Every year, when Apple announces (usually at WWDC) that its next version of iOS is entering the testing phase, it begins to publish a series of betas to finish debugging the new features of that version. These betas are only officially available to developers registered with the company’s program and, although the test versions are downloaded from the developer portal, it is always possible to find alternative download links. Until this year, in addition to the ipsw file that contains the iOS version, it was also necessary to have the UDID of our device registered in Apple systems.
This caused a proliferation of web pages that did business by registering devices in their developer accounts in exchange for a certain amount of money. It is probable that this was one of the reasons why this year any user could install an ipsw without having a registered device.
The problem is that iOS betas have an expiration date, usually with enough slack to allow a few days after the release of the next beta. That is, if we install iOS beta 2, it does not expire when beta 3 appears, but we still have a few days until the initial beta expires. That if, once expired, the device becomes useless, which forces us to restore it completely.
If we are registered in the Apple developer program, we will be aware of each new update, in addition to having direct access to the betas. If we are not, you have to wait for someone to post the links to the new betas on the internet.
Despite the fact that we have already had the final version of iOS 7 available for a few days (in fact we are already on version 7.0.2), there are still users with betas installed on their devices. They will have been unpleasantly surprised today to discover that the iOS 7 betas have expired, leaving their iPads without service.
Is it possible to recover them? Yes, although the process is a bit more expensive. To do this, you have to restore the device by installing the latest version of iOS (7.0.2). If your iPad is still not locked, connect it to your computer and open iTunes. In the summary tab, press the Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) key while clicking on “Check for update”. iTunes will detect that there is a new version of iOS and download it.
If it’s already locked, you’ll need to put it into restore mode. With iPad connected to your computer, press and hold the device’s Home and Power buttons until the screen goes black. At that moment, release the On / Off button while continuing to press the Home button. After a few seconds iTunes will tell you that it has detected an iPad in restore mode. From there, iTunes will install the new version.
Keep in mind that you will lose any data that you have not backed up. The system, once restored, will ask you to recover the last copy made via iTunes or iCloud.
It is also possible that the system will not let you restore the new version of iOS because it asks you to first deactivate the option Find my iPhone (even if it is an iPad). Obviously, this cannot be done from the device if it is locked, so you will have to go to the iCloud.com website, connect with your username and unsubscribe the device in Search. Later, once the system is restored, you can register it again.
