How to block iOS upgrades

When I first bought my 4S, it was running the laggy, slow iOS 9.3.5. After getting the charging port fixed under warranty, I downloaded the iOS 6 IPSW, and restored it. iOS 6.1.3 downgrades are still ‘authorized’ by Apple for the 4S. I then updated to 8.4.1 through the Settings and then reset my device for the best experience.

Whilst I was installing some apps, I suddenly got a pop-up notification. It read “iOS 9.3.6 is now available for your iPhone”

I realised not only had iOS 9.3.6’s update package taken up a large portion of my storage, but there was also an annoying badge next to the Settings icon on the home screen that wouldn’t go away. Also the fear of the update automatically installing overnight and slowing down the iPhone to a crawl (and forcing me to repeat the downgrade process again) scared me. I knew I had to take action to prevent iOS 9 from being installed on my iPhone 4S.

That was when I found out about the tvOS beta profile OTA blocking method. It’s simple: install a beta profile, reboot, and poof! Settings will now think there is indeed no update and act as though iOS 8.4.1 (in my case) is the latest.

To disable OTA updates on your Apple device, follow these steps:

1. Head over to betaprofiles.com, scroll down to find the profile labelled ‘Block update for iOS’
2. Download it and then Settings will open, prompting you to install it. Once installed, reboot your device.
3. Once rebooted, try running software update again. If it says that your software is now up to date, then it’s worked. If it still offers the dowloaded update, go to Usage in General and delete the OTA. Then reboot and try checking again.
4. If there is an annoying red ‘1’ badge by the top right corner of the Settings app on the home screen, then factory resetting your device’s settings (General –> Reset –> Reset all settings) appears to be the only option without jailbreaking that you can do to get rid of the badge. Once done, you may have to install the tvOS beta profile again if it gets deleted during the reset to continue blocking updates.

Now, the software update section in Settings will act as though your current iOS version is the latest version of iOS available, in my case iOS 8.4.1. You will not need to worry about automatic updates since there won’t be any to install.

Enjoy!

-Chas 😎