iPhone 5 Charging Problem - Solved

[Travis Feisthamel]

Thanks to your twist tie tip, I got my iPhone 5S fixed. I was just about to take it to the Apple store!

 

[Gayan Ranatunga]

I have spent some time dealing with a charging issue on my iPhone 5. I researched it and never found a solution that worked for me. I did, however, easily resolve the problem, so I thought I would share.

Problem: When connecting the iPhone 5 to charge or sync via a lightning cable, I would have to push really hard and, only sometimes, would it stay connected. This caused me to deal with the occasional flat battery in the morning as well as issues connecting to my computer.

Solution: Take a paperclip and clean the built-up lint from inside where the cable connects on the iPhone. The lint appears to limit how far the lighting connector is inserted. Once clear, I had no more problems charging / connecting my phone.

Hopefully this helps someone

Ok today my iPhone bat died and when I tried it charge it it didn't work ... Tried so many things like plug it into my lap etc... None of which worked ... So took ur advice and cleaned it and presto!!! It worked ... U the man !!! Cheers

 

[VanPaddy]

Thank you so much for this. Now that you mention it, it's something I really should have tried before despairing.

I used a plastic-handled thumb-tack to do the necessary. It's got insulation built-in. Got quite a bit of muck out of there!

I'm also going to remember to keep the phone head down in my pockets from now on - since most of the lint builds up at the bottom of pockets, keeping the charging port away from that should help.

 

[Brenoborga]

Thank you so much, i was almost giving up ! I saw a lot of blogs trying to figure why that was happening and tried everything they told me, unsuccessful until now. :biggrin:

 

[Ashok Jallepalli]

Your advice helped solve half part of the problem. Thank you. I need to clear much better, I think.

 

[ibra0717]

Man I had the same problem for months, this was a nightmare. thank you som much for sharing the info, I just cleaned mine and followed your suggestiion and its working perfect now, I hope I have not damaged anything trying to push hard earlier though. but thank you very very much

 

[mjones96]

Re: Using a Toothpick and Toilet Tissue: Solved!

Hey, tonight my phone was in water for maybe on second ant the most. Now it will not charge.. I have tried cleaning it out with a paperclip to get dust out, putting it in a bag of rice and it will not charge.. I know that it isn't the cord because it worked earlier today. It is not the apple brand but it works. I am at a loss and replacing it really is not an answer.. Is there anything left to do? I am not sure if we have any p[pressurized air in the house. I just need to get it working :/ Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Mikeyy1960]

I was having same trouble and bought a new charging cable and it worked ok at first then it started acting up again. If i put a lil pressure on the connector it would charge, but soon was the same. Even using my car charger it would do the same thing.

I found this post and tried it using a bread twist tie and got a few tiny pieces out and now its working and charging with original cord that came with my phone. :biggrin:

 

[Billy Zwiener]

Thanks for this thread. I have asked Apple people at AT&T and they all seem to deny the fact that this DOES screw up your charger and compressed air only helps so much. Because of this thread I went the extra mile and did use a safety pin which was able to pull up tons of lint that was impacted down extremely far and was NOT going to budge with compressed air. After I did this it worked a little better but I went even further and used pipe cleaner used for kids crafts, dipped it in rubbing alcohol and sent that pipe cleaner down in there. After using both of these techniques my phone charger port works like a charm.

To all of you people saying wash your pants... eh, most lint comes from washing and drying pants, so its not a hygiene issue, its a common issue that has clogged up two phones of mine and an iPad (no pockets to even put that one in) that use this type of port.

 

[Peligro911]

Thanks for this thread. I have asked Apple people at AT&T and they all seem to deny the fact that this DOES screw up your charger and compressed air only helps so much. Because of this thread I went the extra mile and did use a safety pin which was able to pull up tons of lint that was impacted down extremely far and was NOT going to budge with compressed air. After I did this it worked a little better but I went even further and used pipe cleaner used for kids crafts, dipped it in rubbing alcohol and sent that pipe cleaner down in there. After using both of these techniques my phone charger port works like a charm.

To all of you people saying wash your pants... eh, most lint comes from washing and drying pants, so its not a hygiene issue, its a common issue that has clogged up two phones of mine and an iPad (no pockets to even put that one in) that use this type of port.

Had this issue with my 5s I didn't even think about lint I took it to Apple and they cleaned it out for me and was on my way lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Frank Lusby]

Thanks very much. There was a lot of lint in there and the paperclip cleaning worked great! Appreciate your post

 

[fredabcdefg]

Thanks. It worked like a charm.

 

[Bstad21]

This is nuts, it worked like a charm to clean out the lint. I used a paper clip and scooped out what I thought was an amount not possible of fitting in that charging port, but it was there. And now it's gone, and my charger actually works! Nice find you guys!

 

[tdzl]

Just tried this with the business end of a push pin and it worked great. I have occasionally blown into the lightning port from time to time for modest improvement, but I was amazed at just how much compacted lint was in there. Only a small, semi-sharp object would have been able to get all that compressed lint out of there.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Jcase337]

I had tried the cleaning port methods, changing wires, etc., and bending wire back and fourth. which only worked temp. Hope this helps someone. The next best option is ill have to change out the whole entire charging port myself, not worth paying someone if your careful enough...

Subject: Ipod 5th generation charging issue
Re edit update: I tried pulling the two prong things inside the port out , but it seems to keep not charging until unless you force bend it up and down, now its wearing out or something. I guess its a larger problem that i don't know how to resolve. It looks like you need a heat gun and some soldering work to change the charging dock! I think the screen repair is a much simpler fix...I may try one more wire brand new.

 

[Adam Hockley2]

The paper clip thing worked 100% !!!!!!!! I had not even thought that lint would be the culprit. My phone was charging intermittently. I did think about cleaning it out, but I was just blowing in it and nothing was coming out. I just tried the paperclip idea and some lint came out. It still wasn't charging. In fact, it wasn't charging at all. I thought I messed something up. But, I tried it again and then all of a sudden, A LOT of lint kept coming out. I think I pushed the lint to the back with the paperclip the first time. I just kept scraping slowing and gently and stuff kept coming out. Sure enough, I plugged the phone in and it's charging 100%. I can move the phone while it's charging and it's not disconnecting at all...awesome!

 

[Tartarus]

The paper clip thing worked 100% !!!!!!!! I had not even thought that lint would be the culprit. My phone was charging intermittently. I did think about cleaning it out, but I was just blowing in it and nothing was coming out. I just tried the paperclip idea and some lint came out. It still wasn't charging. In fact, it wasn't charging at all. I thought I messed something up. But, I tried it again and then all of a sudden, A LOT of lint kept coming out. I think I pushed the lint to the back with the paperclip the first time. I just kept scraping slowing and gently and stuff kept coming out. Sure enough, I plugged the phone in and it's charging 100%. I can move the phone while it's charging and it's not disconnecting at all...awesome!

Next time please don't use metal but hard plastic or even a toothpick.
Metal can damage can damage the port.

 

[myurkus]

Wow this response is very timely-I am now having this exact issue with my iPhone 6S+ ....as I am typing this the charger keeps connecting and disconnecting intermittently.

This time I couldn't get it cleaned...as said in the previous post, I worry about putting something metal in there...I wish I still had that plastic toothpick that comes with a Swiss Army Knife!!!

 

[myurkus]

Update: great news, I got it!

I don't know if I should recommend the paper clip, but it took a paper clip, a strong headlamp, and a lot of pressure on it.

As someone else mentioned, it took a while and did not come out immediately, but after some work and a decent amount of force, I was shocked to see a good amount of lint come out! It was tough to dislodge because of all the times I forced the charger in thus impacting the lint really tightly.

I don't know if it's plastic or metal, but you can clearly tell [with a strong flashlight] when you have the lint out-it is a solid white/off-white back, rather than the greyish lint color (I was fooled into thinking i was looking at the back when in actuality I was seeing a solid sheet of lint!)

Good luck everyone! And thanks for updating this thread the *day* I needed to look into this problem again.