Why Is My Phone Not Charging? How to Fix?

Your iPhone or Android phone is plugged into its charger, but nothing happens. And you start to wonder "Why is my phone not charging?". There are many reasons why your phone might not charge, like a broken or rusted charging port or a broken power cable. Not all of them are easy to fix at home. A common reason why charging doesn't work is that your charging port, whether it's Lightning on the iPhone 13 or USB-C on phones like the Google Pixel 6 Pro, is clogged with months' worth of pocket lint and the cable doesn't quite fit in anymore. If your Android or iPhone is not charging when it's plugged in, follow these quick fixes to get it to work again.

Why Is My Phone Not Charging? 

When your phone is not charging, you don't have to rush to a service center right away, because the problem could be caused by something simple. Most of the time, you can figure out why your phone won't charge when it's plugged in at home. So before you panic and search "what do I do if my phone charger is plugged in but not charging?," try these tips and tricks.

There are many reasons why your device might not charge, and most of them are easy to fix on your own. Most of the time, a device won't charge because of:

• a faulty cable, charger, socket, or adapter
• dirt in the charging port
• third party apps interrupting the charging process
• a software update is required

How to fix my Android phone is not charging

Fix #1: Restart Your Android

Try turning your Android off and on again. Most of the time, when you plug your phone in and it doesn't charge, it's because of a simple connection glitch. The first thing you should always do is restart the computer to rule out a temporary problem.

If you restart your phone, all the background services will be turned off, which could solve your problem with charging your phone. Restarting your phone also refreshes its core parts in case one of them crashed while doing a task. To quickly restart, hold down the power button and tap the "Restart" option.

After a reboot, if your phone starts charging normally again, your problem is fixed.

Fix #2: Try Putting Your Phone in Safe Mode

If your phone still won't charge after a reboot, try starting it up in safe mode as the next step. Safe mode is basically a sandbox that only lets your phone run the software that came with it when you bought it. This means that you won't be able to use any third-party apps in safe mode.

Fix #3: Use a different cable, plug, or adapter

If you're still pulling out your hair and asking, "Why won't my phone charge?! ", it's time to check the cable. Your charging cable could have a loose wire, the adapter could be broken, or the socket it's plugged into might not be able to send the current correctly.

Try charging your phone with a different cable, adapter, or power source to rule out a broken cable. Connecting your phone to a computer via USB is the easiest way to find out if the cable is the problem.

If you can charge your phone through a PC, you can narrow down the problem to the adapter and socket. Even if a different cable worked, you should still buy a new one. We suggest buying either original, first-party accessories or accessories from trusted third-party brands like Anker.

Fix #4: Clean the Charging Port

If your phone isn't getting charged, it could be because there is something in the charging port. Dust can build up quickly in the charging port, making it harder for your phone to connect to a power source.

Check to see if dirt or other grime has built up in your phone's charging port. If so, clean it. Using a dry cotton swab to gently scrub the area will do the trick. Don't push anything too hard into your charging outlet, and don't use too much force.

Use a flashlight to look around your port and get a better idea of what's going on inside. If you find something stuck inside, you can use a SIM ejector tool or a toothpick to clean it more thoroughly. Once you've cleaned your port, try to charge your phone again.

Fix #5: Check for Water Damage

Water and electronics don't go well together, and even phones that are water-resistant need special care to stay watertight. If your phone got wet and now won't charge, water is probably to blame.

If water damage could happen, you shouldn't charge your phone at all. First, you have to make sure that everything inside your phone is dry.

There are different ways to get a phone out of water. You can use a hairdryer to blow hot air into it, put it in a bowl of rice, or try other things. You'll have to wait at least a day, though, before you can plug your phone in again.

After letting your phone dry for 24 hours, plug it in and see what happens. When the connections are clean and dry, it may start charging again.

Fix #6: Visit a Service Center

If you've tried everything else and your Android or Samsung phone still won't charge, you can always go to a service center and ask a professional why it won't charge. They might be able to find a problem that you missed or figure out why a piece of hardware isn't working. If your phone is still under warranty, you shouldn't have to pay to have it fixed. If not, you might have to pay to fix or replace the broken part.

How to Fix iPhone not charging

Fix #1: Turn it off and back on again

When you're trying to figure out what's wrong, it's often helpful to restart the system and see if that fixes the problem. If your phone's battery is still good, turn it off and on again, and then try to charge it again.

Note: This step won't work if your phone's battery is very, very low (less than 5%) or already dead.

1. Hold down the Power button and one of the Volume buttons at the same time.

2. When a slider that says "Slide to turn off" appears at the top of the screen, move it to the right.

3. Wait a few seconds for the iPhone to turn off completely. That's when the screen goes black.

4. Hold down the Power button until you see the Apple logo.

RELATED: How to restart iPhone.

Fix #2: Verify that your phone is not charging

First, make sure your phone isn't being charged. Connect your phone the way you usually do to charge it—wirelessly, with an AC adapter, or through a USB port on your computer—and look at the phone's screen. If the battery is already dead, let it charge for about two hours and then check on it.

At the top right of the iPhone's lock screen, you should see a lightning bolt in or next to the battery icon. If you can't see a lightning bolt, it isn't charging.

Fix #3: Check your iPhone's Lightning port

If your phone doesn't charge like it usually does, you should check the Lightning port next. More people do this than you might think. After all, we spend a lot of time shoving the phone, port end first, into pockets, bags, and other places that are full of dust, dirt, and lint.

Look closely, and if you see something, gently pull it out with a toothpick or any other pointed non-metal object that will fit in the port. If you have a can of compressed air, give the port a quick blast of that, too.

Try again to charge the phone. If it still doesn't work, you can move on to the next step.

Fix #4: Check your cable

If you've had an iPhone for a long time, you've probably seen a broken or frayed cable. This happens when the rubberized outer sheath breaks and exposes the wires. If your charging cable looks like that and isn't working right, you should throw it away and get a new one.

But Lightning cables get a lot of rough treatment, and problems aren't always easy to spot. Wires can sometimes break while still inside the sheath. And cheap third-party Lightning cables have been known to stop working out of the blue, usually, because the power regulator chip inside the cable has stopped working.

There's no good way to see any of this, so the best way to test your Lightning cable is to try another one, preferably a brand-new, fully authorized Apple cable.

Fix #5: Check for software updates

If you're not using the latest version of iOS, your phone might not be charging because of that. When your phone is working well, software updates might not seem important, but they help prevent a lot of problems and can even make your phone run better.

Here's how to check your iPhone for updates and put them on:

1. Go to Settings, then to General.

2. Tap Software Update. Now, your iPhone will look for the most recent iOS update.

3. If there is a new version, tap Install Now.

Fix #6: Try resetting your iPhone

When your iPhone is giving you trouble, sometimes it helps to do a factory reset.

If you reset it, it will go back to the settings that came with it from the factory. This should fix any problems you might be having. This is your last chance to solve the problem on your own, and it's worth a shot.

RELATED: How to factory reset iPhone.

Fix #7: Take your iPhone in for service

If none of these steps gets your phone back up and running, there's probably something wrong with the iPhone itself. For service, you should call Apple or go to an Apple store.