Help me fix my iPhone

[madsciencenow]

So I have an iPhone Se and contrary to what I thought when I bought it I really like it... ... except for the fact that the battery life is terrible, which I was willing to overlook until recently. Not too long ago I started noticing that when plugging the phone into charge it doesn’t always connect or worse it appears to connect only to lose the connection to the power cable a few seconds or minutes later. I ignored the problem at first but it’s only gotten worse to the point that it now takes several minutes of fiddling with the power/charging cord to get a connection. I’m still paying for this phone and I can get an early upgrade but the thought of another apple pos isn’t super exciting. I’ve owned newer models of the apple family of phones and never encountered this but switching/upgrading would require a larger footprint that I really don’t want. Anybody else experience this issue? Is there a fix or am I destined to fork over the price of an electronic groupo for a new phone in the very near future?


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[JAGI410]

Turn off phone. Clean out charge port with a toothpick or paper clip. Marvel at the clan of dust bunnies that you'll harvest. Turn on phone. Enjoy proper charging.

[Pegoready]

Until the end of the year Apple is offering a discounted $29 battery upgrade for the SE:

https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/battery-power

Maybe that will solve the issue. I have an SE, just gave it in for a battery upgrade Saturday, somehow it went poorly and they gave me a new phone for $0. Maybe you’ll be so lucky.

[kppolich]

The 2 posts above are spot on and exactly what I was going to type.

1. Clean with toothpick
2. Applestore battery replacement til EOY

[Ralph]

I really like my iPhone SE also....it's just the right size for me....my pockets, bike jerseys, etc.

However....I can't get rid of the red dot saying I have a voice mail. Hard resets, holding down both buttons same time, running battery down. nothing works.

Consumer Cellular sent me a new AT&T Sim card for it....(had T Mobile). Dot went away for a while, but one time when I had a bunch of voice mail messages, while working thru them, dot came back.

Otherwise, like you, I really like this phone for my use. Haven't noticed short battery life. Can usually go two days without charging. And certainly one day with heavy use. Even use the flash light some.

Sorry to butt into your post.

[Tandem Rider]

I also have an SE, love it, had the exact same problem. I broke the tine off of a plastic fork, cleaned out the charger port, all was well in electron land again.

[daker13]

Um, I'm the negative guy here. My iPhone only charged intermittently and I had to get a new one (it was insured). I tried to clean out the input as others have described, watched a few youtube videos, etc., but the input just no longer made good contact with the connector. I blame this on the stupid lack of a regular headphone jack: I listen to headphones a lot, and I don't think the input could handle the amount of use it got and so it eventually became loose. This is not an uncommon problem.

[Spaghetti Legs]

Sounds more like a problem with the cord to me. I’ve had good experience with Anker cords and chargers from Amazon

[RocketPockets]

Like others mentioned in this post, clean your charger port with a q-tip cotton. I had this issue on my note 3 and iphone.

[Peter B]

Do the easy fixes first; clean lighting port, replace cord, get battery replaced under Apple's discounted program. If it still won't charge you can purchase a replacement lighting port and install yourself. Ifixit.com (https://www.ifixit.com/Search?doctype=product&query=iphone%20se) is a source for parts, tools and do-it-yourself repair videos. If you can build up a bike you can fix your phone.

[sfscott]

You should also look at downloading a program that will read the number of cycles your battery has been through and the max percent of battery capacity the battery can hold. After about 500 cycles the battery will only be around 80 percent of capacity when fully charged and in need of replacement.

There’s an app you can get (I think the vendor is coconut software $ that runs o. Your Mac and can analyze the health of your Mac and iOS devices.

If you’re near time for an upgrade, the improvements in screen quality and speed are impressive. It’s noticeable and not a fan boy thing.

[Pegoready]

You should also look at downloading a program that will read the number of cycles your battery has been through and the max percent of battery capacity the battery can hold. After about 500 cycles the battery will only be around 80 percent of capacity when fully charged and in need of replacement.

There’s an app you can get (I think the vendor is coconut software $ that runs o. Your Mac and can analyze the health of your Mac and iOS devices.

If you’re near time for an upgrade, the improvements in screen quality and speed are impressive. It’s noticeable and not a fan boy thing.

You don't need to buy an app to see your battery health. Just go to Settings>Battery>Battery Health. Anything over 80% is good. I replaced mine at 83% as a proactive measure because battery swaps are only $29 right now.

[madsciencenow]

Thanks for all the advice! I powered down this AM and tried the toothpick and wow, I couldn’t believe how much crap was in there! Anyway, I plugged it in and it appears to be accepting a charge with much less ado so for now crisis averted.

I’ll mention that I also checked the battery health and it’s at 88% so not great but nothing to get crazy concerned about. I think the big issue for me with battery is working in a building where cell reception is really poor which forces the phone to search for a signal. Maybe I’m wrong but it seems to diminish much quicker at work than at home.

Thanks again for the help!!


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[sfscott]

The apple battery health is not really an accurate measure.

Tool is still in beta and is crippled by design. You need to know cycle counts.

App I mentioned has a free basic version. Full version is like $3. It’s basically what the Genius Bar uses.

[skiezo]

I do not put anything into the charging port. I use air(either canned or from an air compressor) and blow out the port from time to time. I just had the battery on my iphone replaced and it is now able to hold a charge.
I also use a case that has a cover over the charging ports. This is the week part of the ports as they get micro specs of dust and stuff in it and coats the inside of the ports thus affecting the lightning port.

[oldpotatoe]

So I have an iPhone Se and contrary to what I thought when I bought it I really like it... ... except for the fact that the battery life is terrible, which I was willing to overlook until recently. Not too long ago I started noticing that when plugging the phone into charge it doesn’t always connect or worse it appears to connect only to lose the connection to the power cable a few seconds or minutes later. I ignored the problem at first but it’s only gotten worse to the point that it now takes several minutes of fiddling with the power/charging cord to get a connection. I’m still paying for this phone and I can get an early upgrade but the thought of another apple pos isn’t super exciting. I’ve owned newer models of the apple family of phones and never encountered this but switching/upgrading would require a larger footprint that I really don’t want. Anybody else experience this issue? Is there a fix or am I destined to fork over the price of an electronic groupo for a new phone in the very near future?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Try a new cord or USB outlet fixture that's in the wall.. There's also a way to check battery health on your phone..can you plug into a desk top?
You can also lonk to Apple live and they can check the battery health. PLUS some APs out there that will do it also.

[572cv]

Mass produced wooden toothpicks are one of the great innovations of civilization.:)

[jb_11]

Thanks for all the advice! I powered down this AM and tried the toothpick and wow, I couldn’t believe how much crap was in there! Anyway, I plugged it in and it appears to be accepting a charge with much less ado so for now crisis averted.

I’ll mention that I also checked the battery health and it’s at 88% so not great but nothing to get crazy concerned about. I think the big issue for me with battery is working in a building where cell reception is really poor which forces the phone to search for a signal. Maybe I’m wrong but it seems to diminish much quicker at work than at home.

Thanks again for the help!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As other's have mentioned the battery replacement cost at an Apple store jumps from $29 to $49 on Jan 1. Even at 88%, you may want to pull the trigger now.

[Jaybee]

Just a cautionary tale... I tried the toothpick method on an Android (usb-c) phone. Removed plenty of lint and crap, and also one of the tiny metal pins that allows the connection to happen. Bricked the phone. may not be an issue with lightning connectors, but be careful.

[Johnnysmooth]

Turn off phone. Clean out charge port with a toothpick or paper clip. Marvel at the clan of dust bunnies that you'll harvest. Turn on phone. Enjoy proper charging.

Don't stick anything in that port, rather use an aircan to blow out dust - less risk of damage

[madsciencenow]

I live in suburban Chicago and getting to a store will probably exhaust the better half of a day. Consequently, I’m not super motivated to do the battery at this point. I do agree that it would be the smart thing to do but I just don’t want to take the time. With regard to the different charging options and cords variations I have several of the anker cords, various apple supplied cords, and a third party charging station and while some cords worked better than others, all of them became problematic prior to cleaning the port.

I like the air suggestion as I did wonder about how I’d manage to dislodge a toothpick if it were to get stuck? Anybody try their air compressor?


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[Gsinill]

...Anybody try their air compressor?


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Fair amount of water in compressed air unless you have a water separator installed.
Canned air like the ones for cleaning computer keyboards etc. might be a better choice.

[CaptStash]

When the time comes to get your iPhone repaired you are in luck. Jet City Device Repair is in both Chicago and Seattle. I have been going there since the dawn of time (or at least since my son broke his first screen). They are quick, pleasant and inexpensive, plus they really know what they are doing. they won't charge you for anything you don't need, and can fix most smart phones. I recently brought in a water damaged iPhone 5S to see if it could be resurrected. They opened it, blew it out and and dried it up, said anything else wouldn't be worth the money, but also suggested it might work ok if I gave it some time. I did and it did. Cost to me was nothing. Geeat guys.

CaptStash....