How to get Google Maps back onto your iPhone

If you’re standing in the middle of a car park wondering why your iPhone thinks you’re at the local Greggs then you might be ever-so-slightly missing Google Maps on iOS. But it’s too late to roll back right? Wrong – and here’s how.

Downgrade to iOS 5 – iTunes

Before you get things rolling, you need to make sure that you’re not currently running the latest version of iTunes (iTunes 10.7). If you are, ensure that your music is backed up, uninstall iTunes, grab the relevant installer below and install iTunes 10.6.3

iTunes 10.6.3 for Mac OS X

iTunes 10.6.3 for Windows (64bit)

Downgrade to iOS 5 – download iOS 5

Next up you’re going to have to download iOS 5 for the iThing of your choice, so head on over to iClarified and download the relevant CDMA or GSM iOS 5.1.1 IPSW file for your device.

To check which file you need simply head on over to the link for your appropriate region below, find your network and determine whether it’s GSM or CDMA.

Europe

Americas

Asia

Middle East and Africa

Still with us? Good.

Downgrade to iOS 5 – backup

Unless you want to lose everything, the next step involves backing up your iDevice either to iCloud or iTunes itself. To back up to iCloud hit up ‘Settings’, ‘iCloud’, ‘Storage and Backup’ and select ‘Back Up Now’.

To backup directly to iTunes simply right-click your device on the left hand side and select ‘Back Up’.

Downgrade to iOS 5 – install iOS 5

And here’s where the fun begins. Go to your device page in iTunes, and click ‘Restore’ while pressing the ‘option’ key (Mac) or ‘ctrl’ key (Windows). This should allow you to select the iOS 5.1.1 file you downloaded earlier.

Select the file, and let iTunes do its thing. Exciting, isn’t it?

Downgrade to iOS 5 – restore your backup

Once your iDevice is back to running iOS 5 you can restore your data from either your previous iCloud or iTunes backup.

If nothing has melted and there’s no sign of smoke then congratulate yourself for turning back the clock. Needless to say, Stuff holds no responsibility for anything that might go wrong at any stage in this process, so carry out this procedure at your own risk.

Instructions adapted from MacLife

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About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.