ok, so when i plug my iphone in to charge it, the battery flashes for a brief minute showing that it is plugged in and charging. however, after that initial minute the charge icon goes away and the plugged in icon is present, and my phone does not charge. i have had the phone since right after new years so i don't think the batteries would have died on me already. i have tried many different chargers, different outlets, different means of charging the phone and nothing seems to work. i live off of my phone for work so this charge issue is something i need to resolve ASAP. can anybody help? thank you.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 4S says its plugged in but doesn't charge.. help?
- Thread starter geauxamerica
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not trying to insult your intelligence, but have you futzed with the connector at the phone end? Mine sometimes needs to be wiggled a bit to get 'going'.
no insult at all. and yes i did try that, at first i was able to pull on the cord and get it in the right spot so it would charge, but that doesn't work at all now.
Maybe this isn't an option for you b/c of location or something, but why not just take it into an Apple Store? It would still be under warranty assuming you haven't voided it somehow. (I realize this isn't helpful in addressing your issue, but it just struck me as odd that one wouldn't do this or mention why one couldn't do this.)
The OP states that they already tried all these. Since it still doesn't work, I think there's a problem with the phone. I second the suggestion above about taking it to the Apple store, if possible.
I had this problem ...
I had charged my phone all night and it was still not taking the charge.
When I tried to do a restart. it died.
I took my phone to the apple store.
The asked all the above questions, and blew the connection out to clean out all the debris.
After all that and attempting to charge it themselves.
They determined that my phone was a brick and offered me a new one for $200
I didn't have that money to spend that day. So I left the apple store with my dead phone.
And its a good thing.
Because a few hours later,
I hit the power button ... and the phone came right back to life (with battery power at 100% no less) saving me $200 I almost handed over to the apple geniuses who apparently never came across this issue before.
Anyway... its a couple of months later and its happening again.
Both times this issue seemed to be caused by wearing the battery out, only doing a partial charge, then using the phone, then trying to charge it again.
Now I am charging the phone to "100%". The phone says its charging but the battery monitor doesn't move. after a while I will unplug it, then wait a few hours, and see if it will boot up.
At least that's what seemed to work last time.
i'll let you all know what happens.
I had charged my phone all night and it was still not taking the charge.
When I tried to do a restart. it died.
I took my phone to the apple store.
The asked all the above questions, and blew the connection out to clean out all the debris.
After all that and attempting to charge it themselves.
They determined that my phone was a brick and offered me a new one for $200
I didn't have that money to spend that day. So I left the apple store with my dead phone.
And its a good thing.
Because a few hours later,
I hit the power button ... and the phone came right back to life (with battery power at 100% no less) saving me $200 I almost handed over to the apple geniuses who apparently never came across this issue before.
Anyway... its a couple of months later and its happening again.
Both times this issue seemed to be caused by wearing the battery out, only doing a partial charge, then using the phone, then trying to charge it again.
Now I am charging the phone to "100%". The phone says its charging but the battery monitor doesn't move. after a while I will unplug it, then wait a few hours, and see if it will boot up.
At least that's what seemed to work last time.
i'll let you all know what happens.
A possible solution...
As I had hoped, I was able to bring this non charging phone back to life.
So after having experienced this twice, I think I have a solution.
In my case the battery not accepting a charge seemed to be caused by draining the battery down, doing a partial charge, then using phone for a bit, then charging a bit more. I think this has to do with battery memory or something. In general batteries prefer to long cycle, fully charge and fully drain. I'm pretty sure this was caused by not doing that.
Before determining if this solution will work for your phone, do all the previously recommended steps. Including: testing your phone with a different cable/ charger, cleaning contacts, etc.
In my case the phone indicated it was charging, but battery status would non change, even after charging for several hours.
The solution seems to be very counterintuitive:
Let the the phone charge long enough to recieve a full charge (4hrs+?)
Note that the phone will indicate that it is charging but status will not change.
Disconnect the Phone from the charger.
Do a restart.
At this point things will look really grim.
You lose the phone functionality (super annoying) and get the must charge icon.
However your phone is fully charged it just doesn't know it,
Now you have to wait for 3-5 hours
This is where the patience comes in.
For some reason after this waiting period, with occasional attempts at starts/ restarts ...
a simple press of the start button and the phone comes back to life
and the battery is at 100%
I have had this experience twice.
And these seem to be the circumstances in which it died, and how it came back to life.
As mentioned in my previous post, The people at the Apple genius bar (Los Angeles Beverly Center) were completely clueless as to this problem or solution (I talked to 3 or 4 employees), and were quick to tell me that my phone was simply broken and they would do me the courtesy of selling me a replacement for $200.
Be patient and you can save yourself $200
As I had hoped, I was able to bring this non charging phone back to life.
So after having experienced this twice, I think I have a solution.
In my case the battery not accepting a charge seemed to be caused by draining the battery down, doing a partial charge, then using phone for a bit, then charging a bit more. I think this has to do with battery memory or something. In general batteries prefer to long cycle, fully charge and fully drain. I'm pretty sure this was caused by not doing that.
Before determining if this solution will work for your phone, do all the previously recommended steps. Including: testing your phone with a different cable/ charger, cleaning contacts, etc.
In my case the phone indicated it was charging, but battery status would non change, even after charging for several hours.
The solution seems to be very counterintuitive:
Let the the phone charge long enough to recieve a full charge (4hrs+?)
Note that the phone will indicate that it is charging but status will not change.
Disconnect the Phone from the charger.
Do a restart.
At this point things will look really grim.
You lose the phone functionality (super annoying) and get the must charge icon.
However your phone is fully charged it just doesn't know it,
Now you have to wait for 3-5 hours
This is where the patience comes in.
For some reason after this waiting period, with occasional attempts at starts/ restarts ...
a simple press of the start button and the phone comes back to life
and the battery is at 100%
I have had this experience twice.
And these seem to be the circumstances in which it died, and how it came back to life.
As mentioned in my previous post, The people at the Apple genius bar (Los Angeles Beverly Center) were completely clueless as to this problem or solution (I talked to 3 or 4 employees), and were quick to tell me that my phone was simply broken and they would do me the courtesy of selling me a replacement for $200.
Be patient and you can save yourself $200
Last edited:
I am getting same problem with regard to my 3gs. There is an error that charging is not supported with this device. Any help??