can't plug lightning cable into iphone 5

I had the same issue, the phone would beep to say it was charging, beep again to say its not, beep again to say it is and so on. Other times it just wouldn't charge at all. It was maddening.

I read this thread and although I'd already had a look and it seemed like there was nothing in the connection hole in the phone, I used the non-pointy end of a needle to scrape around and a massive amount of lint/dust that had been jammed in came out. It was like a dust bunny tardis.

Now it works perfectly, so thanks gwforeman and jpaylor.

It turns out my issue has been resolved.

Even though upon my own visual inspection I did not see any kind of debris or lint inside of the connector, apparently there was, as I found out when I took my iPod Touch 5G to the Apple Store.

They used an air blower to blow out the debris, then it connected again fine.

I then immediately went and purchased a small plastic cover for the connector, which I plug into the connector whenever it's not plugged into the actual lightning cable, to prevent any debris from getting into the connector.

Problem solved.

You guys are all saviors...I had the same isue and took advice of this message board and clean the dirt...There was so much dirt but easily came out with a safety pin...AND NOW my phone is charging again :-)

I just had the same problem. Seems like this is a design issue. I have never had such an issue with any other device.

I also had this problem, but as others have done, I got a paperclip or something similar and gently scooped out whatever is in there. The amount of stuff dust and pocket fluff that came out of mine was incredible. Loads of it. Now it all works fine.

I"m having the same problem as djmooch.

Tried cleaning out the gunk with a paperclip, managed to remove some but it still plugs in half-way. It charges though. Anyone out there with the same encounter and how did u solve this?

I had the same issue today. As of other users reported i did the same. Thank you so much for the help.

leojanathanoh as others said use safety pin gently remove the dust from the left & right sides of tbe socket and push that into the middle & remove it. Then it should work fine.. :-)

Cheers.

My phone has been charging intermittently for a couple of weeks now. The Lightning cable plug was obviously not seating properly and would rock side to side, disconnecting the contacts.

I tried blowing the socket out with compressed air, but nothing came out. Using a flashlight was not helpful. It didn't look like there was anything in there.

The amount of lint that came out using a paper clip was truly disgusting. Even though it still feels like there's some blockage, at least now the plug seats all the way in and my phone charges consistently.

Thanks.

Thanks everyone. I was almost going to give up and trek to the apple store. There seemed to be something blocking the charger socket and I couldn't see anything with a torch. After reading the posts I realised that actually what I was seeing inside the socket looked like the bottom of the socket but was actually compacted pocket fluff. I removed it with a toothpick-like tool from a pen-knife. My thirsty phone is now happily charging!

Great post. I had same issue and could swear there was NOTHING in there. For me it turned out there was a buildup of white lint (I carry my iPad mini in my pocket of my scrubs all the time). It was completely flat and compacted from gradual compression of the lint. Finally there was enough compacted in there and it wouldn't fit. It took some serious digging to get it out since it was compacted so well. Anyways, works great now!

Exellent advice! My charger stopped working all of a sudden, so my husband had a look with a needle and scraped out crumbs, fluff, lint. My goodness I can't believe so much c*** was in there! Working fine now.

Can't plug in cable into iPhone 5S. This line to make the search easier for search engines. Thank you. It took me 2 min to solve my problem and ten min of thinking I had to spent two hours of my free time to have it repaired. Or worse even....Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This has been a great savior post. I am just wondering how the dirt in the socket got so compacted that it was almost a rubbery solid. Took some digging. A U Clip did not help. Got a thin Safety pin and only then could dig out. Was not sure until the dirt actually came out. Great post...

All of you guys fixed a lot of things for me, its was a Friday evenning when i experienced this your solution worked, it was just dirt. You saved my weekend, i was going to be miseriable at home after the service provider MTN in Waterfront Cape Town told me i need to leave the phone for repairs, then i thought NO. Not on a weekend there must be another way, and it was just this flex wire and all is well. Cheeeeeeeeeersssssssssss. wish i had your twitter account.

The responses saying to clean out the lint with a paperclip are amazing. Thank you guys, it really helped. I thought I was going to have to get a whole new phone, but after 20 minutes of scraping the charging port with a paper clip I finally got an ungodly amount of lint out of it. I didn't realize that much could be in there. Anyways, thanks once again, you guys are life savers.