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How do I upgrade my iPad 3 from iOS 5.1 to 7.x (now when the latest version is >8)?

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    iOS 9 is perfectly fine. It's a little buggy, but you don't have to worry about it screwing up your iPad 3.
    – RedEagle2000
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 20:21
  • @RedEagle2000 I'm mostly worried about performance when running iOS 8 or 9 on an old iPad 3. Isn't it slower than iOS5, require more memory etc?
    – salle
    Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 8:37
  • @Tetsujin This question is interesting, because at the time that OP asked the question, Apple was still signing iOS 7. So while the answer is quite simple for this particular question (download the IPSW and restore with iTunes), and the answer was relevant for a short time, it shortly became stale. Regardless, it was always a duplicate of that question. So whether the mods want to mark it that way is up to them. Like you, my stance is that it is a duplicate, so I'm going to flag it as well.
    – Andrew Larsson
    Commented Mar 7, 2016 at 17:05
  • Apple are still signing iOS 7, if you have an iPhone 4. Not for anything else. I'm marking any of these 'can I have something other than current iOS' questions that I find as a dupe of that particular one, because the answers are the most canonical.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Mar 7, 2016 at 17:14

1 Answer 1

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  • First backup your iPad in case something goes wrong (if you have jailbroken your device I advice you to save your shsh blobs, it's not necessary).
  • Next download the os version you want to upgrade to from https://ipsw.me/
  • Finally open iTunes, cancel if asked for an update. Go to your iPad's summary page. Hold alt/option key (OS X), or Shift key (Windows) and click on restore. A window will show up choose the ipsw your downloaded before and and your upgrade will start. Then afterwards reinstall the backup.
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  • What site is ripsaw.me and does it contain legal software?
    – mmmmmm
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 20:39
  • @Mark Yes it contains ipsw
    – enzo
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 22:13
  • I would advise against downloading any software from a non Apple source. They may be OK (probably in fact) but there is an increased risk of malware. This is not a comment against this particular website.
    – Ali Beadle
    Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 18:31
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    @AliBeadle the website only mirrors the correct ipsw for the iDevice, the download link comes from apple.com ! Check api.ipsw.me/docs
    – enzo
    Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 18:35
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    Thanks for the site, but I don't really see how this helps since usually all but the latest version is unsigned and can't be restored in iTunes.
    – O'Rooney
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 20:45

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