Q: iPhone 5 not charging

This seems to be more than a faulty cable issue. I am in the cell phone repairs business and I have received many calls in the past couple of weeks about iPhone 5 no longer charging once the battery has completely drained.

At first, I thought that it was a faulty lightning connector and I replaced it only to find out that the phone would still not charge. Next I replaced the battery and the phone powered up (battery was pre-charged) and started charging normally. However, after a few days, the battery was allowed to completely drained again and the phone would not charge again. I doubted that it was a faulty battery but I replaced it again just in case it happened to be defective. Same thing happened with the second new battery, the phone worked and charged properly until the battery was allowed to drain and then the phone would not charge.

The only solution that I have so far is to take the battery out and manually charging it using an 5 volts external power supply. I only have to mannually charge it for a few minutes, enough to get 2-3%. After a few minutes, I put the battery back in the phone and the phone powers and charges fine.

I know that this solution is not practical for most but it works. To me it appears that this might be a software or a power management issue with the motherboard.

I too think this is a software issue. It appears to me that Apple is either being clever or stupid..... Cables work fine for a while then they stop.... Nothing wrong with the cables, I have tested them all..... But Apple know when you are using a non-Apple cable and say so..... I suspect they are being too clever and can recognise cables....

Mine was doing the same thing. I too purchased a new cable, belkin to be exact. Well it didn't do a thing. The new cable didn't work either. I decided to try to clean the port on the phone where the cable inserts. I got a toothpick and guess what?! A bunch of lint was lodged inside there not allowing the cable to properly engage. It's been in my pocket and so has my lint.

When I first subscribed to this thread way back in march I had only had my phone for a very short time. Never kept it in my pocket and checked to see if there was any lint. There was not. For some reason the phone itself was having issues charging on cables that were certified Apple cables. Since then it's been charging fine on a substandard cable I purchased through Target. Really for me though I fixed it completely, I went Galaxy and will never have to deal with an overpriced shoddy piece of crap again.

OK, thanks to all who suggested cleaning out the slot for the lightning connector.  Here's a pic of what I pulled out using a plastic coated paper clip and a small flashlight. The connector seems to fit better now.  If the charging problem isn't fixed, I'll post an update.  I suspect this is going to fix the problem. Now I wonder how much is in the earphone connection!

I have the problem of my iPhone 5 not charging. I've had the phone since November 2013, and have had this issue since day 1. I thought it was the outlet, since we live in a new house and had yet to use that specific outlet. I've tried using different outlets, plugging it into my computer instead of the wall. I've tried cleaning out the charging port with air, toothpick, etc. Still inconsistent, still won't charge properly. Sometimes it charges fine, and most of the time it doesn't. When I let my battery drain completely, my phone will charge long enough for the phone to turn on (usually around 2-3%) and then stops charging completely.

I left my phone connected to the charger for 8 hours in the hopes that it would charge a little bit, and it usually gets about 25-40% charged. Yet now it's charging just fine.

What is wrong with it? I am using the cable from Apple that came with my phone.

You have a bad battery most likely. Less likely but possibly a bad charger. You should have exercised your warranty by now unless you bought it used.

iPhone 5 charging was randomly intermittent, then totally stopped charging.  As suggested somewhere on this thread I turned off the phone and used a plastic coated paperclip, and pulled out a bunch of previously invisible lint from the lightining port.  Phone charges fine now.

My iPhone 5, My wife's iPhone 5, my iPad, and my 2 daughters iPads all stopped charging yesterday. We all tried different cables, old adapters, my car charger. No one could get anything to charge. Seems really strange that every cable set and device we had would stop charging at the same time. Tried powering off and then on, that worked for me on one of the chargers but not for others. Plugged into the car which has always worked and got a accessory may not be supported message once, nothing the other times. Bought a new charger for car today at Apple store and it works fine. Also bought a regular charger for the office and that works fine. Am I completely out of my mind to think that Apple released some sort of software update that made older chargers not work and forced me to go spend money on new chargers? How could all those chargers go bad on the same day?

I had the same issue with the phone not charging, I noticed the plug was not seating correctly. I turned it off and used a plastics toothpick and pulled out a ball off fluff just like in the picture above, the phone is now working perfectly again.

Thanks gch and Jock. Scooped out an enormous amount of lint with a plastic toothpick, (would not use anything metal). Phone charging fine now. This is the second time I've had this problem and the last time they replaced the phone at the store, it was still under warranty. You would think they might have checked for lint

Many thanks. I was getting ready to order a new charger but decided to see if anyone else was having this issue. I read all the comments and used the compresses air and it worked! It was easier for me to do it this way and may help others to try the compressed air if concerned about pulling out lint/fluf with an object.

Absolutely - the tooth-pick idea works perfectly, especially digging out the edges. Any cable bought which isn't Apple's own product does not work anymore.

Actually many do, it's a matter of finding one that does then buying lots of them. I've found there are two identifiers in the black cabled. Where the cord goes into the phone, if the cord goes into the little plug is abrupt with no taper, it won't work. The black cords that have a nice tapered connection on the small end still work just fine. It the plug seems to fit to tight... Those don't work either.

i have the same problem but i have already gone through 5 different chargers and they work for a little while then stop working and you have to wiggle round the wire to get it to work then it just doesnt work completely, and i dont know what else i can do because im wasting money on them. i have never dropped my phone and its always in a case so i dont know if its the phone or just every charger i have brought has not worked only 1 of them wasnt an apple charger, is it worth taking the phone to the apple shop?