There are a number of reasons why your iPhone or Android phone won’t charge when you connect in the charging cable. These include broken plugs or power cables and damaged charging ports within the phone. Some problems may be fixed by just using a new charging plug or cable, while others may be harder or more costly to repair. One typical cause for a phone not charging correctly is that the charging port is full with lint, dirt, and other junk from your pocket. This junk is making it hard for your cable to connect properly.

Any charging port can easily do this, whether it’s Lightning on the iPhone 14 Pro or previous iPhones, USB-C on the newer iPhone 16 range, or Android phones like the Google Pixel 9 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

But this is one of the easiest and least expensive charge issues to address. This is how.

Why can’t I use my charging port?

Your phone’s charging port doesn’t have any covers on it, so it’s open to all the dust, dirt, and debris it comes into contact with. Every time you put your phone in your pocket, it will be exposed to pocket fluff. If, like me, your pockets are full of junk from accidently washing your trousers with old receipts in them, that’s a recipe for disaster. And let’s not even talk about the cookie crumbs. Please don’t ask me why I have cookie crumbs in my pockets.

This won’t be a big deal day by day, but over the months or years you have your phone, those little bits of dust and fluff will build up in your charging port. Each time you plug in your charging cable, they will compact and build up until they form a solid barrier that keeps your charger from going all the way in and connecting to charge.

Putting a cocktail stick into the charging port of an iPhone
A wooden cocktail stick is a perfect instrument for the task since it won’t hurt the components within.
If you’ve owned your phone for more than a few months and the charger is becoming less and less stable (especially if you have to move it around to get it to charge), it’s quite probable that dirt is getting into the port.

How to clear up the port where your phone charges

It’s easy to clear up your phone’s port. You will need a toothpick, cocktail stick, or other thin object to insert into the port and scrape off the dirt. It’s best to use wood or plastic since they are less likely to brush against anything inside and damage it. I used a metal SIM removal tool and the pin on the back of an earring to accomplish this, and it worked great, but it’s not the safest thing to do with your phone.

Put your tool of choice into the charging port and push it in until it won’t go any further. Then, start scraping softly. You can scrape back and forth on an earlier iPhone’s Lightning port, but with USB-C, you’ll have to scrape around the charging connection, which is in the center of the port.

A cocktail stick stuck in the charging port of an iPhone
Put it in there.
\After a while, you’ll be able to loosen the compacted trash and push the loose stuff out of the port. It’s a rewarding process, and you may be shocked at how much material really comes out. Also, work on the edges of the port gently, but be cautious not to scrape too hard against any of the metal charging connections.

You’ll get most of it out in the end. It’s hard to be sure you’ve gotten rid of everything since it’s hard to see within the port, even with a bright light. You may try your charging wire again once you’ve gotten rid of a lot of junk.

It’s nice to clean out the charging port on your phone.

I hope it will now plug in more securely and start charging. If not, keep attempting to get more dirt out and then test the charger again. If it doesn’t work, you might think about getting a new cable or charger as a last resort.