Wireless chargers as your bedside charger will also reduce wear on your charge port so if thats the weak point of your phone that will help it last longer
Hey thanks for all the tips in the comments, I’ve got these brand new stiff-ish cleaning brushes and this one worked really well to clean out my charging port and now there’s no more beach sand grinding noise when I shove my cable into the charging port.
You don’t want to be too rough on it. There’s electrical contacts that can get blocked by dust, lint, and crap, so cleaning helps, but the contacts themselves aren’t that thick, so you don’t want to wear them down too much while cleaning. A cleaning solution helps loosen up everything with less force and a softer brush/pad is less likely to knock bits of contact off.
So just be careful because that brush might be like blowing in nintendo cartridges (clearing dust but leaving saliva specs that would wear the contacts), where it helps in the short term but makes things worse in the long term (resulting in more blowing and an acceleration of the process).
And if that doesn’t work, take it to a shop to replace the port.
Don’t thow out a perfectly good phone just because the port stops working…
i never trust shops to fix a phone after working for one. they will purposefully damage other components or take your OEM screen and put an aftermarket screen.
If you have tech-savvy friend, try ask them a good repair shop.
Sometimes, Google review or any online review are not helpful as most of the reviewer are casual users that might be get tricked by the shop.
i am tech-savvy. and again, after working for a phone repair shop, i would never trust one to fix my phone.
Impossible for iPhone users
- sent from my iPhone that I regret buying in some ways
Doubtful. This might be an issue in countries that don’t require iPhone to use standards or that have terrible anti-consumer laws.
In any case, if that’s you, its not impossible. Just need to take it with you the next time you go on a trip overseas to a country that isn’t run by corporations
Or better yet don’t buy some anti consumer locked down phone that’s intentionally made hard to repair by a shitty company, I’m going back to android in the future where something as basic as replacing a port would never be a issue, but with Google fucking with the sideloading in android I’m concerned they are on a path similar to Apple, I wish some truly open source phone OS would be available like Linux so is for PCs
My last phone had this issue that sometimes it wouldn’t charge. Tried different cables but it still sometimes wouldn’t charge. Bought a pcb with antennas and charging for my phone, replaced it. Sometimes still had this issue but much less. I kept this phone til it couldn’t compute anymore. Twice shattered screen, twice replaced.
4 years. Not a flagship, but had a decent hardware. In the end it couldn’t do anything. Wifi worked half assed. 5g couldn’t connect sometimes. Android Auto would reboot constantly or outright not work. Battery would occasionally begin to loose charge rapidly and even charging with a power bank phone would still lose charge. It almost like I got an update that cut my phone’s balls and removed organs. But in the end, 400euro for 4 years - not so much. My new phone is better at less than half price. Hope it’ll work next 2-3 years no issues.
When wifi stops working, that’s a reasonable reason to retire a phone.
But not screen or port breakages
I use the pick side from one of those dental flossers to clean mine. Works great and easy to replace.
I came into the comments to say this. I keep one in my drawer, trimmed down a bit so it can go all the way around inside a usb-c port. They’re perfect since they’re very narrow and since they are soft you won’t damage the port.
I can only get a bent staple into the USB-C port on mine, which makes me nervous but does the job. Will have to see if a pick works.
Lol you just saying that made me nervous. Using a staple would make it easy to accidentally break a contact off entirely, and I’m not sure if there are any consequences for shorting any of the USB pins to each other. Even a twist tie would be better, since it has another material to do the rubbing and the metal is less stiff than a staple.
Edit: there’s another comment further down saying the risk of a short isn’t an issue, but I’d still avoid using a staple just because of the hardness probably being higher than the contact.
I see seven things in that photo. Please explain what each one is and what they do.
The two butt plugs should be self explanatory
Instructions unclear. Phone is now stuck. Please advise.
The top two stick to the back of the phone and provide a rubber cover for the USB c port. Everything else either scrapes away debris or wipes the port clean with isopropyl alcohol. Bottom right appears to be fashioned from a zip tie and probably didn’t come in the kit.
a simple sewing needle does the job
I would not use metal simply because its hardness is going to be similar or higher than the hardness of the contacts themselves, which means there’s a chance it could scratch or break the contact entirely.
I use a toothpick as the metal could potentially short something
You’re not going to short anything.
The power pins (VCC) on your phone’s USB-C port aren’t “live” at all times, the standard requires communication over CC1 and CC2 to negotiate which side is receiving power and at what voltage. Otherwise, a specific value of resistor needs to be in place between those pins and GND to get “dumb” charging at the original 5V usb standard.
The ideal tool is going to be thin and rigid so that you can get to the base of the port and free up impacted dust/lint. Small enough plastics are going to be to flexible to be effective, anything too thick is going to increase the working time and risk putting pressure against the center tab, potentially damaging it.
I fix consumer electronics for a living, my tool of choice is a pair of ultrasharp tweezers I use for microsoldering. Far as household items are concerned, a real small sewing needle is definitely it. The eye can even be used to catch and pull out fluff.
The port should detect shorts and stop working, atleast on waterproof phones
Sure. But that’s intended to detect shorts caused by water, and water is a much worse electrical conductor than a piece of metal, and so less damaging in the time it takes to detect a short.
Even if phones have some level of protection, why risk damage when you could use something wooden or plastic and just not risk it at all?
why risk damage when you could use something wooden or plastic and just not risk it at all?
Because fuck it.
In all seriousness, my toothpicks didn’t fit the last time I tried so I just grabbed a needle and has worked fine for me, just be a bit careful
flat wood toothpicks are a thing.
Also, metal needles or equivalent can raise contacts and do their damage. I cut the toothpicks with a cutter so that they are wedge shaped.
That is probably the correct way. But I just collect the dust at the bottom with the needle. Only plastic there. Sure, the side of the needle may come in contact with the pins, but it’s round so not likeley to snag on a pin.
If we had Atari cartridges in 2025 kids would be buying kits to clean them and blow into them.
The specs of saliva that go along with blowing corrode the contacts over time, so it is actually better to find an alternative with a soft brush and non/less-acidic cleaning solution.
Nintendo sold cartridge cleaning kits in the 90s (maybe even the 80s).
I have a cheap pack of plastic Walgreens tooth picks that are perfect for this. My phone case has a rubber cover for the port so I don’t have to do this often.
My problem is that my battery case has stopped charging along with my phone. Phone only charges with high wattage chargers, and phone case only charges with low wattage ones. Still get like 3 days charge on the case, but now takes like 16 hours to fully charge. Also, taking the phone case off so much eventually opened the back of my S20fe. Fixed that with S7000.
Cleaning can still help if it only slow charges (if you mean it used to be able to use high wattage ones).
Gunk prevents a strong connection, which can mess with the handshake. Charger will say, “yeah, I can fast charge, check out these amps!” but not all of it gets through and the case will decide the charger is a liar and just go with slow charging. Don’t assume that something getting through at all means the connection is fine because USB has fallback options when conditions are sub-optimal.
No need to waste money on a “kit” for such a basic task.
Yeah, a toothpick or even a toothbrush will do the trick if you’re careful. And without creating unnecessary waste.
It needs to be a hard material though. Soft plastic or wood can sometimes bend and break before getting anywhere.
Soft is good because you want the cleaning tool to break before it can apply enough force to break or scratch the contact. Use a cleaning solution to soften the gunk instead. Doesn’t have to be a part of a kit, just make sure it’s safe for metals, like isopropyl alcohol.
You can loosen up the dust with the bristles and then pull it out with the toothpick. I wouldn’t recommend using metal tools.
I feel like if you need more than a plastic toothpick to clean your charging port, you need to reevaluate how and when you’re using your phone and maybe should invest in paper towels to wipe your hands after eating.
“I’m rich and people who touch dirt for work are poor low lives”
Literally exactly what I said, thank you for clarifying.
“And those poor low lives should stop being poor”
When I cleaned mine out recently it was very clearly dust and skin cells in there, meaning just the crap the builds up on and around anything by existing
As an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure I recommend those tiny rubber stoppers you see in the photo. They have a peel and stick part that goes under your case which retains the plug on a strip of rubber. That strip might wear out in a few years and rip, but they cost almost nothing to replace (and in fact come in packs).
Phones used to have these things built in, then they stopped in the smartphone era because they didn’t look as sleek and futuristic I guess. Now, if you have a case, it once again makes hardly any difference to the appearance.
That was also when a single charge lasted for days or a week. Now we use our phones too much and multiple charges a day isn’t uncommon for people. I couldn’t imagine having to remove a little plug to charge my phone as often as I do.
A 1¢ toothpick works 99% of the time.
YSK that OP is now mad at wasting $9.99
For the missing 1% use isopropanol.
Never mind those, where do I get those cool rear view mirrors for my phone?
By all means try a tooth pick and pure alcohol, if that doesn’t work a professional might get you set straight.
Repair shops can do a better job cleaning than a home option. I had a data and charge problem, bought a kit and tried 3x times; it didn’t work . Bought new cables just in case that was the issue. Brought it in for repair fully expecting to pay for a port repair. Repair shop did a through cleaning charged me $15 and sent me on my way with everything working.
Please, not just any alcohol. Go with isopropanol, ethanol or methanol.
Shit. I used Baileys. Is that bad?
Depends, were you drinking it from a shoe?
Not as bad as cholesterol.
People don’t try cleaning their charging port before buying a new device? Thats crazy. I really have a hard time believing people don’t try cleaning before buying a new device.
Some people are just absurdly lazy.
Also what kind of kit does op have? A sim card ejector, a metal brush, a q tip thing, half a zip tie, and some adhesive things? Any thin plastic shim will work perfectly, and sometimes even a stiff plastic bristle brush works well.
I wouldn’t put anything conductive in there.
Wood toothpicks worked great on lightning ports, usbc is a little trickier and more fragile so I use a plastic spudger from an old screen replacement kit.
Not all are lazy, some just don’t know.
My in-laws didn’t clean the dust out of their PC for almost a decade because when they purchased it, no one told them to clean the filter on the front.
I don’t think plate manufacturers have to tell you to do the dishes. Everything needs cleaning, how do people not know this?
Well yeah because the plate looks dirty and its because you purposefully put food on it.
No one is purposefully throwing dust at their PC, and if someone doesn’t know that their PC is pulling in air, they wouldn’t know it needs any cleaning besides dusting off like other furniture.
He said “some people,” not “all people.”
Most people buy a new cell phone long before the charger stops working.
I’m weird. I’ve had my cell phone since 2020. But MOST people buy one every 2-3 years. Just because the newest latest and greatest just came out.
My 5 year old phone still has no issue charging. And when the battery starts dying, MY battery is user replaceable.
Don’t believe this person, they’ve clearly lost their mind.
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Sounds like you haven’t met very many people.
I mean, it’s one phone, paper_moon. What could it cost? $1000?
I’d believe it, especially with all the propaganda from big corporations and the fomo they push with new technology. Looking at Apple and their fucking yearly phone cycles.
Don’t forget to consume more! Buy two just in case! Consume! CONSUME!!!
i found out weed smokers regularly use a glass pipe until it’s clogged and then just throw it away….
also, if you go dumpster diving around the first of the month you can find trash bags full of useful things that people abandon and landlords throw out.I replaced a damaged USB C port (module) and degraded battery instead of replacing the whole device.
Those people must have a lot of disposable income.
I will admit, this makes sense, up to a point. I have 2 pixel 4a’s just sitting in a drawer because the screens got damaged, showing just a black screen. And it was the same price or cheaper to buy another used phone than buy just the screen for it, $120+ in most cases on eBay, when i was looking. So I bought another, newer phone instead of fixing the device, for around the same price.
That’s one reason why we really need right to repair. A screen shouldn’t be the same price as the entire device.
