It likely has debris in the charging port, often lint from living in pockets or purses. Get a bright flashlight and take a look. Be careful not to damage the connections if you see something and try to remove it
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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Yeah, most likely lint. A toothpick is a good tool for pulling stuff out. Be gentle.
EDIT: If that doesn’t work the port needs to be replaced.
Might also be the cable. The wires inside can break after some time. I had many cables die like that. At least the cheaper ones.
I tried cleaning it and stuff, no dice
How did you clean it? The schmoo gets jammed in the bottom of the port and after 10 years of insertion cycles it gets really stuck down there. If you can find one get a thumb tack with a really tiny (but still pointy) tip and use that to scrape it out. Do multiple cycles of cleaning, blowing compressed air, inserting/removing cable repeat.
The pins are only on one side of the receptacle so figure out where that is, and keep the metal thumb tack to that side so you don't short/damage the pins. Also while you're at it inspect the pins. They should be gold. If they're brown then maybe the gold coating got wiped out somehow. I destroyed a cable (not the phones end thankfully) by having some water in there and it shorted some of the pins.
They also make kits for cleaning ports. I have a USB C one that looks like an asterisk that I like. The dingus is plastic and soft so you shouldn't be able to short the pins with it, but it's not as good at scraping out the really nasty stuff.
Oh also try a stiff plastic bristle brush.
Because apples lightning is a shitty connector standard and they refused to switch to USB, because people will buy a new device more often when it breaks quickly.
If its actually the socket thats dead then its kinda hard to do anything, but maybe its the cable? You could also try hotgluing the cable in place if you just wanna experiment.
The port may have broken solder, and it is only making a connection when the pins are pressed back into place.
The other possibility is that there is dirt or something in there making direft contact unstable.