What to Do When Your Phone Won’t Charge

When your phone won’t charge, it’s easy to become frustrated and even angry. You rely on your device for so many reasons that it’s nearly impossible to be without it.

Keep calm and try these simple fixes, brought to you by the phone repair experts at FixIT Mobile | Bad Apple.

Check the Outlet, USB Adapter & Charging Cable

This is the IT equivalent to “is the power turned on?” Try plugging into a different outlet. Try using a different cable. Try using a different USB adapter. Try plugging in a different device.

If your phone still won’t charge after you’ve tried all the different combinations, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Reset, Restart or Reboot Your Device

Try resetting or restarting your device. If you have an Android device, clear your cache. Try a hard reset, if necessary, and then try again. Put your phone into airplane mode and walk away from it for a bit. Sometimes that’s all it takes to gain ground.

For some devices, if the battery is failing, getting through the first few percent of charging will allow the device to then power all the way up.

Clean Out the Phone’s Charging Port

Sometimes pocket lint or debris gets into the charging port, preventing the cable from making a good connection. Use a wooden toothpick or something similar (non-metal) to gently poke around inside the port. (Be very careful not to break off a piece of the toothpick, however.)

If you still can’t get the phone to take a charge after this step, let’s try something different.

Make Sure Your Operating System Software Is Up-to-Date

Apple claims that not having the most recent version of iOS is to blame for most charging problems. Whether that’s true or not, it’s worthwhile to check. If you don’t have enough power to turn on the device to check, you can try docking with your computer (if your device provides that option) to see if you can update your software that way.

If you can’t accomplish this step – or if your software is already updated and the phone still won’t charge – it’s time to call on a professional.

Contact a Phone Repair Professional

At this point in the process, some bloggers and armchair DIY enthusiasts recommend replacing your smartphone battery. We strongly recommend that you DO NOT do this, for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is that any DIY phone repair, including battery replacement, is usually a bad idea. At best, you could be out the time and money you spent if that’s not the problem. At worst, you could damage your phone beyond repair.

The second reason we don’t recommend replacing your battery at this point is that the problem is probably not the battery. In most cases, when your smartphone won’t charge even after taking the recommended preliminary steps, the problem is the charging port.

At FixIT Mobile | Bad Apple, we can troubleshoot your device to determine the actual problem, then recommend the best approach. We can replace your charging port quickly and affordably – as little as $35 for some devices – and get you back on the road.

If your phone won’t charge, contact us or visit one of our Utah locations today for help.