14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone devices that will be upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile will have the option to downgrade back to the original operating system forever, Microsoft says, as it’s important for users to have the option to recover should any issue be experienced.
Windows 10 Mobile is not available to all Windows Phone devices, as Microsoft wants everyone upgrading to get the full experience on the new OS, so depending on the hardware limitations of every model, some aren’t getting the upgrade.
But even those that upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile can always return to Windows Phone 8.1 in case users come across to a major bug or if simply the new operating system isn’t their cup of tea.
This is clearly an important option for the Windows Phone community, as the majority of companies usually remove the right to downgrade after a while. In Windows 10’s case, however, an option to go back to Windows Phone will be there and there are “no plans” to offer a recovery image to Windows 10 Mobile build 10586.164.
No direct recovery to Windows 10 Mobile
Jason, a program manager at Microsoft, explained on Twitter that this is quite an important feature “for a retail user going from 8.1 to 10 who may hit an issue and need to recover, as they need an 8.1 image to recover to.” Additionally, he says that “devices that originally had 8.1 will keep those original recovery images.”
While this is quite a neat feature, it might come unhandy when trying to recover back to Windows 10 Mobile. If you’ve already upgraded your phone, hit an issue and want to restore, you need to go back to Windows Phone and only then install Windows 10 Mobile once again, which clearly takes more time than a more straightforward process.
Microsoft’s probably still working on this feature and could announce more tweaks in the future, so hopefully a way to recover to Windows 10 Mobile too will also be offered.
@zayn_brandon @neil_hedley @windowsinsider @GabeAul No plans for that. Devices that originally had 8.1 will keep those orig recovery images — Jason (@NorthFaceHiker) April 4, 2016