Iphone 5 lightning port charging problem - SOLUTION!

Great tips and posts in this thread, thanks everyone.

My issue manifested itself like this:
- Plug the iphone 5S into an Apple Charger
- The phone buzzed, and the charging icon appeared.
- between 15 and 120 seconds later, the charging icon would disappear, and the phone would intermittently display "The accessory is not supported" (or words to that effect).
- if I left my phone plugged in over night, even without the charging icon displaying, it would charge about +10%.

I took it into the Apple Store, and the rep said I had the lint problem. He gently brushed it out with a new unused makeup brush (with nylon bristles). We plugged it in at the store and after 5 minutes it was still charging, so I thought the issue was resolved.

As soon as I plugged it into a charger at home, the problem resurfaced, even after changing chargers, and using a charger that would successfully charge my wife's phone 5.

I took it back to the Apple store, and the 2nd Genius said that the terminals were "corroded" and the part was non replaceable. I would have to replace the entire phone.

A local repair shop (iRepair) said they would replace the dock for $80. But before I took it in to them, I looked at some videos online and decided I'd try one last thing:

- I made sure there was no lint in the connector

- I took a toothpick and shaved it down slightly with a sharp knife so that it was very thin, but still had some strength to it ... then I trimmed off the sharp end of the toothpick so that it was flat, like a tiny flat-head screwdriver
- I wrapped a sunglasses cleaning cloth over the end and soaked it in WD40
- I inserted it into the dock and gently agitated it left-to-right for 15-20 seconds
- I let it air dry for a few minutes

I plugged it in, and _voila_ ... problem solved.

It's now been successfully charging for me for 2 weeks without issue. We'll see if it lasts.

Thanks so much for this. Before looking online for a solution, I figured that it must be some crud in the jack so I fished out the dirt and muck in there. No good. So, I thought maybe a little contact cleaner would clean it out. Still no luck. So I went to the Apple Store and they said the phone was a brick and I should upgrade. Not fixable. I didn't believe them.

I thought maybe I could get the jack replaced or DIY it myself and did some Googling. Saw this article and realized that, although I did try the paper clip and contact cleaner methods, I DIDN'T try the contact cleaner with the agitation of the plug to "buff off" the (probably) rusted contacts in the jack. I sprayed and ran the plug in and out a whole bunch of times and then plugged it in. PERFECT! Now it works like a charm every time.

My conclusion is that if you get a bunch of lint and dirt built up in there and then even the slightest bit of moisture manages to find it (or very humid conditions), the lint and muck holds the moisture in and around the contacts causing premature rusting up until they don't have a clean connection.

Be careful to not spray the contact cleaner directly and forcefully straight up into the phone jack. You don't want it behind the screen. Just very small, gentle shots sideways into the jack and on the lightning plug, then plug it in and out about ten times before the cleaner evaporates. Repeat this sequence 5 or 6 times. If contact rust is your problem, this should fix it. IMPORTANT: First pick all the lint and crud out of the jack with a toothpick or paper clip then proceed to the cleaning / buffing phase. Good luck!

Thanks a lot! I thought of replacing port but your suggestion worked like charm. Used a needle to remove lot of dust, since then its working fine.

Thanks for the tip!

sooo much lint was in there. After removal once again a got a nice "click" upon insertion of the connector.

Used the contact cleaner too and now working perfectly again and took me 5 mins.

Thats for this tip. I too had this problem. I assumed the port was wearing out, as the lightning connector had a lot of play in it when plugged in. After reading this I tried cleaning the port out with a bent paper clip wrapped in a disposable screen wipe. I shown a torch into the port and could see that had made a large tumbleweed of detritus clump together. So I delicately poked it out with the paper clip and now the connector sits in the socket much better - no play at all. And it now charges properly!

Yes! Fixed my problem. Once again I can sleep at night.

Just thought I'd share my experience with this in case someone else runs into the problem I had. I have an iPhone 6 and ran into this problem after about 9 months of use. I noticed the lightning cable wasn't seating itself fully, which would only allow my iPhone to charge/connect if the cable was at an angle. I used a paper clip (after searching and seeing that this was generally safe) and removed a massive amount of lint! I couldn't believe how much lint came out of that tiny port. I've since cleaned the port out every few months.

However, I've recently had an issue where my iPhone would only charge if I had the cable at a slight left angle. If I straightened it out, or moved it to the right, the phone wouldn't charge. After waking up this morning to an almost-dead battery, I thought I'd take a closer look. I had just recently cleaned it out with a paper clip, and figured there must be something down in the one corner. Sure enough, when I shined a light down there I could see something in the one corner. I tried a toothpick since it had more of a point than the paper clip (plus, I'm wary of damage a metal paper clip might do to the connecting pins), but nothing came out. I then got a sewing needle and was able to use the sharp end to gently scrape away at the lint and other gunk that was hardened in that corner. After scraping away for a few minutes I was able to pull out quite a bit more lint and dirt. I plugged in my charging cable and it immediately started charging, no matter the angle. And actually, I found that the cable was fully-seated, not allowing much wiggle like it had before.

So hopefully this helps someone else out if you find that you've cleaned out the port and still experience problems.

Not even my belly button acquires that much lint! 😁 Thanks for the great tip. Worked like a charm.

And I was about to all out replace my lightning port thinking it was physically worn out. Thanks a bunch for this!

Or it's because your iPhones spent a lot of time in a pocket, rubbing the fabric lining and creating the fluff to block up the port, and the iPad didn't?

Wow! I had the exact problem and I thought it was some hardware problem. This simple solution worked like a charm. Thanks a ton.

Man, thank you so much. You have no idea how irritating this has been...okay, you obviously do, but I couldn't believe the amount of lint in there. My phone charger works perfectly now. Thanks again!

Same diagnosis here. Swiss army knife toothpick worked great - no air spray or fluids. I understand that keeping my phone in the jeans pocket helped a lot the lint build-up.

This is really helpful! Thank you! I'm having the same issue I came across this post yesterday and I immediately bought a contact cleaner after work and tried this at home and it worked!

Thanks a lot man, i saw this recently, cleaned and working perfect.

All the best 😉