How safe is it to upgrade to a beta iOS then downgrade again?

Question

Apple responded to one of my bug reports suggesting I try to reproduce the issue in the beta version of the next iOS. As with all betas before, this one comes with a warning that

iOS [version] beta should only be installed on devices dedicated exclusively for iOS [version] beta testing. Do not install this software if you do not have a device dedicated exclusively for iOS [version] beta testing.

I don't have a device dedicated exclusively to beta testing. I'd like to resolve this bug, so ideally I could upgrade, try to reproduce the issue, then downgrade the device so I can continue normal development on it.

With my limited google skills, I've found some articles that describe doing this with the previous iOS beta, but they tend to be poorly written and require running some third-party app ("RecBoot").

I'm not going to go through this process until I have more information. What I'd like to hear is if someone has done this in the past, or knows more about how it works, and can tell me with certainty that it's safe or dangerous.

Answer 1

There is no Apple-supported way to downgrade, so I'd never want to depend on downgrading on production equipment no matter what people's past experiences have been.

Answer 2

In my experience you should only update to beta releases of iOS if you have a dedicated development device (as Apple recommend). In the past, I've updated my iPhone to beta releases and lost access to Wifi, the camera and generally had an unstable environment for everyday use.

I'm pretty sure you can't downgrade once you upgrade. I'm not an expert on this but it's something to do with the baseband being upgraded?