Hi, I was hoping to see if it was possible to get from apple an iOS ipws we can use to downgrade an ipod5 back to ios 7. we had a test device that needed to stay on iOS 7 and some one upgraded it to 8.. so now we need to get this back on to iOS 7 (last update) if possible. we can find ipws on the net that are not official and this is risky as it could be full of malweare. so we really hoping to be able to download this from apple. the beta version that where on the dev site at the time would do the tirck if we need to go that way we will. Thaks for any help.
old iOS 7 firmware for test device
There are no authorized files to download to do what you want to do, although in some examples you may be able to restore back to the OS a device originally shipped with. Your best bet is to find a used device fossilized at a given OS and use it for your testing.
You're out of luck. Even if you could find a valid .ipsw, it is verified with Apple servers at install time and they are no longer signing iOS 7 on devices that can support iOS 8. So it wouldn't install. In fact I don't know if they're even still signing iOS 8 now that iOS 9 is out. You'll have to look to the used market if you need an iOS 7 device. On the plus side, an iPhone 4 is pretty cheap these days.