What could hurt more than watching your phone battery showing ‘phone is not charging’ signs’? Imagine you plug the charger in, but the charging sign is still red. You re-insert the charger time and again, yet the battery percentage is not scooching up. Or worse your phone shuts off as the battery goes dead. Luckily, this ‘phone is not charging’ doesn’t mean your battery or charger is screwed up. There could be diminutive reasons behind the issue, and the solution more often than not is just a troubleshooting trick or two away.
What to do if my phone is not charging
Today, we’re sharing with you such handy tips to apply if your phone won't charge
Try restarting your phone.
In some cases, temporary system glitches might cause your phone not to charge. In that case, restarting it might be the only step you need to take.
Especially if you’ve not restarted your phone for ages, it might have a hard time communicating with its essential components. That’s when you notice your phone is not charging.
So, before messing around to fix your phone that won’t charge, simply restart it first.
On most Android devices, holding the power button for 8 – 10 seconds usually restart the device. Otherwise, you can do it the popular way.
Confirm that your charger and USB cable are working
Moving forward, you’ve got to confirm if your charging accessories are working. Otherwise, you'd continue troubleshooting your phone's charging problem for hours without a positive result.
First things first, check if the USB cable is working. Mostly the USB cable gets damaged so easily than the charging brick; that's quite understandable since it undergoes lots of mishandling, or rather bending and twisting.
Without wasting much time, simply swap the cable for another one to see if it fixes the problem. If you don't have many cables lying around, you may borrow one from your friend (or even your enemy). Just ensure you swap the USB cord.
If your phone won't charge after switching the USB cable, then it's time to troubleshoot the charging brick (wall adapter) itself.
Just like you did to the USB cable, try swapping the charging brick with a new one while testing both cables as well. If it works, then you need to get a new adapter. However, if switching to a new charging adapter didn't do the trick, try charging your phone from a computer. That should reveal to you the source of the problem.
If your phone did charge from a computer or another power source, we recommend you visit the official accessories store or a trusted local store near you to purchase a new charger.
Well, that’s not all. Keep troubleshooting!
Check/clean the charging port.
Dirt, lint, moisture, water, and other foreign particles inside the charging port may hinder your phone from charging.
Especially if you work in a dusty environment or you keep your phone in the pocket (like most of us), chances are the charging port is filled with lint and dirt by now. Even with that, you don't have to stress yourself. All you need to do is clean your phone's USB port, and hopefully, it fixes its charging problem.
We already have a complete DIY guide on how to clean your phone’s charging port. Otherwise, you may want to visit the official repair centre to clean your phone's charging port accordingly.
Phone charging slow? Check with Ampere.
Your phone may show it is charging sometimes but at a sluggish speed. That could result from any of the faults we've mentioned earlier – especially for bad chargers and cables.
To diagnose and fix that, we recommend you download the Ampere app from the Play Store. Ampere is a great, minimal tool for checking if your phone is charging and at what speed.
Firing up the app without connecting your charger shows an orange colour and negative amperage to tell you the phone is discharging. And when you plug in your charger, the colour changes to green with positive amperage, indicating the phone is charging.
Now, how do you know if your phone is charging slowly? Well, it depends on the inbuilt charging speed of your phone and your charger. If you use the original charger of your phone, you can check if it's charging accurately here:
- Check the output power rating written on your original charger.
- For instance, you’d see something like 0V – 2A. That means your phone can read up to 2000mA (2A) on the Ampere.
- Now, plug in the charger to your phone and run
- If the amperage reads below 1000mA, that indicates your phone might be charging slowly.
In that case, you may need to get a new charger. Sometimes too, running way too many apps might reduce your phone's charging speed. So, ensure you close your apps to boost the charging speed.
Confirm the power source is active
Just a quick check: is the power outlet working properly?
If your tests above show nothing is wrong with your charging brick and cable, you need to troubleshoot the power source now. There are a couple of things you can do to that:
- Confirm you switched on the power socket.
- Try plugging in another electrical appliance to the socket to see if it works.
- If it’s still not working, try charging your phone from another power outlet.
Install the latest or roll back system updates
Sometimes, a system update might cause issues rather than introducing improvements. If you notice your phone is not charging or charging slowly after installing a system update, you may need to roll it back. And in most cases, that's not what you can do at home. You will need to visit the official repair centre for assistance.
On the other hand, if you've not updated your phone for a while, we recommend you do so now. System updates usually contain improvements and patches that might improve your phone's battery life and charging speed.
So, why waiting? Navigate to the system settings on your phone to check, download and install the latest system updates.
Check for Water and Moisture
While this tends to be rare as a cause for mobile charging problems, you should not neglect it. Check if there’s a water drop icon just above the charging port. If you notice it, there’s some water or moisture in the USB port. Switch Off your phone immediately and keep it at a dry place, better placing it in front of a fan. Don’t forget to remove the SIM card, SD card, and battery, if it’s obliterable. Most often the moisture will evaporate by itself within a few hours.
Maybe it’s time to replace the battery.
Does your phone show a red X sign on the battery bar whenever you plug in the charger, or it shows that it's charging with no improvement; it might be time to replace its battery.
Like the charger, USB cable, and USB port, your phone’s battery can determine if it’s going to charge or not. And it's quite easy to diagnose if your battery is damaged. If it's swelling up, expanding the back cover, or leaking out fluid, those are signs you need to replace your phone’s battery.
And unless you've got a phone with a removable battery, you need to visit the repair centre to replace the damaged battery.
Seek professional help
Lastly, if none of the solutions about fixes your phone’s charging problem, you need to seek professional help. Sometimes, hardware problems might cause your phone not to charge. However, that’s not what you can fix on your own.
Fortunately, if you use an Infinix, TECNO, or itel device, Carlcare is the official service provider to fix your phone’s charging problem.
Here, we’ll diagnose what’s wrong with your device and make the necessary repair in no time. And if you need to replace your charger, you’ll get the recommended high-quality charger for your phone model from us.
Take a God Care of the Battery
To extend the lifespan of your battery and keep the charging issues at bay, it’s advised to take good care of your battery. Not for nothing they say that prevention is better than a cure.
- Never use your phone while it has been put on charging.
- Avoid the excessive use of HD games, Videos, and apps.
- Always close the background apps
- Don’t let your phone battery drained all the way to 0% or charging it fully to 100%
- Keep the charging between 25-80%
- Avoid extremes of heat and cold. This may strain the battery and shorten its lifespan.
