"Pocket lint" screwed up my iPhone

Wherein an English major confronts a problem with modern technology and shares the solution with his readers.

I selected the iPhone SE for its smaller and more convenient size and (relative) affordability.   I was totally pleased with it until the phone began developing battery problems, about the same time in 2017 that Apple announced the implementation of a discounted battery replacement program that included the SE.

What I noticed was that my phone occasionally had problems charging.  Sometimes when I plugged in the lightning-to-USB cable I would return to find the battery charge level unchanged (or lower).  I switched from charging it off the iMac USB port to charging it off a wall outlet via an adapter.  Sometimes the phone charged, sometimes it didn't.

So in I went to the Apple store earlier this summer, where the a staff member ran full diagnostics on the battery.  "Nothing wrong with your battery."  All of the diagnostics accessible via the Settings>Battery>Battery Health menu (maximum capacity, peak performance capability) were within normal limits - as were all of the additional parameters that the technician was able to measure with their in-house proprietary program.

I thought perhaps my charging cable was defective, so I bought another one.  Sometimes when I charged the phone in an upright position, with its weight on the connector the charging "took," which made the cable-port connection more suspicious.  Also, sometimes when I plugged it in, the phone would blink "on" with the icon, then go quiet, then blink "on" again in a repeating cycle.  This would stop if I wiggled the cable just right.

So back I went this week, taking the charging cable with me.  The young lady who helped me solved the problem in five minutes.  First she checked the metrics, which were all normal.  Then when I suggested maybe the port needed to be replaced, she said looked at my cable-phone connection and announced "it's much easier than that."  She pointed out that the plastic "collar" at the end of the cable was not flush with the body of the phone when it was plugged in.

That was the key observation.  I had noticed some "play" in that connection and had wondered if the port was damaged.  The solution was way simpler than that.  She reached in her pocket, pulled out what looked like an otoscope, and peered into the port.  "It's pocket lint.  We'll fix it right here."  She then took out a short handled, soft-bristled brush and began poking away at the port, stopping at intervals to blow dust off the bristles.

The problem of course was that lint from my pants pocket had slowly accumulated in the port.  Each time I plugged the lightning-to-USB cable into the phone, I was gradually packing that lint into the base of the port, eventually disrupting the electrical connection.  Two minutes of vigorous brushing solved the problem: the cable connected with click, totally flush with the phone. 

I decided to write this up for the blog because I suspect some readers may encounter a similar situation (and this probably goes cross-platform to phones other than iPhones.)  To prepare the post I searched for "pocket lint" plus iPhone and immediately found an article that describes the problem and the solution.

On my iPhone 5, I noticed it “chirped” that it was plugged in while already plugged in. After narrowing down the possible maneuver to cause this to happen, I noticed that my Lightning cable had a bit of play in it, but only going to the right. If pushed right, it would stop charging, pushed back it would resume charging...

In the past with my iPods and iPhones, there was a bit of lint build up, but it often fell out. It seems with the Lightning Connector, plugging a cable in smashes the lint even deeper in the phone and I had some nasty buildup. I’ve used compressed air before, but it didn’t seem to really remove much. I used an unbent small paperclip to carefully scrape the inside of the port, avoiding the actual pins (do this at your own risk), and was amazed the amount of things that I was able to pull out.

I had asked the Apple tech about using compressed air at home, as I do with the keyboard, but she suggested a brush tends to work better.  My search also revealed that "dust plugs" are available.

In retrospect, the reason I didn't find the solution the many times I searched for "battery problems" is that this wasn't a battery problem.  So I thought I'd post the problem and solution here today for the benefit of those readers who may also be non-techy English majors.