How to downgrade iPhone 4s & iPad 2 to iOS 6.1.3 without SHSH

If you have been active on r/jailbreak, you may have heard of a new downgrade tool called OdysseusOTA. This tool allows you to downgrade back to iOS 6.1.6 without SHSH blobs. Can you imagine using iOS 6 once again after so many years of having the modern iOS look and feel with iOS 7, 8, to iOS 10? I was really impressed with what I accomplished today.

For users with an iPhone 4s or iPad 2 and wish to visit the beautiful iOS 6 one more time, this article will show you how to do just that.

Downgrading back to iOS 6 was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Mostly because of the powerful firmware performance, i.e., battery life and fewer crashes.

What’s OdysseusOTA and How Does it Work?

OdysseusOTA is a command line and only run on Mac OS X and Linux. It will be quite hard for a regular user to get it up and running. That being said, I’ll try my best to keep things in a simple format in the tutorial below.

Besides supporting only two type of devices, this tool also requires your current device to run on iOS 7 or iOS 8, and it must be jailbroken. You can check out our jailbreak section to learn more.

How to Downgrade to iOS 6.1.3 without SHSH

Step 1: Download iOS 6.1.3 IPSW and OdysseusOTA v1.0.2

Step 2: Extract the .Zip file and bring both files to the Desktop

Step 3: Launch Terminal and enter cd ~/Desktop/odysseusOTA then hit Enter

Step 4: Now enter the following commands and hit Enter for each line.

Step 5: Open up your device and install OpenSSH from Cydia

Step 6: Let’s get back to the Terminal and type in a few more lines. Make sure to hit enter for each line provided.

Step 7: Go to Settings > WiFi > Name of your Wi-Fi and look for its IP address.

scp pwnediBSS ../kloader root@(The IP Address)

Step 8: When the device is connected, a question will popup up, just hit Yes

Step 9: Write alpine and hit enter (same for default password)

Step 10: ssh root@(IP found on your iOS device) and hit enter again. Repeat Step 9.

Step 11: Put your device into DFU mode with ./kloader pwnediBSS. On the screen, it will say “Magic happening now. (attempted!)”

Step 12: Quit the current terminal and open a new tab. One last command line.

./idevicerestore -w ./custm_downgrade.ipsw (replace with your custom firmware name)

Now that everything has completed. Just wait for the device to restore.

Surprise, your iPhone 4s or iPad 2 is now running on iOS 6.1.3 without using a single SHSH file.

If for some reason you’re unable to follow every step above or got stuck in the middle, watch this Youtube video below.

OdysseusOTA 2 is now available

Undoubtedly, the initial version of OdysseusOTA has some weaknesses that may prevent users from taking advantage of the tool. Understanding that, the second version has been released. Dubbed OdysseusOTA 2, this utility now supports El Capitan (Mac OS). Furthermore, you can now downgrade the following devices:

• iPhone 5
• iPhone 5c
• iPhone 4s
• iPad 2
• iPad 3

Of course, they have to be within iOS 9 to 9.0.2. To see all the changes and how to get started, check out this article.