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Repair information and guides for the iPhone 6 that was released on September 19, 2014. Model Numbers: A1549, A1586, and A1589

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My phone won't charge unless the charging cable is just right

The connection between my charging cable and the phone is very finicky. I have to wiggle the cable to start the charging process. The slightest bump, and charging stops.

The phone is over two years old and the problem started in the last few months.

I have tried different cables but nothing seems to help.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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i have this problem to

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I too have a problem charging iPad Pro !!!

All the cables I have including original Apple bought recently , are useless. They are not recognized by the tablet.

Fortunately I still have an old cable that I bought a long time ago but did not use it regularly because it was not long enough. By accident I did ‘t throw him in the garbage..I still have the cable that I have been charging for a long time but I used some force because it was not long enough. By accident I did not throw him in the garbage. Desperate I searched a solution when I saw that I can not load my iPad Pro fo witch I pay a lot of money. And surprise . It loads it. All those recently bought did not. Then I went to a store and asked to sell me lightning cables for two years ago. They flipped through the warehouse and gave me the last three pieces they had. Surprise again . ALL HAVE BEEN RECOGNIZED BY THE IPAD .

Conclusion ? Either the old cables have something extra or maybe the recent production one has something missing .

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I can’t charge my phone in less I push the charger slightly up are it twards me other wise it won’t charge at all so basically I have to leave my phone resting on something my the chargers or I have to hold my phone at an angle and push the charger into the surface I’m sitting at any way to help it?

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i am having the same issue with my iphone 6s and it is very frustrating coz i have to have the charging cord over my old glasses case while plugged into phone so it will charge

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Thanks, I used a little brush and it worked.

I have been so aggravated by this.

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17 Answers

Chosen Solution

Another tool you can use is a wood tooth pick, if you are still having problems replace your dock connector.

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Ya; this is definitely what happens and it usually comes from pockets; there are only connecting clips on the bottom wall of the lightning slot; therefore I use a round toothpick and take my utility knife and after breaking the tip to establish the wood grains direction; I cut out flat both sides of my broken flat area and keep the tip as it is; as it now should be sharp flat and wide. now I try to stay against the top at all times and aim the tip towards the center of the back wall where the lint is accumulated and packed by you of course. lol Well you should be able to scrape it out with one shot each side. If not; keep at it and you will get it. be sure to mind those connectors. Hope this works for you as it well as it has been for me. Cheers and there should be a little cap that we could place on this hole for when we are not charging it.

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Thank you!!!

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Thanks so much! thought my charger port was broken for a while and after having enough of finding my phone no charge in the morning I googled it out of curiosity on how to fix it and came across this F&Q and fixed my phone! You have no Idea how thankful I am!

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Thanks so much! I tried it. I cut the tip of the toothpick and flattened it a bit that it became a sort of a brush. Then I scrapped the port and it's back to normal. I tried the toothpick before but i think its too fine and pointed to trap the lint built up. Thanks again.

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JUST did this for about 10 minutes and it worked!

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Most Helpful Answer

Try raking the bottom of the lightning socket with something thin and stiff, such as a thin paperclip (or use the Probe and Pick Set) to remove the lint.

I had a similar issue with my iPhone 5S and the Apple Store guy took it back for 3 minutes and came back and all was well.

One giveaway is that the white plastic collar (for lack of a better term) doesn't sit flush against the phones body when the lightning cable is plugged in. Once that lint was removed, it was flush again and charging was back to normal.

[Update]

TL;DR

Toothpicks (wooden tools) are safer but may not tough enough.

I used metal tools but was careful not to mess with the metal pins.

___________

Yes, a toothpick (or anything wood) is certainly a lot safer than metal tools. The toothpicks I've used aren't hard enough to break up the cruft at the back wall of the port.

You could use a teflon spudger as an in-between that's stronger than wood but can't do damage like a metal pick would.

That being said, I recently had to clear out the lightning port a second time (on my iPhone 6s) and I used my metal tools without issue. The pins are located on the floor/ceiling of the port chamber so I mostly kept clear of the pins by sticking to the back wall to break up the packed cruft.

Probe and Pick Set Image

Product

Probe and Pick Set

$6.99

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No don't ever put any metal in the charging port you can cause a short and end up with a paper weight phone

what you should do is use a toothbrush and brush the charging port it gets clogged with lint over time

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I used a whittled down toothpick and I could not believe how much lint came out!

I have only had to charge once since I cleaned the port, but there were no issues, the cable clicked in and started charging. I next cleaned my wife's phone which she has only had for two months and I found traces of lint there as well.

This suggestion sure save me some cash.

Thanks,

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Anyone aware of a support device for the adapter coming out of recharge port, resting on hard surface but you need to use while recharging. This loosens the position of the port so it wobbles when doing this and it gets worse. Need some kind of stability device that also takes the pressure off the adapter being pushed into port and any movement damages port. Maybe some kind of good smartphone holder would take care of this problem that I have experience with?

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James,

I suggest you look into buying a tripod designed specifically for mobile devices. They are actually quite ergonomic and allow for less stress on the cable significantly. It's great for those times where you're handling your device during it's charge. I will admit it does take some adjusting however its only minimal. The best way I would describe it is to imagine using your device while someone was holding it for you. Minus the fatigue and shakiness. The tripod I use is designed to support virtually any device. I use it between my 7 and 7+ seamlessly.

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Thank you so much ! We had tried many things, including air cleaning, to no avail. After a gentle cleaning with a pointy metal tool. I didn't feel like I was cleaning much, but after this slight cleanup and blowing some air, it worked again with all my cables ! Quite a good advice that I didn't find on any other website !

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THANK YOU! I had exactly the same problem where my iPhone 6 Plus would no longer charge unless the USB cable was twisted to an extreme angle that was damaging to the cord. The advice to use a wooden toothpick to clean-out lint and dust from the Lightning charging port completely fixed the issue. Thank you for this simple, fast, and effective fix that is totally obvious but I did not think of!

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Why don't you use the attachment of a vaccum cleaner to remove the lint. Or you can use a straw and suck it out. Wooden piece seems to loosen the contact connection further more.

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The hint about the connector not fitting flush to the case was invaluable. Yep, using a lighted magnifier revealed “pocket fluff” packed against the back wall of the socket. I used a modellers knife to whittle a toothpick to a flat blade and carefully removed the packed lint with that. I was able to break up the lint with the toothpick enough to get it past the pins without damaging them.

I strongly warn against using any metal tool as any contact with the pins could result in a short circuit of the Li-ion battery, which would not be pretty!

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I cleaned out the port and it still wont charge unless its at an angle :/

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For me I have to really jam the charging cable in but before I cleaned out the port it wouldn't charge at all. Basically, this tip helped but it didn't solve the problem

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What I suggest is just lightly blowing on the charge port. If that doesn’t work, use a wooden toothpick (or a plastic one) and just very lightly take all the lint out.

If none of these options work, i’d suggest taking it to the Genius Bar. (or whatever your phone company does)

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my phone will only charge when it’s dead!!!

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This happened to my 6s. Tried several cords, squares, outlets, same problem. Took the phone to Apple, they checked it over and decided that several pins inside the charging port were damaged and the only option left was to trade in the phone for a new one. So 30 minutes and $250 later, I walked out with a new iPhone 7. My advice, don’t try to clean the port yourself. You will just end up damaging those fragile pins inside the port. Take it somewhere where a professional will clean it.

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It actually works my phone was at 1% I started jiggling it I waited 1 minute and now it’s at 5% thanks anyway whoever else has a sensitive charger try it it actually works!!£

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I had to replace the charging port after unsuccessful attempts at cleaning the port out.

This however still did not fix the issue, the issue for me was a connection on the motherboard that needed micro-soldering. Cost about £30 but been fantastic ever since.

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I tried the toothpick solution but I found whatever was in my charging port needed something sturdier to dislodge it, so I risked using the metal pick that comes with the phone for popping the SIM card slot. I turned off the phone to be safe but I’m not sure if you can still short the phone with a metal implement even if it’s turned off so I was just careful to avoid touching the sides. I guessed that my problem was that there was some hard-lodged gunk in the far end of my charging port as my charger only seemed to work when I really forced it in (and at a slight angle too). Sure enough after scraping round for a few moments all sorts of compacted gunk started coming out (this was after I’d previously tried using toothbrushes, toothpicks, compressed air etc so it must’ve been really compacted into the port!). Anyway I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely perfect now but it’s charging without having to force the cable in at a funny angle and more importantly it keeps charging even if I move the phone around a bit (before the smallest movement would’ve caused the phone to stop charging which was driving me mad!).

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I would suggest getting a new charge port fitted

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ive had this problem for about a month now. ive tried several cords and even cleaned it out many times. the port is clean and theres no lint, yet it still wont charge unless at an extreme angle.

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I had similar issues with my iPhone SE for months where the charging kept staying on and off whilst charging. I had to hold the cable in for it stay charging. Very frustrated !!!.

I then realised that there was something maybe at the base of the charging port preventing my charging cable to be fully inserted. I powered off the phone completely. I then used the sim card removal pin (It’s metal of course) and placed it right down to the bottom of the charging port. I gently scraped the bottom left to right and right to left 5 times. I pulled the pin out and sure enough some rubbish fallen out. I repeated this process two more times until there was no rubbish fallen out of the port. I then powered up the phone and tested my charging cable. It charges immediately without me having to hold the cable in. The charging cable is working for the last two weeks now without any issues whatsoever. I may have to do this whenever, i have issues with intermittent charging problem.

CAUTION NOTE: Do not insert anything in the charging port without POWER OFF your phone completely.

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Toothpick worked! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It’s been driving me nuts!

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Paint brush or even tooth brush would work too :) Less invasive than metal/wood.

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i have an iphone 6s and i’ve tried different chargers and outlets, and my phone still won’t charge… can someone please tell me what can i do….

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This is a common fault and many people have thrown their phones away. The root cause is your charging port is full of rubbish which has been compressed solid at the bottom of the charging port. You need to remove it.

It’s quite an easy fix. The following procedure is how I fixed mine:

First switch off the phone.

Use a pointy pin then insert it into the port (I used the metal pin that came with the phone to remove the sim card). I inserted the pin in the charging port then scraped the base of the port left to right then right to left a few times to loosen the rubbish at the base of the charging port. Remove the rubbish by gently hooking it out with the pin (I blew into the port and it seemed to come off quite easily)

Repeat the above a few times until you see rubbish come out of the charging port.

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Omg I used a dry fingernail. It’s soft. I cleaned it for 3 min, plugged my charger in, it’s working perfectly! THANK YOU!

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This worked for me as well but I used the end of a cable tie.

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Roy Lewis will be eternally grateful.
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