that doesn’t match your personal preferences, perhaps it’s time to purchase something else.
-Al-
Nice try. 
Of course it’s exactly the other way around. It’s the fact that they leave next to zero room for “your personal preference” (options).
But sure, as I’ve been saying for the longest time now, if Apple wants my money they better have something worth talking about. I’ll buy when there’s something worth buying, not just because my 12 month cycle is up or some other handbag swinging doohickey is released. Gimmicky distractive junk like animoji, memoji et al. definitely isn’t cutting the mustard here.
But ultimately I’m optimistic. As the iOS market share dwindles and Android solidifies as the 90’s MS Windows, they’ll have to smarten up. Especially the moment teenagers move on to the next cool fashion gadget and that ridiculous steady revenue stream dries up. Competition is a great thing - as we witnessed back in the day when Apple had to fight to stay alive and find it’s way back up from 3% desktop market share.