iPhone Charging Problem: Troubleshooting Tips and Advice

Worldwide, over a billion people are using iPhones. That number might come as somewhat of a shock to you given occasional fringe reports that suggest sagging Apple phone sales. People’s unwillingness to upgrade, however, has no impact on the fact that many are still clinging to their old models. As they do that, their risk of experiencing phone hardware issues creeps upwards. There are several common iPhone hardware issues that your run-of-the-mill device will find itself susceptible to. One of the most common is the dreaded iPhone charging problem.

If you’re plugging your charger into your phone and aren’t able to pull a charge or if your charge is exponentially slow, keep reading to learn how you can troubleshoot your problem!

1. Work With a Stock Charger

Several aftermarket chargers are rated to be compatible with iPhone models. Despite that, if you’re experiencing an iPhone charging problem, we’d recommend switching to a stock Apple charger as you go through your troubleshooting process.

As you may know, aftermarket accessories can be more finicky than OEM accessories. Some of that falls on third-party accessory’s builds while other issues can be caused by your phone rejecting an aftermarket product (even if the product had worked previously).

In the case of rejections, you’ll usually get a “this accessory is not supported” message on your phone. Even if you don’t get that message though, there’s still a possibility that a compatibility issue is torpedoing your charge.

2. Swap Your Charger Out

OEM charger or aftermarket, if you’re not capable of pulling a charge, the first place you’ll want to look is at your charger.

It could be that your cable has become damaged. Your USB-C power adapter could also have issues.

To try and eliminate potential problem sources, try different combinations of cables and adapters to see if you can get your phone to start pulling in power. If no combination you try works, move onto the next step.

3. Change Your Outlet

This one may sound obvious but believe us when we say that plenty of people have spent hours frantically troubleshooting only to find that their wall outlet was faulty. To eliminate that possibility, go to an outlet in a far-away area of your home to try one that may be on a different breaker.

If a different outlet served by a different breaker allows your phone to pull power, you’re looking at a home electricity issue, not an iPhone charging port problem.

4. Try a Computer USB Outlet

If you’ve gone through all of the steps we’ve shared so far, hoping to fix your iPhone problems by charging off of a computer is a long shot. That being said, if you have a computer that’s sporting USB 2.0 ports or above, it’s worth a shot.

Kick your computer out of sleep mode, resolve your screen to your desktop, and plug your phone in. Hopefully, you’ll see that your computer is recognizing a USB device.

Grant any relevant permissions asked by your phone and wait a couple of minutes to see if a charge current starts going.

5. Check Your Charger Port

A great many iPhone charging problem cases have been caused by faulty charging ports. While issues that can plague a bad port vary and may require professional diagnosis and repair, some are topical.

For example, debris in your port.

If you notice that your charging port has an inordinate amount of dust, dirt, or other debris on its connectors, try gently blowing your port out. We’d caution against using tools to clean your port as inexperienced cleaning could cause damage.

If a quick blow can take care of most of the visible problem though, give it a try and see if your fortunes reverse.

6. Force Restart

We tend to caution around force restarting iPhone devices that are low on battery and incapable of charging. Still, to rule out any software problems, take care of any business on your phone you may have (backing up your phone for example) and try restarting it.

Restart methodologies will change from iPhone model to iPhone model. For newer devices (8+), you’ll want to press and release the “volume up” button, press and release the “volume down” button, and then hold your “power” button.

Hopefully, when your phone boots back up, you’ll be able to charge it.

7. Let Your Device Sit

While it’s unlikely to make a dent at this point, after you’ve gone through all of these troubleshooting steps, you may want to plug your phone into a wall that you know works and let it sit for a half-hour. It could be that, after some time, your phone starts pulling in a charge again.

If after a half-hour that’s not the case, you’ll want to invest in professional help.

Our Team Is Standing by to Fix Your iPhone Charging Problem

Sometimes, there’s no getting around needing a professional touch when it comes to fixing phone issues. The good news is that when it comes to the dreaded iPhone charging problem, our Virginia-based team is well-versed in diagnosing, reporting, and getting phone users on their way.

At Fruit Fixed, we pride ourselves on making the device intake process simple and to that end, have an excellent repair processing tool you can find on our website that’ll walk you through intake and help guide you towards the help you need.

Don’t take our word for it though! Explore our services for yourself and if you find yourself in need of additional guidance, contact our team today! They’ll be happy to answer your questions and get you booked for a consult.