non-existant USB C accessories draining battery on 16.
A 16, still under warranty, 100% battery life, charging port always been covered. Now charging port hardly works - with Apple charger, and on the battery details it says ‘USB-C accessories’ and it’s draining more battery than I use daily.
iPhone 16, iOS 26
This is almost always either a false accessory detection issue or a hardware fault in the USB-C port on your iPhone .
I suggest you start your troubleshooting by force restarting your phone. After the restart, check Settings > Battery > Last 24 Hours to confirm if "USB-C Accessories" is still showing usage with nothing plugged in.
If it is, reset system connections by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings (this won’t erase data).
Next, we need to treat it as a possible contamination or port sensor issue, even if you believe the port is clean. The USB-C port has tiny pins that can misread resistance if there’s lint, moisture residue, or slight corrosion. Inspect it under bright light and clean it carefully using a wooden or plastic pick (no metal), or compressed air.
Also test with:
If the issue persists across all combinations and still shows phantom accessory drain, that strongly points to a logic board / port controller fault. On newer iPhones, the system may think something is connected and continuously power the port, which explains the abnormal battery drain.
Should this be the case, your next step would be to contact Apple Support directly for further assistance with this matter. You can do so by simply selecting the "Support" link on the lower left-hand side of this forum's web page.
This is almost always either a false accessory detection issue or a hardware fault in the USB-C port on your iPhone .
I suggest you start your troubleshooting by force restarting your phone. After the restart, check Settings > Battery > Last 24 Hours to confirm if "USB-C Accessories" is still showing usage with nothing plugged in.
If it is, reset system connections by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings (this won’t erase data).
Next, we need to treat it as a possible contamination or port sensor issue, even if you believe the port is clean. The USB-C port has tiny pins that can misread resistance if there’s lint, moisture residue, or slight corrosion. Inspect it under bright light and clean it carefully using a wooden or plastic pick (no metal), or compressed air.
Also test with:
If the issue persists across all combinations and still shows phantom accessory drain, that strongly points to a logic board / port controller fault. On newer iPhones, the system may think something is connected and continuously power the port, which explains the abnormal battery drain.
Should this be the case, your next step would be to contact Apple Support directly for further assistance with this matter. You can do so by simply selecting the "Support" link on the lower left-hand side of this forum's web page.
Thank you. I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that a visit to a Genius Bar is in order, the only thing I’ve not done is a system reset and nothing seems to have made any difference.
Non-existent accessories draining power
