[4 Methods] How to Fix "The Firmware File is Not Compatible" issue

What is iPhone/iPad firmware file?

The iPhone/iPad firmware file is a file with the IPSW extension consisting of the system software to maintain the stability and compatibility of your iOS devices. It is necessary when you use iTunes to restore iPhone/iPad, update iOS data, and transfer data to new iPhone. 

However, when you were updating or restoring iPhone/iPad with iTunes, you might get the error message saying the iPhone/iPad could not be restored/updated because the firmware is not compatible. What does "incompatible firmware file" mean? It usually means your computer can't recognize the IPSW files. And it is probably because of invalid or firmware files, outdated iTunes versions, and so on.

How to fix “the firmware file is not compatible” issue with 4 methods

Don't worry, here we provide 4 solutions to solve this problem. You can try them one by one.

Solution 1. Turn off your anti-virus program

For some unknown reason, some anti-virus programs will cause the malfunction of firmware file. You can try disabling your anti-virus software for a while, and run iTunes to update or restore your iPhone again.

Solution 2. Restart the computer

If you barely use iTunes to manage your iPhone, your computer probably didn’t recognize the firmware file. You can disconnect your iDevice and restart your PC. Run iTunes again.

Solution 3. Update the iTunes version

Make sure you have installed the latest iTunes version on your computer. Some old iTunes versions might contain some bugs. The firmware problem might be solved by the latest iTunes version. Click “Help” on the top menu of iTunes window. Then choose “Check for Update” to check if there is any newer version. Then follow the prompt to install the latest iTunes.

Solution 4. Manually download the firmware file

If you have installed the latest iTunes version, and the problem is still here. You can manually download the firmware file.

Step 1. Go to the IPSW site on your computer.

Step 2. Choose your device and model.

Step 3. Choose a signed ipsw file. Then download it on your computer.

Backup and Restore iPhone with iTunes alternative-FoneTool

After trying all these methods below, if the "the firmware file is not compatible" problem is still there, you can turn to the iTunes alternative-FoneTool, which is also a professional and all-in-one iOS device manager. It comes with various features helping you backup and manages your iPhone data on its easy-to-use interface, such as

• Full Backup and restore: It allows you to create a full backup on your computer or external disk. When iTunes can't backup your device and you want to backup iPhone before updating iOS, it is a nice choice.
• Custom Backup and transfer data: You can also choose photos, videos, messages, etc to backup/transfer from iPhone to computer/external disk. And Custom Backup is incremental so you can save your storage space by only backup newly added data.
• Restore/erase iPhone to factory settings: When you encounter an issue or want to sell your old iPhone/iPad, you delete personal iPhone/iPad data and make it fresh with the "Erase iPhone" feature.

Now you can download this software, then we will demonstrate to you how it works by introducing the Full Backup function.

✍What does Full Backup include?

It will backup most of the data on your device, including backup your photos, contacts, call history, text messages, memos, calendars, Safari (history, bookmarks), applications (data files, preference), system settings. Just like iTunes, When restoring the backup, it will delete the targeted iPhone data. So this feature plays its role when people update their iOS/iPadOS. 

Step 1. Run FoneTool and click “Phone Backup” on the left side of the main interface. Move the cursor on "Full Backup". Click "Get Started".

✍Note: You can also choose “Selective Backup” to selectively or incrementally backup music, contacts, messages, photos, etc.

Step 3. Click "Backup Storage Path" to choose the backup path. To backup “Activity”, “Health”, “Keychain” and other data, you can encrypt the process. Then click “Start Backup”.

Wait for the process to get finished. To restore the backup, you can click “Backup History” to restore the backup.

Conclusion

Hope this post can help you fix the problem of “the firmware is not compatible" when updating or restoring iPhone/iPad. You can restart your PC, disable the anti-virus program, update the iTunes version, download ispw files to fix it. Or turn to iTunes alternative-FoneTool. It helps you erase iPhone, backup iPhone data, but also transfer iPhone data from iPhone to PC, and from PC to iPhone.