How to fix a phone that won’t charge

Having a phone not charging is something that has affected a lot of us at one point or the other. It is one of the terrible, frustrating and annoying issues a phone can develop. This is because deciphering the reason why your phone developed the issue can be tenuous and difficult.

When your phone isn't charging, there are a few reasons for it. it could be because your phone is not detecting your charger even though your charger is alright . It could also be because your phone is using a lot of power even whilst charging that it ends up looking like it isn't charging. Those are just two of the reasons why you are experiencing the issue.

How to fix a phone that won't charge in 2023

We will now show you a few ways you can diagnose your phone's battery and charging woes. These will also point you in the right direction on how to fix the issue.

Turn off your phone

This is the first thing you should do if you notice your phone is not charging. A lot of the time , a phone not charging can be charging at a speed so slow it is not noticeable. This usually occurs for several reasons.

One of the reasons why people are advised not to use their phone while charging is because it can cause your phone to develop issues. When playing games, especially graphic-intensive ones, while charging, your phone is using power as fast (or even faster) as it is gaining it.

One solution to this is to switch off your phone. You can then leave it to charge and see if there is any improvement. You can also turn on Airplane mode. Airplane Mode can be used to speed the charging process. It can also be used to reduce the rate at which your battery discharges.

Check your USB cable

A faulty USB cable is one of the things you have to rule out when your phone isn't charging. This is because a lot of the time , the USB cable in a charger is usually the one preventing the phone from charging. The reason for this is because we are always wrapping them around adapters, flexing them and even handling them in crazy ways. These things usually cause damage to the cable.

The best thing you can do if your phone isn't charging is to :

• Try and switch out the cable in your charger for another and see if your phone charges. If it doesn't, then you can proceed to try other solutions below.
• Test your charger on another phone. This is best if you do not have an extra USB cable lying around. There is a high chance that you will have access to a phone you can test your charger.

Diagnose a faulty adapter

While following instructions online that teach you how to mess with your phone works, a lot of time, there are simpler and easier ways to fix any issue you have. Checking your charger's adapter is an example of an easier fix when your phone isn't charging.

Adapters whose cable are removable can easily be damaged compared to those that have their cables fixed. The reason your phone isn't charging might be because the USB port on your adapter is broken .

The best way you can know for sure is to try another adapter with your USB cable. If your phone charges, then you can simply get another adapter. However, in case you do not have a spare adapter lying around, you can try using your cable with a power bank or your PC. If your phone charges, then there is a high chance the adapter is faulty.

Remove dirt and lint from your Phone's charging port

Although this is rare, it is also a potential issue you need to address. Lint and dust can choke your phone's charging port which will prevent the charger from properly connecting. It is also possible that the charging port can be blocked by candy and other dirt if a phone is squeezed in it unknowingly.

You can check your phone by examining the charging port itself. If you find lint choking it, you can then proceed to blow it out with compressed air. If you do not have access to compressed air, you can gently blow with your mouth. This should fix the issue and get your phone charging in no time.

NOTE: Avoid cleaning your phone's charging port with anything sharp or pointy. This is because you risk damaging the port itself.

Check your USB Socket

After verifying that the adapter and cable are working fine, you can now try this. This is more technical compared to the other solutions above. For a charger to work, there is a small metal connector that has to make contact with the cable. If the metal connector is bent, this will be impossible. Usually, this happens because of the way you plug your phone in to charge.

To resolve it, here are the steps involved:

· Switch off your phone.

· If your phone uses a removable battery, remove it. if it doesn't, switching off your phone will suffice.

· Get something tiny (preferably a pin) and gently use it to straighten the dash-like connector in the charging port.

Note: This is a very delicate process. Hence, you should be very careful as you could end up doing more damage if careless.

· Re-insert your battery and boot your phone.

· Try charging the phone again

Replace your Phone's battery

This affects people with phones that use remov1able batteries as well as those with fixed ones. It is a general issue that can affect any kind of phone. All phone batteries have an average healthy lifespan of 2 years. If you notice your phone is using a lot of power, your battery may be old and dying. Also, fluid leaking from a battery or bulgy battery are signs your battery is bad.

A lot of the phones we use today have fixed batteries. If your phone is one, the best course of action is to go to return it to the manufacturer. The manufacturer of your phone is in the right position to fix your battery issues. This is especially good if your phone is new or still in warranty. You can even get the faulty phone replaced if the manufacturer deems the issue warrants it.

You can also take it to a repair shop. Those at the repair shop also have the technical expertise to replace the battery for you. You should, however, try to visit a repair shop that has a good history of actually repairing phones and not quacks.

However, if your phone uses a removable battery, you can easily get a spare from a local store. Of course, there is a third option. You can choose to get a new phone. This will save you the hassle of having to look for batteries that fit in your phone all in multiple stores.

You can also try to calibrate your battery if you think it isn't faulty

Use Ampere

There are lots of apps that can detect if you are using a faulty cable, adapter or have a dying battery. They save a lot of time used in manually examining the phone. Ampere is one of such apps. It is one of the best you can use to verify if your phone is charging. It also tells you how much it is charging and how much current is entering your battery.

You can also use this to determine which charging method is right for your phone and whether you need to change your charger.

Download and install the app from the Google Play Store. Open it and wait for it to load details about your phone and battery. If the information you see in the app is in green, it means your phone is charging. If the information is in orange, your phone's battery is losing power.

Note: the reason why this app was discussed after the other solutions above is that you should only try it after you have attempted the other solutions above.

Rollback or Update your phone's OS

Installing the latest updates on a phone is good and useful because it helps to keep your phone more secure. However, it can also affect the speed at which your phone uses power.

Latest phones in the market today are all optimized so that they can have longer battery life. This is something a lot of old phones are missing. If you find your phone not charging, you should try upgrading the OS. This can help fix the charging issues your phone is having.

Also, you can roll back updates to your OS. This is the best thing to do if you are sure your phone developed the charging issues after you updated the OS. This is a bit technical to do. There are lots of guides online that will walk you through how to roll back updates to your OS easily.