Lightning Lint Causes iPhone Charging Problems
No crud was visible in the Lightning port, and a quick blast with a can of compressed air didn’t blow out anything I could see, but even so, it solved the problem. Since I cleaned out the port, the iPhone charges properly with any Lightning cable, and with no pressure necessary. Others have reported using a paperclip or pin to clean out the Lightning port, but the compressed air approach seems safer.
This has happened twice already with my iPhone 5s. Neither time did I see anything blown out. I don’t recall ever having charging problems with my 30-pin iPhones, despite the larger receptacle.
Update (2018-06-02): Dr. Drang:
The Lightning port is so narrow that even these tweezers couldn’t reach in and pluck out the lint. I had to use one side of the tweezers as a pick to poke at the lint and draw it out. And it took several minutes to clean because even the sharp pointy ends of the tweezers had trouble digging in and getting under the lint.
The two lessons here are don’t assume you’ve done something right without checking and don’t wait over 2½ years before cleaning out your Lightning port.
6 Comments RSS · Twitter
[...] Link. My case has a plug that covers the connector. We had major lint in our 30 pins. [...]
Funny just last week, I cleaned up my iPhone 4S connector, after realizing accumulated lint was what prevented the cable to get in. But that's after 2 years of very frequent stays in my jean pockets. I bet the Apple Store geniuses see it all the time.
It was kind of hard to get the lint out, all squished in by my previous efforts pushin the 30-pin plug (it had gotten harder in the past few months).
I had this happen with my 5. Keep it in my jean pocket daily. I thought the port was defective, as I couldn't get it to consistently charge after plugging in (or I had to wiggle it a certain way). Finally one night I ended up taking a toothpick to both the lightning port and my earbud jack. got a fair amount out of both. Worked like new after.
Haven't had a problem with the Lightning port, fortunately. Did manage to get a small stone wedged into the 30 pin port of my iPad 3 at one point...
Sadly I work for Apple and I have never seen this issue until it happened with my iPhone 5s. Didn't even think about canned air because I don't keep it around, bit investing in some tonight.
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