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Some iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Users Experiencing a Charging Issue
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ikramerica
macrumors 68020
Yeah, my guess is an OS bug is allowing the phones to drop into the “dead” zone before they shut off.
This happens with rechargeable batteries (AA, AAA) as well. If you leave them in a device that is always looking for a link to a device, and forget about them, they get so dead you may not be able to charge them. Sometimes you and try charging them in series with a good battery in a “needs 2” style charger and the good battery bleeds some power into the other one before the charger objects, but it’s enough to wake the battery so it works when you try again.
Unfortunately, you can’t charge a phone in series with a cord, but a magsafe port kind of works as if it’s in series, as it can charge from a battery pack OR charge the battery pack.
I wonder if it would wake up ever faster with the battery pack attached AND the USBC cord attached?
ikramerica
macrumors 68020
Good question. My 15Pro sometimes calls my Anker charger an “accessory” and sometimes doesn’t.
I have always had the same issue with my iPhone 13 Pro since I got it back in 2021, until I stopped using it last year (and it happened with all the iOS versions from 15 to 26). If I plug the charger within 5 seconds of it shutting down due to an empty battery, it never charges. I got in the habit of waiting at least 10 seconds before plugging in the charger. I don't think I noticed it when charging via MagSafe, though.
Just because the phones are tied into so many things we do doesn't mean the world ends if it dies for a while. If I'm just sitting outside reading a book all afternoon actively trying to disconnect, do I really care if my phone is on or off? Nope. But when I do go to use it, I should expect it to start charging and/or turn on if it was off. I'm sure you (or someone reading this) are thinking something along the line of "What if someone needs to get ahold of me?" in rebuttal to that, but you know what? People weren't reachable 24/7 for most of human history. Sometimes I'm just not available and I'll catch up on whatever happened when I am available again. The phone should serve us, not the other way around.
17pm. Happened to my while out if country. Never drained the battery but would not charge from USB
Apple store diagnosed it and couldn’t replace it because Canada phones are different from US. Bought MagSafe charger to use until I got home and then Apple replaced it.
Phone was only a few weeks old but at that point I had never tried charging from USB.
alexandr
macrumors 603
I love the fact that this news comes a day after 'Apple is considering dropping MagSafe' 😀
Had the same problem with my iPhone 17. Took it the Apple local distributor where I live. I was told to use the official USB-C cable from Apple. Apparently after a few minutes, it worked.
Earlier this week, 9to5Mac's Benjamin Mayo reported on an apparent charging issue affecting at least some of Apple's latest iPhone models.
In short, Mayo said that when he attempted to charge his iPhone Air with a USB-C cable just seconds after the device ran out of battery, it failed to turn on and did not display the usual red battery icon that indicates charging is occurring.
Mayo subsequently realized that several users have posted about this issue across websites such as Reddit and iFixit Answers, but it is unclear what the root cause is or how widespread it is. Apple has yet to publicly comment on the matter, and the issue does not appear to be fixed in the latest iOS 26.4.1 and iOS 26.4.2 software releases.
As far as I can tell, I also experienced this issue with my iPhone 17 Pro Max earlier this month. While staying at a hotel, I accidentally forgot to charge the device one night, leading it to shut off on me when I woke up the next morning. Naturally, I plugged in a USB-C cable, but the screen remained black with no battery icon for many minutes. At the time, I thought that maybe the hotel's outlets were not working correctly, but I knew something was up after I tried a variety of different outlets and chargers without success.
Just like Mayo, I was eventually able to get my iPhone to turn on by placing it on a MagSafe charger and waiting about 10 to 15 minutes. In my case, it was a MagSafe battery pack from Anker that I carry with me while traveling.
A few Reddit users said the standard iPhone 17 model is also impacted.
All in all, it would appear that the new iPhones have a hit-or-miss charging problem when they fully run out of battery, but there is no guarantee that everyone will experience it. With the issue now receiving attention on 9to5Mac and MacRumors, hopefully Apple is made aware and provides a fix in an upcoming iOS version.
Article Link: Some iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Users Experiencing a Charging Issue
This has happened to me too, but it isn't a charging issue, just an animation issue. If you keep the power button pressed long enough it will turn on and you will realize it was charging the whole time.
DIRSGT
macrumors regular
All my family members, 25 and younger, and my coworkers, 25-35, think it’s some badge of honor to not charge their phone. And my coworkers all sit in an office all day with an ac outlet right next to them. The responses I get are “I forgot” or “it doesn’t matter” or “it’s a hassle”. Then, when hanging out with them where they’re in public and need to use their smartphone it’s either at 3% or just about to shut off. It’s like my older relatives and coworkers with not knowing their passwords or not knowing how to get them.
Wanted797
macrumors 68020
I assume you felt iPhone 4 users held their phones wrong as well?
I don't think that this is a new problem. I have noticed this with different iPhones for years when the battery was drained below 1%.
My 17 pro max - after a recent update - will declare that my charger and cord are a slow charging setup ... and may even decline to charge ... even though the same brick & cord still charge my iPad Pro at regular speed.
Yeah I never got that, and you have the SoT challenge where people will go from 80-0 or 100-0 to maximize their SoT like it’s some kind of achievement, I couldn’t give a crap about my SoT or battery health I just know how to be reasonable and treat my phone right like charging overnight and not letting it get below 30.
This happened four times to me. I didn’t take it to a repair shop because my device is a US model and they’d have to replace it with a European one. It is very annoying. Sometimes needs an hour to reboot !!
davitur
macrumors newbie
So, wen’t back and read the article on the other site. Did not research other narratives (aka “numerous threads” with a “smattering of comments”). The author only admits to having it on the original USB-C charger for “minutes” and then lists a laundry list of other things he did without letting us know how long each additional potential charging task took (was it 5-seconds on the next cable, and then on to the next?). They also didn’t state how long it was on the mag-safe until it showed any signs of life, other than it was fully booted after 10 minutes.
Diagnostically, this whole thing could have happened in reverse (started with MagSafe) with nothing after “minutes” and then ended up using the USB-C and it was fully booted after 10 minutes - and the article would be about some conspiracy theory about a fault with MagSafe and the new phone line-up.
Could there be a problem with USB-C charging? Possible. Is MagSafe the solution? Maybe. Is this an author jumping the gun get get out an article for engagement and clicks? Likely.
But hey, they got me to read and comment - so I guess it works.
Hey, some people have VERY busy lives with a lot on their mind and very demanding work. It happens once in a while. I worked in busy TV and radio newsrooms for 50 years, both local and network. After smart phones came out, quite a few of my colleagues were caught out when they discovered they forgot to bring their charger and cable to work. Sometimes they could borrow someone else’s. Sometimes not. It happens. Cut people some slack. Maybe what they didn’t forget was more important.
My 17 Pro Max recently started randomly ignoring the USB-C charger every once in awhile, with a reboot required to get it back to normal. I wonder if that’s a related issue. (Couldn’t check MagSafe behavior, as I don’t have a MagSafe charger.)