Iphone randomly not charging while off

[bignickel]

Anyone ever heard of this? Got an iphone 6, plug it in at night to charge: can see the charging symbol. Turn off the phone to charge faster (and not get woken up at 3 AM due to alerts), while making sure while turning it off it's on a stable surface, charging symbol still lit.

Next morning, turn it on: hasn't charged at all. Plug it in and it starts charging again.

Can't find anything on internet about it.

 

[Giordano]

Sorry with what may be obvious question: are the connections clean? Jostling the phone when you turn it off, unplug it, replug it might make/break a poor contact. I had this problem with a laptop until I realized that the charger connection had a small bit of lint on/in it.

More broadly (and perhaps more likely) I've seen that smart chargers sometimes do not always "get" the first time that a device is incompletely charged and that unplugging it and replugging it causes the smart charger to re-evaluate and to start charging. But yours appears to understand that the phone needs charging when you first plug it in, but stops when you turn off the phone.

Have you tried another charger? Does the phone hold a charge if you charge it by leaving it on?

 

[bytewizard]

Try a different battery. Had a similar problem, took phone to repair shop, battery tested ok, but wouldn't keep the charge long. Swapped batteries, problem solved.

 

[bignickel]

Sorry with what may be obvious question: are the connections clean? Jostling the phone when you turn it off, unplug it, replug it might make/break a poor contact. I had this problem with a laptop until I realized that the charger connection had a small bit of lint on/in it. ?

I'm thinking of dirty contacts for now. It's the simplest answer, although annoying that I'm not jostling the phone when turning it off. Any tips for cleaning the charging socket? I used to have a can on compressed air.

 

[paulhutch]

I'm thinking of dirty contacts for now. It's the simplest answer, although annoying that I'm not jostling the phone when turning it off. Any tips for cleaning the charging socket? I used to have a can on compressed air.

Magnifying glass, preferably lighted, toothpick and photo lens blower bulb (canned air can substitute but beware, it can push lint in making it stick harder).

Look in socket and loosen any lint with toothpick then blow it out. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Did this for someone at work and it solved his iPhone stops charging sometime after connecting the charge cable problem he had.

 

[arthwollipot]

(and not get woken up at 3 AM due to alerts)

Use Do Not Disturb and don't turn off the phone. See if you still get the same result.

 

[William Parcher]

I've gone through about 6 charging cables because the tiny interior wires break or detach from the Lightning connector. This happens after rugged use. It's a weak point or bad design. As it starts to go bad you will get intermittent charging. Wiggle the cable (near the Lightning connector) and you can get it to work. But eventually it will just stop charging.

Those stupid Apple cables cost $20. Then I tried a Modal cable with beefy fabric covering. It failed the same way. Now I've got a cheapy ribbon shaped cable and it seems to be holding up.

Folks online have used a gob of epoxy at the problem spot before trouble occurs as a preventative.

Maybe this is what happened with your phone. You might try an experiment where you attach the cable and then wiggle and bend it in all directions near the connector. If you see the charging stop/start then it's the likely problem.