The road to renewal has become a "one-way street"! iPhone cannot be downgraded after upgrading to iOS26

Today, Apple shut down signature verification for iOS 18.6.2 and earlier, which means that iPhone users who have been upgraded to iOS 26 will not be able to downgrade back to the old version of the system through official channels. This topic quickly became a hot search on Weibo, causing widespread discussion among users.

　The closure of the system verification channel occurred about one week after the official version of iOS 26 was pushed. According to Apple's usual practice, the company will gradually stop signing support for the old system after the new system is released to promote users to use the latest security updates and avoid security risks caused by vulnerabilities in the old system. Currently, Apple only retains the signature of iOS 18.7 version, but it is limited to older devices that cannot be upgraded to iOS 26.

　　IOS 26 is called the system version with the largest design change since iOS 7, and has introduced a new "liquid glass" interface design. However, user feedback is polarized: some users appreciate its modern and simple visual style, but many users have also reported problems such as animation lag and operation hysteresis on old iPhones, and even significantly shortened battery life and abnormal heating of the device.

For users who have been upgraded, if they encounter system instability or functional abnormalities, they can try to reserve about 48 hours for the device to complete the system self-optimization, and at the same time check and close unnecessary new features, and ensure that all applications are updated to the latest version. If Face ID fails, the temporary solution is to turn off the "stolen device protection" function and reset the face recognition.

A technology observer pointed out that Apple will usually fix the problem of the initial version in subsequent updates such as iOS 26.1. It is recommended that users with higher stability requirements can temporarily postpone the upgrade and wait for the release of a more mature system version. This incident also reminds users that they should carefully evaluate before major version updates, because once upgraded, they will not be able to fall back, which has become a "one-way street" in Apple's system update strategy.