Apple Stops Signing iOS 16.3 Following iOS 16.3.1 Launch, Downgrading No Longer Possible

Monday February 20, 2023 12:34 pm PST by Eric Slivka

Following the launch of iOS 16.3.1 on February 13, Apple is no longer signing iOS 16.3, the previously available version of iOS. Now that Apple has stopped signing iOS 16.3, it is no longer possible to downgrade to that version of iOS after installing the iOS 16.3.1 update.

iOS 16
Apple routinely stops signing older versions of iOS after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date, so it is not unusual that the iOS 16.3 update is no longer being signed.

iOS 16.3 was a relatively minor update that introduced support for physical security keys for Apple IDs, expanded Advanced Data Protection globally, added support for the second-generation HomePod, and more.

While iOS 16.3.1 remains the current public version of iOS, Apple released the first beta of iOS 16.4 last week with support for new emoji characters, web push notifications, and more.

(Thanks, Aaron!)

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...

• 80 comments

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update. Apple Music - Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your...

• 105 comments

Top Rated Comments

fromgophonetoiphone

40 months ago

Makes no sense since 16.3.1 is hot garbage

It's fine for millions of users.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

fromgophonetoiphone

40 months ago

One death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic.

If you're the one person affected by the bug introduced in the newest OS, the newest OS is hot garbage in your eyes.

I don't like how Apple refuses to allow downgrades, especially when their upgrade screws something up.

The issue is most people are horrendously bad at diagnosing complex issues. It's easy to blame 16.3.1 when it could be a whole host of issues. I worked on the Android ROM Development side of things and it was hilarious how people would blame bugs on nightly builds despite no commits in the past 48 hours. And then when there are commits, it's frequently translation updates only and all of a sudden you get battery posts about how the latest build makes a night and day difference.

* An update usually is accompanied by a reboot so all sorts of things can change even with a reboot (see this whole android ROM development scene story above... I suspect 99% of people seeing battery issues would see battery life change with a reboot whether or not they update their OS or not)
* 99% of blaming new builds never tries to revert to an older build to compare the difference. New York Times addresses this as confirmation bias ('https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/03/upshot/a-quick-puzzle-to-test-your-problem-solving.html') which is a huge problem in almost all problem solving. Everyone likes to claim how they can "reproduce the bug," which is fine, but if you claim to know what causes the bug the you in theory can also turn off that bug. Most people, even some of the brightest engineers probably at Apple are capable of showing what causes the bug, but since it takes time to run a new experiment to see how you can turn OFF the bug, most people skip that and assume they have a solution (see NYT problem)
* People facing bugs typically blame the wrong thing (update) when you can likely reproduce their issues on another build as well.

I'm not trying to diminish anyone's problems with their devices, but I do feel that "latest version bug bias" is a real placebo effect.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

SFjohn

40 months ago

It was a security patch for an active vulnerability, it’s no wonder Apple has prevented reverting so soon! 👍🏻

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Mousse

40 months ago

It's fine for millions of users.

One death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic.

If you're the one person affected by the bug introduced in the newest OS, the newest OS is hot garbage in your eyes.

I don't like how Apple refuses to allow downgrades, especially when their upgrade screws something up.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)