No accessory = "This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone..."

OK a caveat with this one, obviously this could seriously damage your phone but this is my experience. I read all these posts, tried everything and still got the pop up. I was resigned to the fact that I'd have to buy a new phone. I was a bit drunk and thought since it could be water damage or pocket lint I'd try this. I quickly ran a cigarette lighter back and forth under the phone a few times by the port - it worked. No pop up since. Worked for me but of course it could cause more damage. Be careful if you decide to try this and don't blame me if you melt your phone :)

Turning off the phone and cleaning the contacts with an alcohol swab can also work.

FOUND A FIX!!😀

I had the same issue. It started when I removed my apple headphones while the iPod app was playing music. When you do this the music stops playing automatically. I think something went wrong with this whole scene.

Next time I went to use my phone I got the message "This accessory is not optomized...", even though there were no accessories attached to the phone, nor was it plugged in. I tried pluging and unplugging the headphones multiple times, restarting the phone, syncing and none of these things worked.

WHAT WORKED??

What worked for me was to force quite all running applications by double clicking the home button to show all running apps, then holding one of the running apps down until they all started to shake and show a minus ➖ sign. Then I closed all running apps by clicking the ➖ for each one. Worked for me!😉

What worked for my iPhone 4 (Verizon), and a friends iPhone 4 (AT&T) is as follows: turn off your device immediately when you start getting the messages. Wipe your phone off with a dry cloth, and place the device in a ziploc bag. Fill the bag up with instant rice, any brand will do. Make sure you cover all sides and the front/back of your device. Close the bag up and squeeze as much air out as you can. Put the bag and phone someplace where it can rest for at least 3-4 hours (longer is better). This will draw any moisture out of the device, which is a recurring problem for some people - especially those in more humid climates. After you remove the device from the rice and bag, gently wipe it off. Use a fine brush to sweep out the USB connection port. Roll a piece of paper towel between your fingers until it is just slightly bigger than the iPhone headphone port. Put the paper towel in the port and turn it several full rotations. Then move it in and out of the port. I didn't use any rubbing alcohol or other solvents, but if this fix doesn't work for you, you can give it another try, this time moistening the brush and paper towel. Just be careful, and I hope this fix works as well for you as it did for me!

Ok... following this happening to me and getting it resolved earlier in this thread - after a few days searching different retailers (in Ireland there seems to be little in the way of cases that cover the port areas!) i have found a case worth mentioning on here that may prevent this from happening.... it's a case from Otter (Otter Box) rubber case fits over the phone unit and that goes into a lightweight alluminum frame - at the port end there is a rubber port plug as there is for the headphone socket.

Cost me €30

http://www.otterbox.com/iPhone-4-Commuter-Series-Case/APL4-I4XXX,default,pd.html ?dwvar_APL4-I4XXX_color=20&start=4&cgid=apple-iphone-4-cases

My iPhone 4 started popping up error messages that seemed to make no sense like “This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone” when no accessories were attached. Worse, all sounds stopped. No more music from Pandora, no clicks or beeps. I researched it and found the culprit was the 30 pin docking connector. Very close examination with a loupe showed a small area of darker color on a few of the pins where some corrosion had occurred, probably when a tiny drop of water or other liquid got on the connector. The phone was sensing a slight electrical difference and assuming it was something trying to connect.

The solution was to clean the connector with a contact cleaner. I used DeoxIT Connector Cleaner from Radio Shack (640-4338). After turning off the phone I sprayed a small amount on the connector and let it soak for about an hour. I gave it a second spray and used a small toothbrush to gently clean the connections, then checked it with the loupe again. The discolored patches were gone, and the phone has worked fine since.

Easy! A little water got into the charger/USB port of my phone and I got this message constantly . I took a hair dryer to the end of the USB cable that plugs into my phone and also to the port on the phone itself. GONE!!!!

This started for me 2 days ago on a 3GS. It was a rainy day and I had used the phone outside once or twice. The message began popping up regularly, especially each time I received a text message. When the message appeared, I would lose lock sounds, keyboard clicks, etc., although ringtones and alarms still worked.

I did a restart to no avail. Placed the phone overnight in rice (as suggested above) with no results. Today I attempted SEVERAL of the hints suggested early in this thread, one of which worked (and none of which is a bad thing to do regardless):

• Removed screen protector to release any trapped condensate
• Wiped down phone with a soft cloth
• Took a dry cotton swab and gently wiped down connector terminals
• Removed most of the cotton from tip of another swab, then gently cleaned the headphone jack
• Took a dry, soft toothbrush and removed debris from terminals and speakers
• Blew out excess residue with compressed air

After these steps I simply shut the phone off. When I turned it back on, there were no error messages and I had full sound. The steps mentioned took less than ten minutes, plus: I did not need to take my phone to the Apple store; I did not need to deal with tech support; the problem is solved; and, my phone is pretty darn clean!

Had the same problem with my 3gs.

Fixed it by:

1. Cleaning out the lint accumulated in the dock connector part of the phone (gently used a needle then a vacuum with crevice attachment)

2. (this is what did the trick!) Wipe the connectors in the dock connector part of the phone (may have to do this a couple times) with a cotton makeup remover pad lightly soaked in rubbing alcohol. I used one side of Swiss army knife tweezers to get the cotton pad to wipe over the connectors.

I Have the same problem sometimes that shows to me somtimes it miss it ends somtimes back hahah for the first i see it i didn't undersant for it but when i just open my Itunes Music she cant play But Now it play all the music . When i put Charger It shows again To Lock scren i dont know what is this Shitt :A

Hey, I have tried everything that has been said in this, clean it with a toothbrush, ear buds, reset etc... but nothing seems to be working. I actually don't get it. My friend who works at apple doesn't even have any idea. So if someone can help me out, I will ring apple up, tell them to fire my friend and replace them with you cos this is ridiculous..... also I just wanna use my phone to listen to music... I AM NOT A BAD PERSON!!!

Get a magnifying glass and carefully inspect the connector on the phone. If there is no dirt, corrosion or bent pins you may have an internal hardware problem. Have you tried a different cable? Does the message appear only when something is plugged in, or randomly when nothing is plugged in?

Hey dude,

It looks fine when I examine it and there is nothing I can see which is out of the ordinary. The message only started appearing once I plug my phone into my friend hi fi (the ones where is plays your songs and charges it up) and its been doing it. The message appears randomly and I cannot adjust the volume via the buttons on the side of the phone.

any other ideas? I thought maybe some water might have got in it some how but it all started from the hi-fi incident

If there is water damage there will be a red dot in the connector on the bottom or at the bottom of the headphone jack.

If the hifi was not certified for the iPhone it could have caused damage, although that is really rare.

hey again dude, where abouts exactly would the red dot be? also thanks for the replies. Also do you work at apple? you want my friends job?