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On my iPad 3 (The New iPad), is it possible to switch between different versions of iOS (iOS 5 & iOS 6)? If so, how?

Would also be possible to install Android and or Windows 8 on iPad? (I know for older versions of iPhone there is iphodroid and Bootlace, but these don't work on the iPad 3. There are also services that let you run Windows 8 on a computer and access it from iPad, but that is not the same as installing Windows 8 on iPad).

I don't mind if the answer involves jailbreaking.

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None of what you want is possible. And it never will be possible until suddenly Apple and Microsoft get married and the marriage is watched on live television by more than 50 million people worldwide.

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Thanks for taking the time to reply! I don't think it is that far fetched, as you can run Windows on a Mac (they both use Intel, just like Windows RT and iOs both use ARM). – big_smile Oct 20 '12 at 14:38
That’s not the way it works. You don’t just have to think about the processor. A device is not merely a processor. It is a complex system of thousands of electronic components which work together hand in hand with the software. – duci9y Oct 20 '12 at 14:49
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You could never run Android on older iPhones. Android just boots. Nothing else. Not even the display works. And no, every restore is verified with Apple’s servers, and they don’t allow you to restore to any version except the latest. – duci9y Oct 20 '12 at 17:42
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@big_smile You can switch between different versions of iOS in limited circumstances, because Apple's firmware verification process is flawed. This is easy on iPhone 4 and earlier devices since they have bootrom exploits - you just have to save Apple's iOS version signature hashes (SHSH blobs) while they're signing that version for your device, and then replay those signatures later. This is harder on newer devices like the iPad 3rd generation. This guide has more details: jailbreakqa.com/questions/32462/… (I help maintain it). – britta Nov 2 '12 at 1:29
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@duci9y You can get Android to run on older devices, as demonstrated by plenty of YouTube videos (search "iDroid" for some examples). It's very buggy, but it boots up and you can tap things. See this guide for tips people figured out to get it to work better: idroidproject.org/wiki/User_Manual – britta Nov 2 '12 at 1:34
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If you have an iPad 3rd generation on iOS 5.x with iOS 5.x SHSH blobs (signature hashes) saved, you can upgrade and downgrade between versions of iOS 5.x. You can't downgrade from iOS 6.x back to 5.x though, since the exploits used for that process are fixed with iOS 6. For more information about the limited-circumstance iPad 3rd generation downgrades and upgrades, see this iPhone Dev Team blog post.

(If you have an iPhone 4 or earlier device, you can upgrade and downgrade between any iOS versions as long as you have SHSH blobs saved for your target iOS version. This is possible because the iPhone 4 and earlier devices have bootrom exploits available.)

You're correct that the tools for installing Android on iOS devices only work for old iOS devices. This isn't likely to change anytime soon - see this blog post about the status of the iDroid project.

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@brittia Thanks for your useful advice. Your guides are very helpful! – big_smile Nov 3 '12 at 14:58

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