PSA: Apple has stopped signing iOS 9.3.4 following iOS 9.3.5 security update

Two weeks after the release of iOs 9.3.5, Apple today has stopped signing iOS 9.3.4. Essentially this means that users will no longer be able to downgrade or upgrade to the operating system, with everyone instead being pushed towards iOS 9.3.5.

Generally, part of Apple’s reasoning behind signing closures is to close loopholes taken advantage of by the jailbreaking community, as was the case when the company stopped signing iOS 9.3.3 last month. This time, however, Apple’s primary reasoning behind closing the signing of iOS 9.3.4 likely relates to the security flaw that was fixed with iOS 9.3.5.

For those unaware, iOS 9.3.5 fixed a serious security exploit that allowed hackers to gain access to a user’s contacts, texts, calls, and emails. The exploit was described as being created “to spy on dissidents and journalists.” A similar exploit was fixed on OS X, as well.

On Apple’s part, it likely quickly stopped signing iOS 9.3.4 in an effort to push all users to towards the more secure iOS 9.3.5. Of course, in stopping signing the operating system, users are unable to downgrade for reasons like jailbreaking, though there currently is no jailbreak for iOS 9.3.4.

This isn’t big news for the jailbreaking community at all, though, as Pangu has already shown Cydia running on iOS 10. iOS 10 has likely been the focus of jailbreak developers for some time now, anyway.

Now that Apple has closed the signing window for iOS 9.3.4, only the most current version of iOS is being signed.