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iOS 7.1 nuke third-party cable support?

W

watchthisspace

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 11, 2010
663
85
Just bought myself a third party lightning cable for my 5s as I really do not want to fork out for a genuine Apple one.

However to my amazement it doesn't work with the error message "This cable or accessory is not certified and may not work reliable with this iPhone" message and nothing happens.

I've done a Google search and there are/were some workarounds for this, however none I've tired work.

Is there anyone else with a third-party cable and experiencing this?
 
As far as I know the only thing you can do with a third party lightning cable is charge it and sync. I know as I used to sell them on eBay when it first launched with the iPhone 5. Things may have moved on since but none of the cable would allow audio down them.
The warning pops up but still should work.
 
570934 said:
As far as I know the only thing you can do with a third party lightning cable is charge it and sync. I know as I used to sell them on eBay when it first launched with the iPhone 5. Things may have moved on since but none of the cable would allow audio down them.
The warning pops up but still should work.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I only get the message and nothing.. maybe I got a dud cable.
 
watchthisspace said:
Hmm. I only get the message and nothing.. maybe I got a dud cable.
Click to expand...
TLDR; your mileage may vary...

It depends on what model of device you have and the particular cable. My iPad mini (now passed onto a friend) will charge with almost any cable I try it with, albeit anything which isn't from Apple produces the error. My iPad mini retina will only charge with Apple cables (anything else causes it to produce the error message and refuse to charge). My iPhone 5C will charge with all but one cable I have (that cable produces no error message at all and works on the iPad mini with the usual error message), however one cable will only allow it to charge normally to around 80% after which it produces the unsupported cable error and appears to stop charging (although it does creep up very very slowly after that).

A
 
You will get the Unsuported message if the cable is not a certified MFi cable, it's been this way since iOS 7 was released. (MFi - made for idevice). I have a 3rd party calve that gave me that message, that cable died and the company was good enough to send me the newer version of the certified cable and I no longer receive this message.
 
Always make sure your third-party cables are MFi (Made For iPhone). This assures a standard of quality and compatibility, since Apple approves them. If the cables are not MFi then they could be absolute garbage; I've heard cases of the plug breaking off inside the phone, damage to the phone, etc.

MFi is your friend.
 
zorinlynx said:
Always make sure your third-party cables are MFi (Made For iPhone). This assures a standard of quality and compatibility, since Apple approves them. If the cables are not MFi then they could be absolute garbage; I've heard cases of the plug breaking off inside the phone, damage to the phone, etc.

MFi is your friend.
Click to expand...

MFi certified cables are almost as expensive as Apple cable... I would just go for Apple cable instead... If not, I would buy the cheap one... 5 buck each
 
MisakixMikasa said:
MFi certified cables are almost as expensive as Apple cable... I would just go for Apple cable instead... If not, I would buy the cheap one... 5 buck each
Click to expand...

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=112&cp_id=11213&cs_id=1083101&p_id=10374&seq=1&format=2

$12, vs $20 for the Apple official ones. Significant savings. Plus you can get them in black too, which looks nicer (in my opinion).

If you buy $5 cables you will get what you pay for. Inconsistent quality and non-durable cables.
 
iOS 7.1 nuke third-party cable support?

Believe me or not but here's what happened to me.
I had a 3rd party cable from amazon that is not certified. It worked great on iOS 7 with my iPhone 5 with no error from December 2012. My sister then got an iPhone 5 a few months ago and when she plugged it into the lightning cable, it disabled it. It did not charge but an error came up 5 seconds after I plugged it into her new iPhone 5. Now when I plugged it into my iPhone 5. It did not work and the same thing happened. The cable got disabled by my sisters me a iPhone 5. Strange...
I now use only apple certified cables. Specifically Tech Armors 6ft lightning cables.
 
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look at all these penny pinchers, geez

you forked out for one of the most expensive smartphones out there, but 20 bucks is outrageous

how many are you planning to buy? a dozen?

please, support the economy and wages, dont buy cheap crap
 
When I got my 5, I bought a bunch of third party cables on eBay. Got like 10 for $20 so if they broke I would toss it out, who cares. But ever since I got my 5S, I get the message saying accessory is not supported, but even worse, even though it says its charger, it actually pulls power from my phone. I plugged it in and 20 minutes later my battery drained 15% on stand by. Threw away all third party cables and just sucked it up and bought real ones.
 
I just have a 5.

I use a third party cable for charging at work, and it works fine. However, I have a 3rd party dock which the 3rd party cable goes into, and I get errors about compatibility with the dock and sometimes I have to redock a few times before it'll charge.

Lightning concept has been a massive fail.. Apple should've kept it simple, or been even more sensible and used micro USB.
 
beosound3200 said:
look at all these penny pinchers, geez

you forked out for one of the most expensive smartphones out there, but 20 bucks is outrageous

how many are you planning to buy? a dozen?

please, support the economy and wages, dont buy cheap crap
Click to expand...

lol @ believing $20 is inexpensive for a short cable that is prone to breaking very easily. Since these devices use a non-standard cable, a lot of people need several for their daily travels. One at home next to bed and possibly main floor, one in the car, one at your desk at work, etc. At $20+tax a pop, that gets very expensive.
 
TonyYYZ said:
lol @ believing $20 is inexpensive for a short cable that is prone to breaking very easily. Since these devices use a non-standard cable, a lot of people need several for their daily travels. One at home next to bed and possibly main floor, one in the car, one at your desk at work, etc. At $20+tax a pop, that gets very expensive.
Click to expand...

yeah, i know, but thats 100 buck top. how much money did you invest in apple products? and to risk it buying pos cable? and how often does apple change cables?

in other words, if i had 100000 bucks car, i wouldnt be cheap on tyres or gas.

we're here talking about saving couple of tens of dollars :O i know some people dont have enough to eat, but they shouldnt have 300 bucks smartphone subsidized. get a grip, people. save the world from asian penny-pincher manufacturers, their ****** products and low wage jobs.

“There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.” Ruskin

a word of advice to the op. buy one cable and carry it with yourself, so you dont have to buy a cable for every room you find yourself in.
 
Kilamite said:
I just have a 5.

I use a third party cable for charging at work, and it works fine. However, I have a 3rd party dock which the 3rd party cable goes into, and I get errors about compatibility with the dock and sometimes I have to redock a few times before it'll charge.

Lightning concept has been a massive fail.. Apple should've kept it simple, or been even more sensible and used micro USB.
Click to expand...

After 4 years of life with microUSB...THANK GOD FOR APPLE AND A CABLE I CAN JUST STICK IN THE DAMN PHONE without fiddling with it for 20 seconds every time. Hell I'd pay $100 per cable rather than go back that crap. I hope wireless charging is in iPhone 6.
 
iolinux333 said:
After 4 years of life with microUSB...THANK GOD FOR APPLE AND A CABLE I CAN JUST STICK IN THE DAMN PHONE without fiddling with it for 20 seconds every time. Hell I'd pay $100 per cable rather than go back that crap. I hope wireless charging is in iPhone 6.
Click to expand...

you took the words out of my keyboard

why is it so hard for the engineers of the word to grasp a simple concept of 'both sides' connector. geez
 
iolinux333 said:
After 4 years of life with microUSB...THANK GOD FOR APPLE AND A CABLE I CAN JUST STICK IN THE DAMN PHONE without fiddling with it for 20 seconds every time. Hell I'd pay $100 per cable rather than go back that crap. I hope wireless charging is in iPhone 6.
Click to expand...

Drama queen much?!
 
beosound3200 said:
yeah, i know, but thats 100 buck top. how much money did you invest in apple products? and to risk it buying pos cable? and how often does apple change cables?

in other words, if i had 100000 bucks car, i wouldnt be cheap on tyres or gas.

we're here talking about saving couple of tens of dollars :O i know some people dont have enough to eat, but they shouldnt have 300 bucks smartphone subsidized. get a grip, people. save the world from asian penny-pincher manufacturers, their ****** products and low wage jobs.

“There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.” Ruskin

a word of advice to the op. buy one cable and carry it with yourself, so you dont have to buy a cable for every room you find yourself in.
Click to expand...

The official Apple cables are made like crap. There is an abundance of evidence around this issue, including on Apple's own website in the reviews. This causes people to have to replace cables frequently due to failure. That's an overhead that should NOT be needed.

Apple engineered the Lightning cable to capitalize more on the accessory market (along with having a smaller footprint), no other reason. The old 30-PIN connector was able to be duplicated by any manufacturer without issue yet everyone seems to conveniently forget about that. The issue isn't with the cables being "bad" for your device, it's that the manufacturers didn't pay the royalties for the privilege of manufacturing a certified cable so that it won't cause your device to display a warning message or just reject the cable altogether. Spending ~$700+ on a phone should not mean you should feel compelled to drop another $100+ on cables for it.

This is an iphone, not a car or hardly even worth a fraction of one. And besides, people cheap out on gas and tires everyday.

As for carrying a cable with me everywhere... Why would I ever inconvenience myself like that? I have micro-USB cables everywhere I go. Even if I'm in a non-familiar place, Micro-USB is the standard of all devices but Apple so cables are always at the ready wherever you are.

----------
iolinux333 said:
After 4 years of life with microUSB...THANK GOD FOR APPLE AND A CABLE I CAN JUST STICK IN THE DAMN PHONE without fiddling with it for 20 seconds every time. Hell I'd pay $100 per cable rather than go back that crap. I hope wireless charging is in iPhone 6.
Click to expand...

lol. The problem was with you, not the cable. USB cables have a different feel to each side of it so you can feel which way is "right side up". Funny how this became such a huge "problem" after the introduction of the Lightning cable.

USB 3.1 will introduce a cable that works both way to negate this "problem".
 
Also consider, one of these. Just use your own microUSB. Not as elegant as a dedicated cable but cheaper overall to replace when the strain relief fails.
 
TonyYYZ said:
The official Apple cables are made like crap. There is an abundance of evidence around this issue, including on Apple's own website in the reviews. This causes people to have to replace cables frequently due to failure. That's an overhead that should NOT be needed.
Click to expand...

in all of my life, i've never used better and more easier to use cable to charge my phone. not even those old nokia cables. musb connectors are light years behind. what about that click you feel when you plug in your lightning connector? that alone is worth at least 10 bucks to me, especially when you consider the fact that i have never bought a cable seperately, i always keep and take care of the one that came with my phone.

im sure ALL the problems people have with lightning cables are manufacturing defects, not design failures

TonyYYZ said:
Apple engineered the Lightning cable to capitalize more on the accessory market (along with having a smaller footprint), no other reason. The old 30-PIN connector was able to be duplicated by any manufacturer without issue yet everyone seems to conveniently forget about that. The issue isn't with the cables being "bad" for your device, it's that the manufacturers didn't pay the royalties for the privilege of manufacturing a certified cable so that it won't cause your device to display a warning message or just reject the cable altogether. Spending ~$700+ on a phone should not mean you should feel compelled to drop another $100+ on cables for it.
Click to expand...

and who cares? only you wishin to pinch 10-20 bucks

and yeah, apple is nurishing its next golden goose, the lightning connector!

TonyYYZ said:
This is an iphone, not a car or hardly even worth a fraction of one.
Click to expand...

you bought a premium phone for a premium price. act like it. or have you been saving 3 years for a phone?

TonyYYZ said:
And besides, people cheap out on gas and tires everyday.
Click to expand...

exactly. people cheap out on everything. thats why we have so many pos products on the market. maybe government should mandate the prices so manufacturers compete on design and functionality not the price.

TonyYYZ said:
As for carrying a cable with me everywhere... Why would I ever inconvenience myself like that? I have micro-USB cables everywhere I go. Even if I'm in a non-familiar place, Micro-USB is the standard of all devices but Apple so cables are always at the ready wherever you are.
Click to expand...

what about this?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD820ZM/A/lightning-to-micro-usb-adapter

sorry, but a have to say this. i have irrational need to both actively and passively disrespect people who care only about the price. price doesnt tell you anything about anything other than the information can you afford it or not. its like a condition for you to have it.

you bought 600 bucks phone, yet you open a thread and are willing to have discussion over 20 bucks. G E T A G R I P
 
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My Apple cable lasted nearly a year and a half before it died. I then went to Fleabay and bought a 3-pack of cables for a grand total of $5. One for office, one for car and one for home. The trifecta of cables!

Do they appear to be cheaply made in comparison to the official Apple cable? Yes. And I have absolutely no problem with that. But they all work just fine. And I could buy 12 of those cables for the price of one Apple cable. My hope is that out of the three that I bought, at least one will survive for a year. If not, who cares. They were $1.70 or so each.
 
Eau Rouge said:
Also consider, one of these. Just use your own microUSB. Not as elegant as a dedicated cable but cheaper overall to replace when the strain relief fails.
Click to expand...
This is actually one of the better ways of going about it all it would seem.
 
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