iPhone 5 not charging

So it started out with just me having to put the point the charger meets the ipod on top of a matchbook. Just a little pressure and it worked. Then it started to become a voodoo like ritual. I had to use multiple cords, sometimes a brand new cable worked best, other times my boss' old beat up cable worked. Sometimes I would just need to plug it into a couple of different computers and then by the third round it would start to charge(with pressure of course). And then I thought it had to do with Itunes opening. I tried turning Itunes off to start charging and it worked once or twice, so I thought I figured it out. But like every other ritual I've tried it eventually failed.

My final set up, which takes about 25 minutes, involves this:

-plug my lightning cable into a wall charger. My charger cable only works with one distinct side up, I have that marked with a sharpie. That's the tricky part for the first month, you don't know which side is working.

-place the connecting part of the charger on a small book, so the ipod is slightly elevated, with pressure being exerted on the cord itself.

-place two heavy candles on top of the charger

-Place three very heavy books on the top of the ipod(so it's basically a sandwhich of books keeping the ipod elevated while the candles apply pressure).

But first I must establish a connection which doesn't work unless I manually "massage" the cable into the ipod. I usually have to work on that for about 20 minutes. I have to put a massive amount of pressure while jiggling the cable until it makes a connection.

-So after massaging I place the ipod into book sandwhich. The charge goes away for a second but once I play with it it starts to connect. Now this takes a couple minutes but once that charging symbol is on there I place the candles on top of the ipod and gently walk away. Any added touch to the table or books will cause it to stop charging.

As you can see this is quite a process. And I have to do it every night. But at this point those times are getting pushed farther and farther. I'm writing this after about 30 minutes of playing the cable trying to get a load sign. I'm just totally over this.

I wanted to let people know that it seems the best fixing method is just a simple can of compressed air. For some reason I failed to look any of this up for fear that my ipod was totally broken and it was just a matter of time before it never charged again. This doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to get a compressed air can and fix this thing!

Actually the compressed air didn't do anything but I got a paperclip out and started scraping and basically the amount of lint that came out of that hole was frightening. Clumps and clumps would keep pouring out. So now it works with no issue.

I found if I stuck a white charging cable in my left ear while lying in bed on my stomach and reached back and grabbed my left ankle with my right hand and touched my nose with my left index finger and blew on the connection, I can get any cord to work!

I have had an iphone 5 since the November of 2012. For awhile it wasn't charging well and I assumed it was the cable then it got bad and wouldn't charge well at all. It would display the not reliable message etc. then I read about the lint and removed a HUGE amount of lint and it charged well for a while and then the issues started again. The phone would charge if I blew into the Port and now it will charge only if a wiggle it up a certain way! Is there any way to fix it or what will happen? Can Apple repair the port or is my phone ruined

I went from an iphone 3GS to an IPhone 5 last year in November and the charger had started to be crappy in May or June last year! I replaced it and then in October or November of this year, the same thing! I got a powerful charger from Radioshack named Enercell or something and it was perfect but now in the past week it shortened out and today it's not working at all! So I dug up this old original apple chord and big multipurpose adapter that we use for my brothers ipad and it at first was charging backwards (its going down while plugged in) and that is what happened with this apple chord in the beginning of the year! I don't know why it's doing this and I got a toothpick to see if there was any dust; I found none at all. I am NOT happy okay? This problem never happened with the 3GS that I had for three years. This phone is a little over a year old that I had it and I had to replace the charger several times. AND IT'S JUST HAPPENING WITH MY PHONE! My brother has the same phone in black and we got it the same time and he never had to replace his charger. I am so tired of constantly changing chargers and I demand you get to the bottom of this!

Hi all

I have had an IPhone for about 4 years and have had my current iPhone 5 for just over a year,I never had any problems until recently. Just before Christmas I started having issues with my IPhone not charging, I bought a new charger and the problem continued so I went into the Apple store in Newcastle, they pulled some dust out of the charger port and the issue appeared to be resolved. However after Christmas it happened again, and again I went to the Apple store, they did the same thing and the phone worked fine for a month. However, this last week the problem has come back, this time when I took the phone into the store, they tried pulling dust out the port but the phone would still not charge, I was then told that as the phone is out of warranty there is nothing they can do other than charge me £209 to fix it!!

What concerns me is that after speaking to other iPhone users and doing some online research I have discovered this is a seriously common problem. So now through no fault of my own, I am left with a phone, which doesn't work and costs me £48 a month. Another concern is that I originally took the phone to the store with this problem before my warranty ran out and was given a 'temporary fix', which made the phone last untill just after my warranty has ran out!

I am angry and disappointed, this issue needs to be addressed as the Phones appear to be like a ticking time bomb waiting to break, and for those of you like me, who this happens to you after the warranty is up, you are elft with no solution other than to pay £209!!!!

I hate paying for warranty programs but AppleCare (two years) saved me last week.

I had the dreaded on off switch not working problem and Apple replaced my phone on the spot no questions.

They would have repaired it for free even if I was out of warranty, that's a pretty good deal too.

I hope the Chargers you are using MFi (made for iPhone) and Apple certified otherwise you are jeopardizing your charging ability. I've paid a lot of money for cheap Chinese cables, but now I make sure they are certified even though they cost a bit more. I refuse to purchase a lightning cable from Apple. There are good and cheap aftermarket cables and chargers just be careful when buying them. You may get a few lemons just learn from that and try again. I have five iOS7 devices and they're all virtually flawless, can't wait for iPhone 6.

I also had the lint in the charging connector problem and I check it every couple of months.

Today was the first time my charger wouldn't work, it worked eariler that day but, I didn't use it much. Anyways, when I got back home, I plugged in my lightning cable and the charging symbol flicked on and off like crazy! I read all the past reviews and used a paperclip and toothpicks, but they haven't seemed to work. Now my phone isn't charging at all. I need some help!

This also solved my problem after cleaning the socket with compressed air.

I didn't think the socket would collect so much dust, but when I first blew in it with the compressed air a small ball of dust flew out and the cable plugs much more snugly now.

I just fixed my iPhone 5. It was not charging reliably for a while, and then not at all. Following the advice of some on the thread, I picked out the lint by scraping all accessible areas of the port with a pushpin and then scrubbing out the remaining debris with a toothbrush. Works fine now. Thanks for this thread!

Hey Peter, A little FYI...In the future, do not use a metal conductive pick in the charging port, think about it, wood or plastic probe would be better, no shorting issues. And be careful to not damage, bent or break the gold pins inside the port, can be a costly repair, a toothbrush is a little stiff. Glad it worked for you. Cheers.

The problem can be the postive (red) power wire heats up on the lightning connector circuit board and creats limited or no power going to the connector.

I would hope Apple would recall these cables and make a better lightning connector circuit board. However I spoke to Apple Support person an they said the cable is under warenty for a year form the purchase date. So anyone that has a bad cable that was purchased less that a year can go to any Apple Store and get a free replacement.

iPhone 5 not charging? I read the guys responses and also grabbed a paper clip to clean the charge slot... AMAZING!!! It worked--- after removing 2 bakkie loads of lint & dust. Even the cheaper cable that gave me an error message before (not a registered apple device) is working.... Thanx guys

Same problem here: iPhone 5 not charging.

The following situation happened yesterday and non the of suggestions earlier worked for me. But this one did:

In Malaysia, there are lots of cheap lightning cables sold on the market. They sell around 2 dollars whereas the original costs US$ 15!!! No surprise, I bought a few colorful cables, distributed them around my home, office and car, and it all worked well until I started getting the message not recognizing the new lightning cable. Initially, i thought the 'non-original' cables where the issue. One by one the cables started rejecting and my recently purchased iPhone 5 would not charge.

What happens is this: plugging in the cable leads to the charging sound and it starts charging. After a while you realize its still at 2% and not increasing. When unplugged, it shows the sign 'plug-in' the cable. So it does recognize the charger.

Yesterday, my iPhone scared the **** out of me as it kept on restarting for hours. I saw that on my Galaxy S2 quite often and so got shocked that a premium product from Apple would do the same. I could not believe it.

However, I took my original cable after reading this thread and 'nada' 'niente' nothing. Same as the fake cables. and now even black screen. The iPhone was dead. There was no lint or dust in the charging port of the phone.

Solution:

One reviewer recommended to clean the contacts with something like a spray and I got the idea to use alcohol for the same purpose. We always keep Isoprophyl Alcohol 70% in the house for desinfection here in Malaysia (helps with insect bites). I first cleaned the lighning cable contacts with a small towel. Next I put a very little amount of alcohol into the charging port of the iPhone 5 (like a drop or two). You can see the evaporating in seconds. Then I tried charging the phone after 2-3 minutes and tra-raaaaa and é voilà - it is now back to normal.

Hope this helps.

thanks helped me too

Even my iphone 5 is 1.5 years old and was suffering the same problem., Your thoughts really saved a big ordeal for me.

My phone has stopped charging using any cord, new or used. I saw where someone said clean out the lint - no lint to be found in mine. I have one cord that if I shove it in and push it up, it will charge, but you can't touch the phone or it will stop charging. Ugh - what is going on??