However, due to Apple’s stringent security measures, downgrading has historically been a pipe dream. That changed in recent years with the discovery of the "checkm8" hardware exploit and the development of tools like futurerestore. This guide explores the history, the technical requirements, and the step-by-step process of downgrading your iPod Touch 5 to iOS 6.

Congratulations! You are now staring at the iconic iOS 6 setup screen.

The iPod Touch 5 runs on the Apple A5 chip. This chip has a hardware-level bootrom exploit known as checkm8 . Because this is a hardware flaw, Apple cannot patch it via a software update. This exploit allows us to bypass the need for Apple's signature validation during the restore process, effectively allowing us to "forge" our way onto an older operating system.