Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

gilliang3

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 24, 2016
12
1
Hi,

I have an iPhone 5s and I purchased an MFi certified cable from Amazon last year (here is a link to the specific cable) and it had been working perfectly fine until this weekend and now it will not charge my phone. I get the message that pops up about 'this cable or accessory is not certified and might not work reliably with this iPhone'.

I'm just unsure as to why this cable would suddenly no longer work and would like opinions from those more knowledgable than myself on whether it's likely that there's something wrong just with the cord or if there's something potentially wrong with my phone now.

To give you a little bit more information, the phone will charge fine with the cable provided to me by Apple, it's just all of a sudden now with this MFi certified cable that that message pops up and my phone actually loses battery % when it's plugged into that cable. It had been working perfectly for almost a year though up until this point in time.

Any information/thoughts/opinions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
I had something similar and in the end it turned to be the cable and not the charger that got "rejected" by Apple.

What do you mean by it being the cable and not the charger that got rejected? When I say charger in my post I'm referring to the cable I got from Amazon. Sorry if that causes any confusion.
 
If your device does not charge anymore and gives your an error message instead, the culprit can be the charger (which gets connected to the power) or the cable (which connects the charger with the device). You have to try the same charger with a different (best: original Apple) cable and the same cable with a (best: original Apple) charger to find out which part is failing here.
 
If your device does not charge anymore and gives your an error message instead, the culprit can be the charger (which gets connected to the power) or the cable (which connects the charger with the device). You have to try the same charger with a different (best: original Apple) cable and the same cable with a (best: original Apple) charger to find out which part is failing here.

Right. That makes sense. I don't have an original Apple charger to test that but I did have the original Apple cable plugged into the same charger as the 3rd party cable and my phone charged.

So that seems to make me think it must be the third party cable that has failed. Although I will have to test an original Apple charger with the 3rd party cable to test that to be sure I suppose.
 
Its a bad cable. I purchased what was advertised as a genuine Apple Cable on eBay for a few bucks cheaper and after a few uses I got those same error msgs.

The box looked like an apple box, the packaging looked identical, the cable looked almost identical, but there was a sticker on the box in Chinese with chinglish typos on it. A dead giveaway.

The cable cord didn't feel like an apple cable either, and looking at the Lightning connector with a magnifying glass revealed the subtlest differences. Also, the cable didn't click into the iPhone the same as a genuine cable. It was harder to insert.

Never use an aftermarket lightening cable if you don't want to potentially damage your phone.
 
If your device does not charge anymore and gives your an error message instead, the culprit can be the charger (which gets connected to the power) or the cable (which connects the charger with the device). You have to try the same charger with a different (best: original Apple) cable and the same cable with a (best: original Apple) charger to find out which part is failing here.

Okay so turns out I did have an original Apple charger to test with.

And now I'm thoroughly confused because...

1) I can get my phone to charge with a Rocketfish charger combined with an actual Apple cable.
2) I can't get my phone to charge with a Rocketfish charger combined with the MFI certified 3rd party cable.
3) I can get my phone to charge with an Apple charger combined with the MFI certified 3rd party cable.

So now I don't know what the issue is...
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.