Q: iphone 5 stuck on red battery screen

This is a hardware defect that is quite common in the iPhone 5 and is now appearing in the other devices that use the lightning charging system.  The usb logic ic, called U2, in the iPhone 5 is easily damaged by unregulated voltage swings that pass through non-Apple chargers---especially cheap car chargers.

The symptoms of U2 failure are: rapid battery drain, auto power on at battery reconnect, inability to charge a stone dead battery, fake charging, no usb detection, hot spot at U2 chip.   Any or all of these symptoms can occur with a U2 failure.

This chip is encapsulated in a not-meant-for-removal black underfill substance that complicates our ability to replace the chip.  There are a few places in the UK and Europe that can change the U2 ic chip, but as of early December 2014, there are no US repair shops that offer the service.

jessa

Your iPhone could be defective. Check to see if you're eligible for a free battery replacement on Apple's behalf: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/

Andrew, Did you find any solution for this case? I got similar problem. My iphone was showing 80% and within 1 min it is 1%. It worked on 1% for few hours before it was dead. Now my iphone is stuck on red battery logo.

I am having the exact same issue with my phone.

FOR ANYONE THAT'S TRIED EVERYTHING & STILL STUCK ON CHARGING SCREEN:

I found the solution! For reference I have an iPhone 5, and mine went into charging screen after I tried Upgrading into iOs 9.

If you've tried every single thing on the net hard reset, soft reset, cleaning charger port, etc. and still can't get it to get OFF the Charging Screen & You think you need a new battery, TRY this method first:
Let the iPhone completely die.  Plug an original iPhone charger to USB cord & into your PC or Mac. While it's plugged in - Reboot the Laptop, this may take  once or several trials before the iPhone finally turns on/or into the Apple Logo, eventually you will finally be able to sign onto iTunes, and restore, or restart your iPhone, iPod, or iPad without losing all your Info. Most cases this has worked!

For me, I had to first unplug the battery cord from the motherboard, and then try the same steps.  Took me 3x's for it to finally work.
I have watched every single video on YouTube, regarding this issue, and read every thread I could for 3 days, Until I found this in a Forum. Hundreds of people got there's to work.  Read their results here:
http://forums.everythingicafe.com/threads/iphone-wont-charge-or-turn-on.16042/  
If the link doesn't work go to www.everythingicafe.com search through the forums "iphone wont charge or turn on". 

I bought a Battery thinking that was the issue, although my phone will need a new battery eventually ( due to dying quickly )  Nothing has worked

for me, Until I tried those steps.  Hope this helped.

I had this same issue today while I was at work. I

was able to plug it into itunes and it took care of the problem.

The problem came back twice after this

My phone was fully charged and docked when the red battery just appeared and would not go away? It's a 4S and a couple of years old, so most likely needs a new battery, which is a simple and inexpensive fix (just google). But I am away in the middle of a vacation, and a huge rain storm from a hurricane, so getting a new batt anytime soon won't work. I tried all the reboot and iTunes fixes, but after six hours on the charger, still a red batt. Then I found this thread about heating the phone to put a slight charge in the batt <http://forums.imore.com/iphone-4s/231912-iphone-won-t-charge-after-battery-drain ed.html>, go to the 16th post by VFRWiz... doing this made my phone alive again, it's all about heating the batt to get it up past the lithium auto-shut down level (which is what the red line battery icon means).

Following is how it worked for me, and my phone is fine now 12 hours later. Do not do this unless you are desperate, it would be best to get a new battery if you can, or into an Apple Store. ALSO be VERY careful not to over-heat the phone, read the entire thread above, as some advise against doing this at all, and there are some other tricks, and finally follow my advice at your own peril:

I used a heat-gun (super-hot & can melt solder, but was very careful not to get too close -most people used a hair dryer) from about 10 to 12 inches away, with the iPhone 4S face down, pointing the heated air at the back right side & edge (where batt is) for one full minute, phone gets pretty hot so be careful, then put the phone back on the charge cord right away. The red battery symbol was immediately replaced with the white apple and a progress bar, then Photos & iTunes launched on my computer and a moment later my iPhone splash screen came up!!! Holy Moly, what a save. NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Go get a new battery. Hope this helps someone who is stuck, but do be careful not to overdue the heat, you could damage the phone.

Another post in the middle of page 3 explains the science of the "Heated Battery," which I paste here:

For the Electricians, it's as simple as V / I x R

For the rest of you, Voltage over Current times Resistance.

Basically, heat creates resistance with electronics, and because resistance (ohms) and current (amps) are friends, they increase the value of Voltage.

Example: 30ohms x 5amps = 150volts

If you heat it up, the ohms will rise, example.. 35ohms x 5amps = 175 volts

(note this isn't the actual stats of your battery, just a loose example)

Now because you applied heat to your iPhone battery, or any Lithium Ion battery with a circuit that cuts off when it drains too low, you re-enable the circuit because you charged the battery slightly through raising the resistance inside of itself, thus rising the voltage. (very neat trick, eh?)

Another thing about this funny science thing is... if you are a person who wears a wrist watch.. have you ever wondered why the battery in your watch lasts so much longer while you are actually wearing it all the time?

Thank you so much! This helped me so much! I didn't have a hair dryer on hand and was on a time crunch, so I held my iPhone against my fresh mug of coffee in desperation, and to my delight, when I plugged the phone in after a minute, the white apple sign showed up and it was working again! I never expected this to work: thank you for the advice!

Wow, the coffee cup trick worked, it didn't even take too much time! I put the phone under a warm coffee cup for about a minute

looks like for whatever reason the battery needed to be jump started.  My advice based on this, start with a little bit of heat, a coffee cup or blow dryer

Thanks!!

Hi,

I had this problem, i used a heat gun to heat up the back of my iphone 5s for about 30 second and i then pluged my iphone straight in to a wall charger and the apple logo came up. please be careful because it gets really hot. i think the cup of tea or coffee can do the trick as well.

Holy crap! The heating thing actually worked! My iPhone five has been experiencing insane battery glitches since the last update and was stuck on the red battery screen-- despite being plugged in all evening. I couldn't connect to iTunes to do a restore, so I've been stuck for the past two hours. However, found this post, added some heat from a nearby heating fan and -- VIOLA! Restoring iPhone as we speak. I can't believe this trick worked.

Thank you.  Didn't believe it would work but out of desperation before wasting time heading to the Genius Bar since I am on call tried this and worked.  Thank you very much.