iPhone 3G downgrade?

klutchman4255 · Oct 11, 2012

I have an iPhone 3G on 4.2.1 and it's extremely slow... It's jot jailbroken because i've seen what happens when you jailbreak an iPhone 3G on 4.2.1 and the results aren't pretty... i'm simply wondering if it is still possible to downgrade it to any iOS 3 i imagine it'd be 3.1.3 but any iOS 3 would be fine with me. I have a 3GS on iOS 6.0 and a 4S on 5.1.1 jailbroken running 66 MS addons and themes through winterboard and they're both atleast twice as fast as my 3G.. so i'm not used to the speed of the 3G and it bothers me. just hoping there's something i can do about it.

Bula · Oct 11, 2012

Not many AppStore apps will support 3.x firmware...or Cydia tweaks for that matter... your best bet is to restore iPhone to 4.2.1 as a New device...don't overload iPhone with loads of tweaks/themes if you plan to jailbreak...

klutchman4255 · Oct 11, 2012

All i want to use it for is music. i know most apps aren't supported for iOS 3 but i don't plan to put any apps on it. and i don't want to jailbreak it either. i really just want it to run faster and i don't know if its still possible to downgrade.

Bula · Oct 11, 2012

If your using it as an iPod then 4.2.1 will be fine....why go through the hassle of downgrading...? just restore as NEW.... don't restore from an old backup...install everything from scratch...

klutchman4255 · Oct 11, 2012

i don't know. i just don't know if i can downgrade it but if i could then i would consider it. If i can't then its fine but i cant find any information on the internet thats any newer than june 2010 about downgrading to iOS 3.X so i'm not sure if i can. i kind of want to try it just to see if it works. i don't care much about the phone i just like seeing if i can get it to work.

rpmtech · Oct 29, 2012

klutchman4255 said:
i don't know. i just don't know if i can downgrade it but if i could then i would consider it. If i can't then its fine but i cant find any information on the internet thats any newer than june 2010 about downgrading to iOS 3.X so i'm not sure if i can. i kind of want to try it just to see if it works. i don't care much about the phone i just like seeing if i can get it to work.

It is quite possible as the firmware for the iPhone 3G isn't signed, so the process is infinitely easier. I did this when I had a 3G for a short time. Here's the link to download version 3.1.3: http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/iPhone/061-7468.20100202.pbnrt/iPhone1,2_3.1.3_7E18_Restore.ipsw

Just put your iPhone in pwned DFU mode using iREB. Here's the link to the page for downloading that: http://ih8sn0w.com/index.php/products/view/ireb.snow. Scroll down to see the download link for iREB 5.

Launch that as an administrator in Windows (I assume you're using Windows. If not you'll have to search for OSX instructions as there is no iREB for OSX). Once iREB is loaded just connect the USB cable to the 3G and follow the instructions. Once it's in pwned DFU open iTunes. iTunes will tell you it detected a phone in recovery mode. Just hit ok. Then hold the shift key, and click restore. You'll get a file dialog and then choose the 3.1.3 IPSW and let iTunes do the rest of the work. Once that's done your 3G will have 3.1.3 on it. Hope this helps!

EDIT: You can use RedSnow on OSX to put the 3G in pwned DFU mode. Just search the net for RedSnow version 0.9.4, though you should be able to use the current version, but I'm not sure on that. To be safe look for version 0.9.4. Hope this helps as well.

EDIT 2: Go to this link: http://lifehacker.com/5572003/how-to-downgrade-your-iphone-3g-from-ios-4-to-ios-313 There is a step I missed in my above instructions. You need a program called RecBoot (link is in the article). Downgrading to 3.1.3 will put the 3G in a recovery loop. RecBoot will kick it out of the loop. Sorry for all of the addendums. This post pretty much tells you the same thing I told you on downgrading, so you can follow the steps safely there as well.

willerz2 · Oct 29, 2012

The difference would also be in the hardware. The 4S and the 5 are running a dual core CPU after all, and they do have a much larger DRAM than the 3G.