iphone 5 not charging blinking empty battery, lightning bolt and plug

I had the same issue with an iPhone 6, cleaned the port and the cable, and while they cable normally works for charging using a wall adapter will not work on my mac-book. Used another cable and it worked.

Hi Cmacmacma! Did anyone from apple support answer you about your iPhone? Mine is still blinking the empty battery!! Any tips for me please? I'm getting hysterical now!!

I was having the same problem and it was driving me mad. I read the hint about lint and toothpick and it worked to solve the issue.

THANKS!!!

Thank you so much for the first advice (about charging it with its cable connected to the PC) and the second one about the flint... There was a very small flint wrapped around one of the pins... Now it's charging perfectly from the main wall plug!

Thnx again cmacmacma

Thanks. Had the same problem and this worked.

Suffered with this issue as the iPhone 5 power went down unexpectedly (and with a new battery not a week old no less.)

Nothing down shifting around chargers did much but recover the flashing red light three times and the battery.

It was clearly not charging beyond that point after 45 minutes.

Using a vacuum with a heavy suction for debris did not change any result. The new charger cable overnight did nothing except now show a black dead screen.

Later that day sprayed a bit of dexoyit on a picture hanger frame stud small enough to scrap around inside. Out comes a chunk of damp lint balled up? How is that possible?

Pull that out and put it down for viewing and go back in again. Now less but another smaller damp piece. Two more times scooping around and still smaller pieces damp from the deoxyit collect and come to the surface. Joins their brothers on the hall of lint shame.

Go back and plug it in and get the red solid light with battery. Few minutes later the Apple logo comes on and it loads up showing 4%.

Battery continues charging up.

Thanks to you Lint man whoever you are. That's some unreal lesson to learn saving time, heartache and money. Salud!

I had the exact same problem with my wife's iPhone 5. I took the advice above and scraped around inside the lightning port with a toothpick. After a minute or so, out fell a dirty great chunk of lint! No wonder it wasn't charging, but it's working just fine now.

I would like to add on to this thread. I phone started doing the same thing but there was no lint. I took a small q-tip, dipped it in some rubbing alcohol then lightly swabbed the lightning port. It worked like a charm. Swabbing cleaned off this black smudge off the post that was preventing it form making a proper connection.

Your solution WORKED!

Oh my gosh, it was driving me crazy!

I stuck the toothpick in and couldn't see anything, but then a bunch of lint (from my pocket) came out, so I did that for a few minutes. I couldn't believe how much lint was in that little space.

Plugged it in and no more flashing battery. Charging like normal!

Thanks!!

Thanks so much. I had the exact same problem and your answer helped me resolve the issue.

Have you switched lightning cables? Take it to the Apple Store if this is the case as your charger port could be busted