can't plug lightning cable into iphone 5

Hi there,

I had the new iphone 7 plus for about a month and when Iplugged in for charging this morning the charging was ongoing but my lightning cable won't lock in fully. I panicked , booked a genius bar appointment and was very nervous.The charging was fine, but I was very much worried. Thanks a lot to this forum,{Tried with plastic paper clip and I got paper lint (since I wear scrubs at work and the phone sits in my pocket)}, much appreciated.

Take a flash light and lens and inspect the lightning port on the iPhone, there might be some dust or lint or some other debree inside blocking this port.

You can try to clean with compressed air.

Take your iPhone to an Apple store or other Apple authorized service location to have this issue diagnosed.

Or contact Apple support: https://support.apple.com/HT201232

I thought I'd add to this post as it helped me with my problem! Charger would only fit into the port halfway. Googled the problem found this post and dug around for all the dirt but nothing came out. Tried with a cocktail stick but it just snapped, tried with a pin, it snapped. Found a stitch unpicking thing from a sewing kit and desperately dug around until I got a bit cross and put more pressure into my digging. Suddenly a bit of metal in the shape of the charger port popped out. I thought I'd broken the phone! Tried charging and it was fine! It was only a day or two later we figured out it was my husbands cheap charger cable end that had broken off inside the phone.

My water bottle spilled on my I Pad. I dabbed away the water, but some of the water had dribbled into the lightning port. The screen kept flashing so I knew there was a problem. Someone told me to place it in an airtight container of rice overnight to draw out any moisture. It worked! However there were two issues that popped up but were solved easily.

issue #1. My volume froze in "headphone mode". This was solved by going to "settings", then "sounds". Next I randomly selected different "ringtones" over and over again listening to about 10 - 15 different choices, finally selecting on my favorite one. This action kick started my volume back to regular mode.

issue# 2. I could not get my re-charger to click into the lightning port. I used the sharp part of a safety pin and scraped the inside of the port several times. Next I used "compressed air" directly into the port. A PIECE OF RICE FLEW OUT!

Problems solved!

I had the same problem with the lighting cable entering mid way. I inspected with torch and lens the connector and everything was apparently fine with no evidence of dust or else. Also the color at the bottom of the socket was appearing white and equal to any other iPhone 6s.This is why I was almost sure the inner connector was damaged and shifted down. This is also what a couple of (unauthorised) repairing centres told me offering to replace the inner module for 60 Euro. Googling the net I found this thread and tried again with a paper clip. Initially nothing happened but later applying a bit more force (do not worry to ruin anything but clearly switch off the phone) small pieces of something like paper or fabric fibers came out. Now the socket is clear and the lighting cable fit perfectly and the phone is charging. Thanks to this post I have saved 60 Euros. I believe this happens when you keep the phone in your jeans pockets with the socket down; too easy for dust and dirty to get in.Thanks guys, let's keep posting so smart findings and tricks!

This happened to me on my iPhone 7 last night. Discovered this post this morning and got the courage to use a thumb tack to begin gingerly (and then a little more aggressively) pick out a massive piece of paper/sticker lint that the phone must've picked up in my pocket and I think I jammed it down in there on a subsequent charge attempt. In any case, I was able to pull it all out in about 2 minutes and the cable plugs in nicely and phone is charging.

Its worth emphasizing that i was really careful at first, but I had to really get a bit more aggressive in picking it out and it doesn't seem to have damaged anything.

As many users suggested, I got a little straight pin, turned off phone, then carefully scraped the sides and bottom of the jack. Amazing amount of specks and bits of dirt came out onto a clean piece of white paper I used to see progress. Voila... works like a charm. I blew out the hole w/can of spray air just to be sure.

I used an embroidery (sewing) needle to get the material from the left and right side of the full depth of the plug-in. It was difficult to remove it all, but carefully looking and removing a bit at a time until completely clean seemed to work.

I think periodic inspection and cleaning is needed, or as someone suggested a dummy plug to keep in the phone when it is not on the charger to stop material from getting in there.

Thanks to everyone for the replies here! Very helpful!

I had the same problem, and the suggestion here worked for me, as well. I was able to dig out a bunch of lint, and then the lightning connector could once again make a solid connection. However, I would caution people to avoid using something conductive like a pin or paperclip to do this, as you could theoretically create a short across pins and damage the electronics. I used a wooden toothpick, which worked well.

If you do need to use some sort of metal implement for your digging, be sure to power off your phone first.

Examine the phone carefully, is there anything in the charge hole? Something as amall as a grain of sand would cause this, so look carefully.

If no, try a new cable.

I am having the same issue as this, did you resolve it and if so, what turned out to be the problem?

The cable is sticking out with a small gap and won't fit all the way in. There doesn't appear to be anything blocking it and I haven't used any excessive force or even dropped the phone, just been using it normally.

Take it to an Apple Retail store genius bar

Never mind, I've fixed my issue.

gwforeman's suggestion was right, some dirt was indeed trapped right at the top of the lightning cable socket, preventing the cable from going all the way in. It seems when I plugged it in previously it must have compounded the dirt and stuck it right in the top which was very difficult to see, even when shining a torch in it.

I used a pin to gently scrape out the dirt, now the cable plugs in without a problem and the phone is charging again.

Peter Gillespie, your suggestion would have been fine if there was an Apple retail store with a genius bar anywhere near where I live. Sadly, the North of England is forgotten about as usual and my nearest store is over 60 miles away making it not very feasible (especially when I don't drive)! I often see people replying telling others to go to their genius bar, but please remember that it isn't always a possible option for many people hence why they're posting on these forums (but I appreciate your quick response nonetheless, don't get me wrong!).

I am having the same issue with my 5G iPod Touch. I've examined the connecting hole closely, and there doens't appear to be anything blocking it. Yet, the cable will only plug in part of the way, not enough to connect to the computer.

This only started happening yesterday.

I'll be taking it to the Genius later today to see what is going on.

This kind of thing never happened with my previous iPhone 4, which I used for much long than I've had the 5G iPod touch, so I hope this doesn't represent a design weakness of the lightning connector..