iPhone 8/Plus How often do the Lightning port tabs get damaged due to overuse?

[AMSOS]

I've been hearing from some friends about how the tabs on the Lightning connector can wear out with heavy use. I also came across references on the forum.

Obviously, this is not an issue for most people, and this is the first time I'm hearing about it. No one I know has had to replace the Lightning port. I presume that this will be quite a costly exercise.

Can you give me a sense of how frequent this issue occurs? Does Apple (or another company) put out any statistics in this regard?

When this does happen, what counts as "overuse?" e.g. top-up charging (40-80) the phone twice a day will certainly mean twice the number of uses when compared to charging the phone to 100%. I do know there are lots of people who constantly put the phone on the in-car charger, and keep taking it off all the time.

What would be likely "overuse" scenarios that see a user having to replace the Lightning port?

Thanks

 

[Apple_Robert]

When it becomes loose and normal charging procedure doesn’t work. It happens but, it is not an ongoing problem for a lot of people.

Enjoy your new device and try to stop obsessing over every little ‘what if’ scenario.

 

[Populus]

Well, @AMSOS, I’ll let you know that my mother’s iPad has almost 8 years, and she plugs it every time she wants to charge it, and it still works ok. Lightning port is pretty durable, it is a good engineering solution. Don’t worry about it, seriously.

 

[Moonjumper]

I thought the port had worn out on my iPhone SE (1st gen), but it turned out there was a build up of lint in the connector that prevented full insertion, so it wouldn't fully click into place. Apparently that is quite common. It has been perfect since cleaning. I got the phone second-hand, so I don't know how much lint was from me or the previous owner, but clothes do shed fibres in use and can build up in the bottom of pockets.

 

[maerz001]

i heard from a friend of an iPhone user after 13 years and 3485920 charges you need a new port

 

[joeblow7777]

I’ve owned about 6 Apple devices with lightning ports. I’ve never had a port wear out or cease to function reliably, even after over 5 years of use.

Here’s a tip I recently discovered though. If the port starts to feel a bit loose, simply clean it out with a toothpick. You’d be surprised how much lint can build up in there. 30 seconds of gentle cleaning with a toothpick and it will feel brand new.

I know what it’s like wanting to baby your new device so that it lasts forever, but based on this and your thread about battery longevity I think that you’re way too worried about maintaining your phone. Trust me, just use it without worrying. It will last you a long time.

 

[ericwn]

I’ve had the lightning port wear out twice now. 6+ and 8+ and I charge maybe once or twice a day depending on what I’m doing. At home usually less iPhone use and more iPad. Maybe I just have bad luck twice in a row.

 

[I7guy]

The ports on my 7 year old 5s are still going strong. I've never had a lightning port "wear out".

 

[AMSOS]

Well, @AMSOS, I’ll let you know that my mother’s iPad has almost 8 years, and she plugs it every time she wants to charge it, and it still works ok. Lightning port is pretty durable, it is a good engineering solution. Don’t worry about it, seriously.

That's pretty solid. I am not worried. It's just that I had no idea that this could even be an issue. Hence, I wanted to check how seriously I should take this, and what better than to ask users who may have gone through this.
Thanks.
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I thought the port had worn out on my iPhone SE (1st gen), but it turned out there was a build up of lint in the connector that prevented full insertion, so it wouldn't fully click into place. Apparently that is quite common. It has been perfect since cleaning. I got the phone second-hand, so I don't know how much lint was from me or the previous owner, but clothes do shed fibres in use and can build up in the bottom of pockets.

Sounds good. How long have you had the phone since you bought it used?
How often do you charge it with a cable?
Did you go to a store to clean the port? Is it easy to do it yourself? If yes, how?
[automerge]1595113841[/automerge]

I’ve owned about 6 Apple devices with lightning ports. I’ve never had a port wear out or cease to function reliably, even after over 5 years of use.

Here’s a tip I recently discovered though. If the port starts to feel a bit loose, simply clean it out with a toothpick. You’d be surprised how much lint can build up in there. 30 seconds of gentle cleaning with a toothpick and it will feel brand new.

I know what it’s like wanting to baby your new device so that it lasts forever, but based on this and your thread about battery longevity I think that you’re way too worried about maintaining your phone. Trust me, just use it without worrying. It will last you a long time.

If the port feels loose, surely this is an issue with a connector inside? And not the buildup of lint. I guess the lint will just lead to inefficient charging, but I don't quite see how effect the feel of the cable.
Not worried, but interested in knowing potential issues with the phone. I plan to keep it for a while, and plan to keep it in good shape if I can help it.
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I’ve had the lightning port wear out twice now. 6+ and 8+ and I charge maybe once or twice a day depending on what I’m doing. At home usually less iPhone use and more iPad. Maybe I just have bad luck twice in a row.

How did you know it wore out? The phone wouldn't charge at all? Did you see a message from iOS?
What did you do to take care of the problem? How much did it cost?
Thanks.

 

[ericwn]

I knew when the damn lightning cable wouldn’t hold in place anymore.
On the first device it was just very wonky, a lose connection. On the second one it’s a completely dead port. I wanted to upgrade the first time, hence didn’t get it fixed. Now with the second one I fall back on wireless charging as a workaround.

 

[joeblow7777]

That's pretty solid. I am not worried. It's just that I had no idea that this could even be an issue. Hence, I wanted to check how seriously I should take this, and what better than to ask users who may have gone through this.
Thanks.
[automerge]1595113653[/automerge]

Sounds good. How long have you had the phone since you bought it used?
How often do you charge it with a cable?
Did you go to a store to clean the port? Is it easy to do it yourself? If yes, how?
[automerge]1595113841[/automerge]

If the port feels loose, surely this is an issue with a connector inside? And not the buildup of lint. I guess the lint will just lead to inefficient charging, but I don't quite see how effect the feel of the cable.
Not worried, but interested in knowing potential issues with the phone. I plan to keep it for a while, and plan to keep it in good shape if I can help it.
[automerge]1595113921[/automerge]

How did you know it wore out? The phone wouldn't charge at all? Did you see a message from iOS?
What did you do to take care of the problem? How much did it cost?
Thanks.

Trust me, I’m not kidding about the lint. It makes it feel loose because it gets in the way of it securing tightly. My port was so loose that if I lifted the phone by the cord the weight of the phone would be enough to make it disconnected. All it took was a toothpick to clean out the lint and the cable now secures as tightly as it did on day 1.

It took about 2 years of lint build up to reach that point though. I can’t say that this will fix all loose ports, but since all it takes is a toothpick and 30 seconds of your time, it doesn’t hurt to try that first.

 

[chrfr]

If the port feels loose, surely this is an issue with a connector inside? And not the buildup of lint. I guess the lint will just lead to inefficient charging, but I don't quite see how effect the feel of the cable.

A lint buildup will prevent the cable from being inserted all the way- it builds up at the innermost part of the lightning socket.
Any issues I’ve had with the Lightning port have always been due to lint. I have never had a real failure of the port.

 

[wproct]

This concern has crossed my mind at times also. I'm retired and at home alot and I plug my phone in to the charger many times a day. I'm on my third Iphone and have yet to have a problem so I don't think about it anymore.

 

[now i see it]

I mentioned this in your previous thread (which prompted this new thread) and I'll highlight here what can break inside the Lightning port in the iPhone for others who might be curious.

The male lightning plug on the charge cord has a notch formed into each side of the plug to grab the spring retainers inside the Lightning port in the phone. The male plug has eight contact pins on each side, but only one side is used at a time. Each side is redundant.

The female port in the phone only has 8 contacts on one side. That design allows for the male plug to be inserted any way, upside down or upright and one set of contacts will always mate with the single set in the phone.

Inside the female lightning port in the phone on each edge is a spring retainer tab whose purpose is to grab on to the notch formed on each edge of the male lightning plug. It locks the plug securely in place and you can feel it grab when you insert the plug with a distinctive click.

After a certain number of insertions and removals of the Lightning plug (thousands) the side locking spring tabs inside the iPhone port can break and then the male plug won't be held securely in the socket and the charge connection will always be erratic. Error messages can occur on the screen while charging and if the plug is jiggled enough times, the phone will no longer accept a charge no matter how the plug is inserted, and it will have to be rebooted to start charging again.

How often iPhone charge port spring retainer tabs break is something that only a repair shop or apple really knows. All I know is that after about three years, one of my spring tabs is gone and charging must be done carefully. Can't use the phone while it's charging otherwise the connection will break.

Here's some images to see what's what. You'll need a good magnifying glass and carefully directed light shining in the port to see what going on in there.

Most erratic charge cord connections are caused by packed lint in the port preventing the plug from inserting fully... But not always.

 

[freeagent]

Gas station and dollar store cables are the worst. Kids are the true test. If you use a good cable and have kids it should last. I have an iPad mini 4 that was for the kids. We got it in 2015 I think.. it has been beat. The screen has 3 cracks in it which affects the sound. It’s had formula, cereal, juice, pop (soda for you crazy Americans), and water spilled across it, it’s be dropped, kicked, sat on, body slammed on, ran dead so many times and it lives.. now my youngest who is now 5 uses it as his eight year old brother got his sisters Air 2. They also have our old 7s and 5Ss to use lol. I honestly wouldn’t buy Apple stuff if it was dainty. These things are pretty tough.

 

[1rottenapple]

I thought the port had worn out on my iPhone SE (1st gen), but it turned out there was a build up of lint in the connector that prevented full insertion, so it wouldn't fully click into place. Apparently that is quite common. It has been perfect since cleaning. I got the phone second-hand, so I don't know how much lint was from me or the previous owner, but clothes do shed fibres in use and can build up in the bottom of pockets.

That’s happened to me b fire on my 5. Never had an issue with the port wearing aside from an iPhone 4.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Never had any ports on my iPhones/iPads break and I'm the type of person that plugs in whenever I can so that's a lot of connecting/disconnecting. Now I'm warming up to low powered wireless charging for my iPhone.

I'm more worried about USB C as I've seen the effect it has had on my 2017 MBP. Those ports wore out fast and are super easy to disconnect. As long as I'm on a desk, it is fine, but it won't stay plugged in if on my lap.

 

[Devin Breeding]

I've been hearing from some friends about how the tabs on the Lightning connector can wear out with heavy use. I also came across references on the forum.

Obviously, this is not an issue for most people, and this is the first time I'm hearing about it. No one I know has had to replace the Lightning port. I presume that this will be quite a costly exercise.

Can you give me a sense of how frequent this issue occurs? Does Apple (or another company) put out any statistics in this regard?

When this does happen, what counts as "overuse?" e.g. top-up charging (40-80) the phone twice a day will certainly mean twice the number of uses when compared to charging the phone to 100%. I do know there are lots of people who constantly put the phone on the in-car charger, and keep taking it off all the time.

What would be likely "overuse" scenarios that see a user having to replace the Lightning port?

Thanks

I used an iPhone to drive uber/lyft for a while. I plugged in and unplugged my phone to my car as much in a week as some probably do in a year. Cables wore out quicker than I liked but never the port. I did bend the charging prong in the port trying to clean it but was able to bend it back very carefully with no issues.
Hurray for wireless. My iPhone 11 port might as well be soldered shut.

 

[AMSOS]

I knew when the damn lightning cable wouldn’t hold in place anymore.
On the first device it was just very wonky, a lose connection. On the second one it’s a completely dead port. I wanted to upgrade the first time, hence didn’t get it fixed. Now with the second one I fall back on wireless charging as a workaround.

Oh, sorry to hear that. It actually sounds like the ports had issues right from the time you bought the phone.
Or, is it that these issues cropped up with heavy use. I am not sure I follow.
[automerge]1595180581[/automerge]

I mentioned this in your previous thread (which prompted this new thread) and I'll highlight here what can break inside the Lightning port in the iPhone for others who might be curious.

The male lightning plug on the charge cord has a notch formed into each side of the plug to grab the spring retainers inside the Lightning port in the phone. The male plug has eight contact pins on each side, but only one side is used at a time. Each side is redundant.

The female port in the phone only has 8 contacts on one side. That design allows for the male plug to be inserted any way, upside down or upright and one set of contacts will always mate with the single set in the phone.

Inside the female lightning port in the phone on each edge is a spring retainer tab whose purpose is to grab on to the notch formed on each edge of the male lightning plug. It locks the plug securely in place and you can feel it grab when you insert the plug with a distinctive click.

After a certain number of insertions and removals of the Lightning plug (thousands) the side locking spring tabs inside the iPhone port can break and then the male plug won't be held securely in the socket and the charge connection will always be erratic. Error messages can occur on the screen while charging and if the plug is jiggled enough times, the phone will no longer accept a charge no matter how the plug is inserted, and it will have to be rebooted to start charging again.

How often iPhone charge port spring retainer tabs break is something that only a repair shop or apple really knows. All I know is that after about three years, one of my spring tabs is gone and charging must be done carefully. Can't use the phone while it's charging otherwise the connection will break.

Here's some images to see what's what. You'll need a good magnifying glass and carefully directed light shining in the port to see what going on in there.

Most erratic charge cord connections are caused by packed lint in the port preventing the plug from inserting fully... But not always.

Thanks for the detailed reply and the pictures you put up! Helps clarify what this is going on.
I can see lint build up causing issues and taking care of that should be easy.
However, going by your experience it's clear that the more serious issue will crop up with damage to the female connectors that allow the male connector to hook up securely for the charging.
Is this bound to happen after say 3000 (?) insertions and removals? Or, is it to be with rough use-I've seen people sometimes dangle their phones from the charging cable (ugh!).
Thanks!
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Never had any ports on my iPhones/iPads break and I'm the type of person that plugs in whenever I can so that's a lot of connecting/disconnecting. Now I'm warming up to low powered wireless charging for my iPhone.

I'm more worried about USB C as I've seen the effect it has had on my 2017 MBP. Those ports wore out fast and are super easy to disconnect. As long as I'm on a desk, it is fine, but it won't stay plugged in if on my lap.

Good. That means the Lightning port issue is really for those who use their phone roughly, or just have bad luck. I am guessing Apple designed it to last for not less than 4000-5000 insertions and removals.

What counts as low powered wireless charging for you? The default is 5 W. But how do you feel about 7.5 W? I use an Anker fast cable charger of 12 W and it works really well on my IP8. There's next to no heat and it charges fast.

I am thinking of getting a wireless pad of 7.5 W. That should be fine for quick top-ups.

What do you mean the USB-C wore out? Did it actually break and you had to get it replaced on the laptop? That must have been expensive!

 

[ericwn]

In my case the issues showed after a while. Maybe after about 2 years of ownership. Heavy use or not is subjective. I’m mostly at home and use my iPad way more than my phone.

 

[now i see it]

Is this bound to happen after say 3000 (?) insertions and removals?

I'd say that "bound" is the wrong word. I think a more accurate word is "could" since it happened to me maybe after 3000 to 4000 insertions (~3X/day X 3 years).

It's not a common problem. Most people don't keep their phones long enough to wear out the port. And now with wireless charging, it's not really an issue anymore with the newer phones.
Unfortunately it's not like just replacing an old battery. Replacing the charge port requires major open heart surgery- the whole phone has to be taken apart - so the repair is really expensive. Not worth it.

I was just making a point that it CAN happen, not that it's inevitable.

 

[artfossil]

For what's it worth (almost nothing) the lightning port on my 8+, which is now approaching 3 years old, began becoming problematic about eight months ago. Some lightning cables would only work one way up. Cleaning did nothing. Fortunately I don't have any problems with my Anker charger and I now mostly charge using wireless chargers.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Good. That means the Lightning port issue is really for those who use their phone roughly, or just have bad luck. I am guessing Apple designed it to last for not less than 4000-5000 insertions and removals.

What counts as low powered wireless charging for you? The default is 5 W. But how do you feel about 7.5 W? I use an Anker fast cable charger of 12 W and it works really well on my IP8. There's next to no heat and it charges fast.

I am thinking of getting a wireless pad of 7.5 W. That should be fine for quick top-ups.

What do you mean the USB-C wore out? Did it actually break and you had to get it replaced on the laptop? That must have been expensive!

Low powered is 5w. Even with 5w, if I end up using something that requires my phone, like WhatsApp, my phone gets quite warm just sitting on the wireless charger - warm to the touch. I don't like that, I don't get that with being plugged in.

Yeah, wireless should be fine for quick top-ups. The only time I've had my phone get really warm was using WhatsApp while it sat on a wireless charger already at 100%.

The USB C ports on the MBPs get really loose. I haven't fixed them, I just lived with it. Nothing is broken, it just is very loose and easy to disconnect anything connected to the laptop (to the point that having it on my lap can result in accidental disconnections regularly). Every USB C port I've ever used for a long time has always lost its ability to keep a firm connection. Didn't break --- just very loose.

 

[AMSOS]

For what's it worth (almost nothing) the lightning port on my 8+, which is now approaching 4 years old, began becoming problematic about eight months ago. Some lightning cables would only work one way up. Cleaning did nothing. Fortunately I don't have any problems with my Anker charger and I now mostly charge using wireless chargers.

Thanks for sharing this. It's clear that this is not a big issue, but as so many are reporting, it can and does happen to a good number of people.
I think it's something people who want to keep their phones for more than 3 years should definitely keep in mind.
Also, 7.5 W wireless charging will obviously change all this. One could leave it overnight on charge, or just top-up as required. Given that there won't be much heat, the battery should hardly be effected.
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Low powered is 5w. Even with 5w, if I end up using something that requires my phone, like WhatsApp, my phone gets quite warm just sitting on the wireless charger - warm to the touch. I don't like that, I don't get that with being plugged in.

Yeah, wireless should be fine for quick top-ups. The only time I've had my phone get really warm was using WhatsApp while it sat on a wireless charger already at 100%.

The USB C ports on the MBPs get really loose. I haven't fixed them, I just lived with it. Nothing is broken, it just is very loose and easy to disconnect anything connected to the laptop (to the point that having it on my lap can result in accidental disconnections regularly). Every USB C port I've ever used for a long time has always lost its ability to keep a firm connection. Didn't break --- just very loose.

That's horrible. Unless it's the way USB-C is deliberately designed for some season, it's just plain bad QC. Is this what Apple has come to?

 

[BigMcGuire]

That's horrible. Unless it's the way USB-C is deliberately designed for some season, it's just plain bad QC. Is this what Apple has come to?

I think it's just the way USB-C is. I'm used to a click and a snap with a good tug to get it loose. Any USB C device I've used for some time gets REALLY loose (HP/Dell etc). I do think there were a few threads on this forum of users complaining about loose USB C ports on the MBP, not sure. It functions. I sure miss the old days of the magnetic power supplies.