iPhone 12 Pro Max Wireless Charging Problems Persist post iOS 14.3 update

According to the tech at my local Apple Store, 3rd party Qi chargers not expressly designed for the iPhone 12 line of devices can intermittently stop charging the devices. This is apparently because even though the actual wireless charging spec remains the same as previous generations of iPhone, the magnetic ring inside the device, that makes the mag-safe chargers work the way they do, leaves for a smaller charge coil inside the device, which in turn requires more-precise alignment for charging. This is apparently especially prevalent on stand-style Qi chargers, where the upright-standing device may not align with the chargers coils correctly.

One suggestion they gave me was to try putting my device down on the charge stand sideways to see if it would get better alignment. But that’s a limited workaround because now your Lock Screen is sideways.

Short of that, they suggested replacing the Qi charger with one expressly tested with the particular device I have (iPhone 12 Pro), preferably a brand that is certified by Apple, such as Belkin or Mophie. These are, admittedly, going to cost more than some generic charger on, say, Amazon.

Same here with iPhone 12 Pro. if I restart the phone, either via normal shut down or hard restart and put it on the charger immediately afterwards, it will charge for a while and then stop after an indeterminate amount of time, always short of a full recharge. Further there seems to be no pattern whatsoever as to what charge level it stops at, so that eliminates any deliberate battery-saving charge limitations.

if I pick the phone up and put it back on the charger, it sometimes starts to charge again for a while and other times not. If it starts to charge, it will again stop after an indeterminate amount of time, short of a full charge, again with no apparent pattern to indicate it might be a deliberate battery saving feature.

Restarting the phone always gets it to start charging ok, but again often stops after an indeterminate amount of time, short of the expected charge. This is a poor workaround however, because it still stops charging short of expectation and having to restart the phone totally defeats the convenience of wireless charging.

They are third party chargers, but they are Qi certified and work well with all other Qi devices in the house, including my old iPhone XR.

Further, the FordPass app completely drains my iPhone 12 Pro’s battery if left running in the background within a few hours. Ford’s tech support says it’s a known issue that has to be fixed by Apple in an iOS update and to swipe-up kill their app whenever I finish using it, as a workaround.

Finally, updating to iOS 14.3 did not fix any of these issues for me.

I too just started experiencing this type of issue with wireless charging on my iPhone 12 Pro Max running iOS 14.3

I was actually one of the folks not having any wireless charging issues since purchasing the device shortly after its release. However, as of this morning, I noticed my phone had not charged overnight on it's Tech2 charging pad as it normally did every single time prior. If I physically pull the phone away from the pad and then place it back down onto it the iPhone vibrates and indicates a charge is occuring with the lightning bolt symbol but within a second stops charging. Tried a second pad used to charge a 2020 iPhone SE and same result. Plug it into a cable, charges fine.

Ummmm, not to be that person, but this thing cost $1,300. I used to buy used cars for less and drive them for years!

Apple, whats the deal? What can we do to prevent iOS from stopping the wireless charging cycle? Is it a frequency thing? Is it a detected available current thing? Is there a signal identifier carried on the back of the magnetic field that is being rejected, What?

P.S. I'm not sure what member of the Apple marketing team decided to tout longer battery time for the iPhone 12s but they need to be fired because this 12 Pro Max last less time on a full charge than the 2 year old XS Max I traded in for it.

Mine quit charging completely after update to 14.3. It was charging OK prior to the upgrade but I have tried it on 3 charges and it does not work on any of them. My wife's iPhone 12 does charge wirelessly.

If a lay-flat charge pad isn't charging your device, you can try putting your device down on it in different positions to see if you can get more-stable coil alignment. But short of that, or if your Apple-certified charger isn't charging the device as expected, you will need to work with Apple's support, as there may be a defect in your device or the charger. Only they have the tools to determine that for sure.

If you are not using an Apple-certified charging device, be prepared for the final outcome to be a recommendation to replace your charging device with one that is both Apple-certified and labeled for your device. It should go without saying that this is also likely to cost notably more than a typical 3rd-party Qi charging device, but that should be of no surprise due to Apple's design strategies.

Same Issue with 12 Pro (not max) Keep having to restart the phone to get wireless charging to work. Really annoying. Called Apple and sent pictures of phone not charging on 4 different chargers (including MagSafe). They said they would send it to the engineers and call me back. After two weeks of not getting a call back I decided to call back (wish I didn't). They said the engineers said to wipe the phone and restart as NEW. COME ONE APPLE!!!!!! STOP THE NONSENSE!!! I am not your beta tester or at least I am not being paid to be one. Apprently we are all your beta testers as you continue to put out products not ready to be released that have issues! Who has time to spend a day resting their phone as new and starting over. This is at least the 4th time they have given me this solution over 10+years of owning iphones. NOT DOING IT THIS TIME!! Didn't work the other 4 either.

Same exact issue here. If the issue is the coil is smaller why does it charge for hours sometimes and stop? That doesn’t make sense. I paid top dollar for a three in one charger I could use with all my devices and it’s useless. I can’t use an alarm clock app if it’s laying down. My wife has same phone and charger and hers works most of the time. Please fix this issue Apple!

This is random. I've had three new iPhone 12 Pro Max have this issue out of the box. Apple initially told me it was a hardware issue so I swapped the phone out. Prior to swapping the phone out the first time I tried my older iPhone on all three wireless chargers I had and all three worked flawlessly. The 12 would not work reliably on any of the three chargers. After swapping out the phone the first time Apple doubled down on "it's a hardware issue" and we swapped out the phone again... All three new phones had the same behavior. This is clearly a design flaw. Apple advertised that the phone would work with the chargers we had and that's simply not true. NOT COOL!!!

Same here with iPhone 12 Pro. if I restart the phone, either via normal shut down or hard restart and put it on the charger immediately afterwards, it will charge for a while and then stop after an indeterminate amount of time, always short of a full recharge. Further there seems to be no pattern whatsoever as to what charge level it stops at, so that eliminates any deliberate battery-saving charge limitations. I had an Iphone 11 Pro Max with a otter box cover. It would charge on all of my wireless chargers including the stand up charger without any issues. It was a very nice way to see my phone and charge it at the same time. However, since the day I upgraded to Iphone 12 pro max, I haven't been able to use my wireless chargers (even the AT&T charger won't work on my Iphone 12 Pro Max). I thought it could be the Otterbox so I ordered a I purchased 2 diff type of covers to see if it could be the issue with the ip12 not charging on a wireless charger: Raptic Shield Case

and

AI Case Compatible with iPhone 12 Pro Max. Neither will charge unless I reset the phone, then it will charge for about 3 seconds. I think my Iphone 12 was part of that Lot# that won't charge.

if I pick the phone up and put it back on the charger, it sometimes starts to charge again for a while and other times not. If it starts to charge, it will again stop after an indeterminate amount of time, short of a full charge, again with no apparent pattern to indicate it might be a deliberate battery saving feature.

Restarting the phone always gets it to start charging ok, but again often stops after an indeterminate amount of time, short of the expected charge. This is a poor workaround however, because it still stops charging short of expectation and having to restart the phone totally defeats the convenience of wireless charging.

My wife purchased a Iphone 12 the same day. Her 12 works on all of the chargers with all of the different cover types. I've been to the AT&T store 3 times but they said I need to call Apple. All I want is a new Iphone 12 pro max that will charge on a wireless charger like it is suppose to. Or, just even me my I11 back. So frustrating to spend over a 1k for something that is broke. Apple support sucks.

I had some what the sane problem. I thought it had been fixed because for the last three weeks it had been charging perfectly on my wireless chargers which among them is the apple original one with there recomendad charging brick and all and then just last night when I placed my iphone 12 pro max on it because I only had a bit less than 20% of charge it would not charge. I turned off the the phone and then back on and it started to charge but a couple of hours later I noticed I had only 5% charge. I checked to make sure everything was connected the right way and it was so I ended up connecting it to a regular lighting charger and got phone charged but so frustrating that what Apple says is their best way of charging is in fact the worse at least it still has its lighting port available if not how would I have charged my iphone.

I have had this problem since new with the 12 mini. It will not charge on any wireless chargers, including the Qi certified chargers I have. It is particularly noticeable in our Chevy Truck which has wireless charging. I am unable to charge the phone on any of the wireless charging surfaces in the truck. I have tried all of the "tricks," including force restart, updating to 14.3.1, and positioning the phone cm by cm on the chargers.

Adding magsafe charging in this situation is simply not possible. Given this is a 12 mini, perhaps the situation with the undersized charging coil is exacerbated by the phone's smaller footprint? C'mon apple!

This is happening to me too. I thought it may have been the charger, as it was happening to multiple apple devices, so I got a brand new OEM Apple charger out of the drawer and it's still happening. It's annoying. It'll be charging fine for a few minutes then suddenly the battery bar will say "not charging" on my iPad or just no lightening bolt at all on my phones. Is there a fix, are we waiting for another update?

I thought it had been solved because my phone has been charging on all my wireless chargers perfectly for three weeks then after the update it started to give me trouble. Even if I reboot the phone it won’t work for the most. I end up connecting it to lighting charger. I have had Iphones since they stated coming out and this is the most frustrating one. I am very disappointed.

Hi! I had the same problem. I was waiting for the iOS update, but it didn't fix the problem. So I went to servisu with iPhone. I got a new piece, which again didn't work Qi charging! So I had to go to the service again, which gave me a new iPhone again. And it finally works! I've been charging every night on a Qi charger for two months now!