Phone Not Charging? 8 Things to Check First

If your phone won’t charge, the cause is usually one of three things: the cable or charger, the charging port, or the software telling the battery to pause. Working through them in order takes about ten minutes and often solves the problem without a repair.

Here are the eight checks, roughly in order of how often they turn out to be the culprit.

1. Rule out the cable, the charger and the outlet

Cables fail far more often than phones do, and they usually fail invisibly — the sleeve looks fine while a wire inside has broken from being bent at the plug end. Change one thing at a time so you know what fixed it: first a different cable you know works, then a different wall charger or computer USB port, then a different outlet.

Two details catch people out. A cable that charges one phone may not charge another, because some inexpensive cables carry power but can’t negotiate the faster charging standards a newer phone expects. And a laptop USB port is much slower than a wall charger, so a completely flat phone can look dead for several minutes before it shows any sign of life — give it half an hour before you conclude nothing is happening.

If you need a replacement, we carry cables and chargers at the kiosk, and you can bring your phone so we can check the new one works with it.

2. Look inside the charging port

This is the fix people are most surprised by. The port sits at the bottom of the phone, pointing up when it’s in your pocket, so it collects lint and dust all day. Enough of it packs into the bottom that the cable can no longer seat fully, and the connection becomes intermittent or stops altogether.

Shine a bright light in and look. If you see a grey mat of fluff at the bottom, that’s your problem. Power the phone off, then work gently from the sides toward the middle with a wooden or plastic toothpick or a dry nylon brush and lift the lint out. Never use a metal pin, paperclip or SIM tool — the contacts inside are thin and easy to bend or short — and don’t spray liquid into the port.

A tell-tale sign that it’s the port rather than the battery: the phone charges only when the cable is held at a particular angle, or it connects and disconnects repeatedly with a chime each time. If cleaning doesn’t sort it, the port itself can be replaced — that’s one of the charging port repairs we handle.

3. Restart the phone before you blame the battery

A phone that has crashed sits with a black screen and ignores the charger, which looks identical to a flat battery. A forced restart rules it out. Leave the phone plugged in while you do it.

iPhone (iPhone 8 and newer)

Press and quickly release Volume Up, press and quickly release Volume Down, then hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears. Keep holding through the black screen — it can take 15 to 20 seconds.

Android

Hold Power and Volume Down together until the phone restarts, usually 10 to 20 seconds. The combination varies by maker, so check your model’s support pages if nothing happens.

4. Check for a liquid or accessory warning

Phones refuse to charge in conditions they consider unsafe, and they say so on screen — but the message is easy to miss.

• Liquid or moisture detected. iPhones block charging until the connector is dry; many Android phones show a water-drop icon and do the same. Unplug it, leave it port-down somewhere dry at room temperature for several hours, and skip the hairdryer and the bowl of rice.
• Accessory not supported. Usually a damaged cable, a worn connector, or debris bridging the contacts. Try another cable first.

If the phone actually went into water rather than just getting rained on, charging it is the one thing not to do until it’s dry. Our guide on what to do when a phone goes in water covers the first steps.

5. Heat, cold and charging that stops on its own

Lithium batteries only charge safely within a fairly narrow temperature band, so your phone pauses charging when it’s too hot or too cold and resumes when it settles. That’s protection working, not a fault. It usually shows up after a phone has sat on a car dashboard, charged under a duvet, or been used for gaming while plugged in — take the case off, move it somewhere cooler and let it rest.

The cold version matters in Vancouver more than people expect. A phone that’s been out in a damp January wind can report a much lower percentage than it really has, shut down abruptly, and refuse to charge until it warms up. Warm it gradually in your pocket or indoors — never on a radiator or with a heat gun.

6. Charging limits and optimization settings

If your phone charges but stubbornly stops at 80%, it’s probably doing that deliberately. Both iOS and Android have features that learn your routine and hold the charge short of full to slow battery ageing, plus optional hard limits you may have switched on and forgotten.

Menu paths change with every release, so open Settings, search for “battery”, and look for charging or battery-protection options. On an iPhone the same Battery screen shows Battery Health, worth a look while you’re there — Apple’s support site documents the current options for your iOS version. Also check whether a low-power or battery-saver mode is on: it won’t stop charging, but with heavy use it can make the percentage crawl.

7. If you’re charging wirelessly

• Alignment. The coils have to line up. Shift the phone a centimetre at a time until the charging indicator appears, then leave it alone.
• The case. A thick case, a popsocket, a metal car-mount plate or a card in a wallet case will all interfere.
• The pad’s power supply. Pads are fussy about which charger feeds them; one on an underpowered charger may light up and still not charge the phone.

If wireless works but the cable doesn’t, that points at the port. If the cable works but wireless doesn’t and the case isn’t the issue, the charging coil may need looking at.

8. When it’s the port or the battery

A few patterns suggest the phone needs hands on it rather than another cable:

• The cable has to be held or propped at an angle.
• The percentage falls while the phone is plugged in and in use.
• It shuts down suddenly at 20% or 30%, then shows a higher number after a restart.
• It only charges when powered off.
• The back or screen feels raised and the phone won’t sit flat — stop charging it and bring it in, as that can indicate a swollen battery.

Sudden shutdowns and fast drains usually mean the battery has aged out; our post on the signs a phone battery needs replacing covers how to tell. Loose or angle-dependent charging is far more often the port.

Bring it to MyChoice on Granville Street

If you’ve worked through the list and your phone still won’t charge, bring it to the MyChoice Mobile Repair kiosk at 798 Granville St in Downtown Vancouver and we’ll look at the port and the battery and tell you what we find. We’re open every day from 9 AM to midnight, so you can drop in after work or later in the evening.

Call (236) 785-8300 to check whether we can help with your model, or ask for a quote online.