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Lightning connector port on iPhone 5 feels loose

dave8209

dave8209

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2012
82
0
Providence, RI
Whenever I charge my iPhone 5 the lighting connector feels really loose. It will be able to move around while plugged in. Sometimes when it does move around it will stop charging. Is anyone experiencing this? Could it be that there is lint In the lightning port? Is there any fix? thanks
 
Whenever one of our customers has this issue we found it to be due to physical damage - commonly done when charging (pushing the lightening connector to the side while it's charging). In your case it doesn't sound like anything too serious, but chances are there's either dirt/dust accumulated, or a connection has shifted slightly out of place.
 
dave8209 said:
Whenever I charge my iPhone 5 the lighting connector feels really loose. It will be able to move around while plugged in. Sometimes when it does move around it will stop charging. Is anyone experiencing this? Could it be that there is lint In the lightning port? Is there any fix? thanks
Click to expand...

Mine did the same thing. Make a genius appointment and they'll replace it no problem.
 
Problem Solved!

What you need is one Of those CO2 dusters and it will clear all the lint, dust and dirt out of your iPhone 5 lightning connector port. after, my cable worked just fine. If you do not own a CO2 duster, just go to the apple store and ask if you can use it to clean your iPhone.
 
dave8209 said:
What you need is one Of those CO2 dusters and it will clear all the lint, dust and dirt out of your iPhone 5 lightning connector port. after, my cable worked just fine. If you do not own a CO2 duster, just go to the apple store and ask if you can use it to clean your iPhone.
Click to expand...

Because buying your own can for $2.99 would be too much?
 
dave8209 said:
What you need is one Of those CO2 dusters and it will clear all the lint, dust and dirt out of your iPhone 5 lightning connector port. after, my cable worked just fine. If you do not own a CO2 duster, just go to the apple store and ask if you can use it to clean your iPhone.
Click to expand...

Be careful when using the CO2 duster not to direct the air burst at the mic or speaker ports on the phone, as this can cause damage.

Press the little red straw against the lightning connector and give it a little puff. This should be enough.
 
PNutts said:
Not that cheap around here. Give me the good old days of cheap freon. Given the choice between blowing a puff of air or warranty phone replacement I think the Apple Store will be more than happy to oblige.
Click to expand...

Oh god, you're right, how would I expect people who own $300 smart phones with a $100 a month bill be able to afford a $6 can of compressed air? That's at least two times the monies that $3 is!!! Additionally, why in the world is this Apples "choice"? We're not talking about Sophie here, there's no reason Apple would be giving out replacement phones because a customer got lint in their charging port.
 
dave8209 said:
What you need is one Of those CO2 dusters and it will clear all the lint, dust and dirt out of your iPhone 5 lightning connector port. after, my cable worked just fine. If you do not own a CO2 duster, just go to the apple store and ask if you can use it to clean your iPhone.
Click to expand...

You don't clean your phone from time to time? No reason that much crap should of built up in your phone. Take a bit of pride in your expensive electronic devices and give them a cleaning every now and then.

jonAppleSeed said:
Won't the CO2 cause water damage from the rapid cooling of whatever you're blowing it with?
Click to expand...
No.
 
AFDoc said:
You don't clean your phone from time to time? No reason that much crap should of built up in your phone. Take a bit of pride in your expensive electronic devices and give them a cleaning every now and then.
Click to expand...

That's what he suggested.

Interstella5555 said:
there's no reason Apple would be giving out replacement phones because a customer got lint in their charging port.
Click to expand...

If the phone isn't charging they must do something. They can check for debris in the port or not. If the problem is debris and the Genius doesn't check for it then to them the phone is "broken" and must be replaced.
 
Mine has a nice resounding click when I plug it in.

I don't know about using those air in a can things. Don't they normally have a bit of condensed water?

I normally use a tooth pick or a paper clip or even the sim ejection tool.
 
I had the same issue and i read on the internet that it was dust in the port.
I couldnt believe it until i tried it with a needle( not the sharp side ).

I pulled out so much dust i could not believe it. My iPhone went from almost not chargable to being good as new.
 
I just had my 4 month old iphone5 replaced because of this very problem.

I only charge it at night, when it's on my nightstand, so it's not because I'm pulling on it or whatever when its plugged in.

It started acting up a few weeks ago, but when I got to the apple store last saturday, he couldnt get it to charge at all. I got a new (not refurb) replacement.
 
I have a similar issue.

Hello,
*
I recently purchased a 128gb iPad 4th Generation about a month ago, and it has been used only lightly, but already the lightning connector port (the inside of the port) feels a little "wobbly." There's been no trouble connecting and charging (thus far) and the connector stays latched to the device, and I think it's "too soon" to exchange it, since it's still mostly (sans the aforementioned port) in mint condition, my question is, should I worry? Is this common in similar iDevices, am I just noticing this slight rocking back and forth (vertically towards and from the "home" button only, not right and left) of the inside of the connector port just now? Is this normal? Will this become an issue?
*
I've noticed similar posts across the web regarding the issue with the lightning connector port, and iDevices are not cheap in price or in construction, hopefully Apple will address this design flaw in their otherwise spectacular products.
*
Thank you for the advice.
 
jonAppleSeed said:
Won't the CO2 cause water damage from the rapid cooling of whatever you're blowing it with?
Click to expand...

first off, the most commonly found canisters are usually filled with compressed gasses such as fluoroethanes meant for use on electronics, not CO2. the only danger they pose is their extreme cold temps upon spraying. the only place for condensation to form is on the can itself, as the liquid depressurizes back to a gas, but will most likely freeze instantly as opposed to condense. if the liquid refrigerant itself lands on anything, it will boil on contact and disappear into a gas.
 
I had exactly this symptom, pushing the connector to the side or wiggling the cable would stop it from charging briefly. More annoying is that if this happens when the alarm is going off in the morning, it will mute the alarm, leaving it going off silently for hours and me not waking up. :rolleyes:

I decided to give it a clean, I had done the same with my '4 once with a sewing needle. I couldn't find the needle so hunted my flat for other strong thin things, eventually found an LED, they have very strong legs for their size. After I shifted a metric ****-ton of exremely compacted lint it works as new. I also realise my cable is flush with the phone, before it had been about half a mm away when seated.

The lint was extremely well squished in and was hard to break up with directly applied force, no amount of gas dusting is going to shift it.
 
Whenever one of our customers has this issue we found it to be due to physical damage
jpfg
 
I had this same issue. The lightning cable connection was intermittent and would disconnect with the slightest wiggle of the cable. I took a small coffee straw, flattened it, and gently scraped it along the bottom of the port a few times and extracted a surprising amount of lint. So, yeah... coffee straw; Problem solved.
 
The OP should be confused after some of these replies. A little dust should not. Make the connection loose. Take it to the Apple store and they will replace. It is a rare but known problem.
 
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