Phone not charging

The most embarrassing discovery that you can make when you come home after a hard day’s work with a completely discharged smartphone and put it on charge is to find that the phone is not charging. Perhaps even the battery status indicator on the phone even shows that the process is in progress, but as soon as the device is disconnected from the wire, it blinks indignantly again and reports “hunger”.

What to do when the phone does not charge, how you can fix the problem yourself, what reasons can lead to the smartphone not charging – we understand the basic intricacies of Android and iOS phones, look for problems in hardware, external factors and system problems. We will tell you what to do at home before running to the service center.

Why might the phone not charge?

There are many reasons why an Android phone or iPhone does not charge. It’s worth starting with the most obvious: perhaps the problem is in the charger. Some problems can be detected with the naked eye: you will immediately see if the cord from the power adapter was attacked by your pet or a chair was placed on it and the cord broke.

Obvious advice, but not everyone in a panic guesses to do this:

• Try charging your phone with a different cord. If everything went well, then you need to change the adapter.
  
• The problem may be with the outlet: just switch to the next one. If the wire is pinched, it has been gnawed by a pet – try to carefully cut out the damaged part, connect the internal wiring hidden behind the winding and rewind the cord with electrical tape.
  
• It is also worth checking the battery itself: it can swell from old age, in which case it definitely needs to be changed. Remember that the battery life is about 3-5 years, after that it is better not to torment it: the phone will definitely run out much faster or not be able to consume energy at all. There is also a problem with this, when the indicator shows that charging is in progress, but in fact the phone remains discharged. This means that the battery simply does not respond to the power supply, but the phone system sees that everything is in order. Unfortunately, removing the battery is not easy on most modern smartphones, where the batteries are built-in – if you do not want to disassemble the phone at home, you will have to turn to specialists. At the very least, these simple methods will eliminate the mechanical reasons for the lack of charging on the smartphone and move on to more complex reasons why the phone is not charging faster.

How to clean the charging socket on your smartphone yourself

Ate everything is in order with the cord, perhaps the matter is in the smartphone itself, or rather in the hole where the plug is inserted. If you carry your phone in your pocket or bag without a case, crumbs and debris could get into it. This makes the contacts weaker. By the way, problems with the system connector are one of the most common reasons why charging is not going on. It is she who is to blame in more than a third of cases, according to service centers.

Try cleaning your smartphone’s charging port yourself. This is not scary if you do everything right and remember that you have an electronic device in front of you. To do this, turn off the phone, remove the battery, if possible. If the battery cannot be removed, and you do not want to disassemble the device, then it is better not to use a steel needle for cleaning, take, for example, a wooden chip. If you still use a needle for cleaning, try not to touch the edges. After that, you can take a toothbrush moistened with a small amount of alcohol (I cut the bristles, leaving a literally narrow strip of hairs) and once again gently brush it several times from side to side in the hole for the plug. Oxidation from the contacts can also be removed with a cotton swab with soda wound around a thin stick.

What exactly can’t be done?

• Stick a thick needle into the socket while the smartphone is running. Burn all the contacts and you won’t notice.
• Try to loosen the nest.
• Pour alcohol inside or put a cotton swab in.

Often, smartphone owners cannot tear themselves away from the gadget, even if it is charging, they constantly pull the cord, bend it and loosen the socket. This is perhaps the worst thing you can do with your smartphone. If you feel that the plug does not fit snugly into the charging socket, staggers inside, then it’s time to solder the contacts on the motherboard. To do this, it is better to contact the service center if you do not have a soldering station lying around at home.

What to do if everything is fine with the wire and the charging socket?

However, the phone may not charge even if everything is in order with the wire and charging. And the battery looks new enough and does not bring inconvenience. Of course, you can also check the performance of the system using special technical devices, such as a device for dialing contacts. If the equipment is not at home, you will have to use the services of a service center specialist. But if everything seems to be in order, it is worth trying to determine what other reasons may lead to the lack of charging. In this case, it is more difficult to determine why the phone is not charging, but we will try to figure out the main reasons for this problem.

Glitched firmware

Glitches in software or working firmware are one of the most common causes of phone charging failures. If you installed an official update shortly before the problem occurred, try rolling back. On Android, for this you will have to select the Recovery function on the phone or install an older firmware by connecting the phone to a computer. If you installed the firmware yourself using the custom version, get rid of it. Apparently, the modifier did not complete something or included a program in the list that harms the phone.

Insidious virus

If the reason that the phone is not charging is a virus that has entered the system, then you will encounter the fact that the charging indicator does not move when the USB cable is connected, does not respond to the connection to the power adapter. Also, the rapid discharge of the device indicates that the virus has entered, if for no apparent reason it began to “sit down” 2-3 times faster. What to do? Install an antivirus program, conduct a full scan of the phone, clean the system. If this does not help, it is possible to do a factory reset, remove potentially harmful and unverified programs.

How to solve the phone charging problem here and now

Sometimes you really need to know what to do right now, if the phone is charging very slowly or not at all, you can only get to the service center tomorrow, and you need to use the gadget right now.

1. To quickly charge your phone, if you have problems, you can cut the cord plug and connect the contacts directly to the battery. Suitable only for phones where the battery is remote. In no case should you do this often – you will “kill” the entire battery life.
2. To quickly revive the contacts to restore the phone’s charge, you can blow cold air into the plug socket, this will remove debris from there.
3. If the problem is still inside the software, clean up the system: remove junk files using the cleaner program. Also, as an extreme case, you can use a factory reset.
4. You can try to charge the phone with a weak contact by turning it off completely and leaving it for several hours. If the phone automatically turns on when charging, just turn off everything superfluous: put the gadget into airplane mode, turn off applications, close the tabs. You may be able to charge your phone to the minimum required.
5. If the problem is in the battery, but nothing has been done with it yet, try putting the phone on charge without the battery and insert it into the device with the plug already connected. It is not recommended to perform such an operation often.
6. Another tip: if the reason that the phone is not charging is a blown power controller, charging from a power bank can help. The fact is that the current from the network can be supplied with jumps that need to be equalized. And from the device, charging will be longer, but even. You can also use the “frog” – an external adapter for the battery. Of course, we are talking about removable batteries.

How to keep your battery young and not run into issues when your phone won’t charge

1. Never use your smartphone while it is charging. First, damage the power adapter cord and plug socket. Secondly, put the battery down and it will not work even half of its service life.
2. Use native charging, not Chinese counterparts.
3. Do not leave or use your phone in cold or hot weather.
4. Never keep the adapter plugged in, in which case it is affected by voltage surges and becomes an excellent prey for pets, children, and you yourself can constantly touch it and break it.
5. Try to charge your phone evenly, and do not leave it on charge all the time. In this case, it is not necessary to discharge the battery by 100% every time.