Computers & Electronics

Restore old iOS in iPad 2

  • Last Updated:
  • May 26th, 2020 9:42 pm
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Aug 11, 2003
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Restore old iOS in iPad 2

RFD,

Is there a way to restore iOS 6.x in an old iPad 2 WIFI? I did find some unsigned firmwares but they wont work with iTunes.

Ideas?
Please thank me if you find this helpful
15 replies
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Mar 23, 2009
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coilz wrote: You probably will have to jailbreak it first ... looks like someone did what you wanted in this article, fairly recently too https://www.richardloxley.com/2020/03/0 ... ios-6-1-3/ YMMV probably :(
It’s too late now but Apple was still signing iOS 6.1.3 for the iPad 2 with no need to jailbreak until last year.

His method is much more complicated.

Personally I think the iPad 2 is too slow if you want to surf, regardless of the OS.
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Dec 5, 2006
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EugW wrote: It’s too late now but Apple was still signing iOS 6.1.3 for the iPad 2 with no need to jailbreak until last year.

His method is much more complicated.

Personally I think the iPad 2 is too slow if you want to surf, regardless of the OS.
And wondering whether there are still apps support iOS 6
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Oct 26, 2003
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my old ipad2 been sitting on the shelf for years, not sure what to do with it, recycle?
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Apr 6, 2007
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Still have ios 5 on my ipad 2. No uses for it other than netflix or youtube (sd).
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Apr 16, 2002
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divx wrote: my old ipad2 been sitting on the shelf for years, not sure what to do with it, recycle?
Many long-term care facilities need iPad donations so loved ones can stay in touch during Covid. Maybe reach out to your local ones?
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Musiq Soulchild wrote: Still have ios 5 on my ipad 2. No uses for it other than netflix or youtube (sd).
even youtube doesn't work, it was crashing left n right years before i ditched it for good
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divx wrote: even youtube doesn't work, it was crashing left n right years before i ditched it for good
YouTube and Netflix worked on iOS 9 but it was dog slow and sometimes crashed if it wasn’t the only thing loaded.
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ipad2 doesn't even go up to ios 9
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I think the sweet spot for iPad was iOS 7, or perhaps even iOS 8.x. iOS 9 was tolerable with the iPad 2 at the launch of iOS 9, but progressively got worse over time, I suspect because the apps got more demanding and RAM hungry, and because websites got more and more bloated.

Actually right at launch of iOS 9 in 2015 I did the immediate upgrade, played with it for a while, and then reverted back to iOS 8.4 for comparison for another little while. After doing this and convincing myself that iOS 9 was tolerable, I then went back to iOS 9 again and stuck with it. Unfortunately, even by 2016, iOS 9 on the iPad 2 was noticeably worse.

No biggie though, since by that time I had already long since switched to the iPad Air 2 as my main iPad, back in 2014, and I bought another iPad Air 2 for the wife a year later in 2015. We let our toddler use the iOS 9 iPad 2, but within a couple of years it was too slow even for her, so we ended up giving it away. Now my two kids have our old iPad Air 2s, I have an iPad Pro 10.5", and my wife has an iPad 7 10.2". Everyone is happy.

To make a long story short, unless you have a LOT of patience, or if you have a very specific requirement to use the iPad 2, I wouldn't bother wasting your time with one in 2020.
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Apr 5, 2009
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I found a website that had a link to ios 6.1.3 with instructions. Worked for me. I use my iPad 2 for watching my slingbox tv anywhere
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stansoltz wrote: I found a website that had a link to ios 6.1.3 with instructions. Worked for me. I use my iPad 2 for watching my slingbox tv anywhere
Does surfing actually work on it? I'm curious. A lot of sites would be way too slow anyway, but I'm wondering if some sites now would just cause it to crash in 2020.
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I'd say 90% of sites work. My only wish is if I could find a google hangouts app that would work. Anyway, way better than the crippled ios 10 or whatever I had.
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stansoltz wrote: I'd say 90% of sites work.
Ah. That fits into my "not worth the hassle" category, esp. if it's very slow too.

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