There may be many reasons why your Android or iPhone phone may not begin charging when you put it in. Some problems, like damaged charging ports on your phone or broken plugs or power cables, may be fixed by just attempting a new cable or charging plug; other problems, on the other hand, can be more challenging or costly. However, pocket fluff clogging the charging port of your phone and preventing your cable from attaching correctly is a typical cause of poor charging.

Any charging connector, such as USB-C on the more current iPhone 16 range and Android phones like the Google Pixel 9 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, or Lightning on the iPhone 14 Pro or previous iPhones, may easily cause this.

Fortunately, this is among the easiest and least expensive charge issues to resolve. Here’s how.

My charging port is blocked; why is that?

Your phone’s charging port has no covering, so it’s open to whatever dust, grime, or debris it comes into contact with. Your phone will be vulnerable to pocket fluff every time you put it in your pocket. If, like me, you have pockets full of trash from washing your pants with old receipts in them, that’s a recipe for disaster. Let’s not even talk about the cookie crumbs. I have cookie crumbs in my pockets, but don’t ask me why.

This won’t be an issue day by day, but over the course of the months or years you own your phone, those tiny particles of dust and fluff will accumulate inside your charging port. They will compact every time you plug in your charging cable, creating a solid barrier that prevents your charger from fully inserting and enabling it to connect and charge.

Putting a cocktail stick into the charging port of an iPhone
Because the wood won’t harm the internal components, a wooden cocktail stick is an excellent instrument for the task.
Dirt in your port is most likely the cause if you’ve owned your phone for more than six months and you’re starting to notice that the charger is becoming less and less stable (especially if you have to move it around to get it to start charging).

How to clear the charging port on your phone
Unclogging the port on your phone is an easy operation. To scrape off the dirt, you’ll need a cocktail stick, toothpick, or other tiny object that you can insert into the port. It is preferable to choose wood or plastic since they are less prone to scratch against inside objects and maybe cause damage. I used the pin on the back of an earring and a metal SIM removal tool to do this, and while it worked fine, it’s not the safest way to do it with your phone.

Start scraping away gently after inserting your preferred tool into the charging port until it won’t go any further. Scraping back and forth is possible with an earlier iPhone’s Lightning port, but with a USB-C iPhone, you’ll need to scrape around the charging connection, which is located in the center of the port.

A cocktail stick in the charging port of an iPhone
Put it in there.
You will eventually be able to encourage the loosened material out of the port as you begin to pry the compacted debris away. It’s a rewarding process, and you may be shocked at how much is really produced. Work gently on the port’s sides as well, being cautious not to rub up against any of the metal charging connections.

You will eventually have almost everything figured out. Even with a decent light nearby, it’s difficult to see inside the port, making it hard to be certain you’ve gotten rid of everything. However, you may try your charging cord once again once you’ve cleared off a significant quantity of junk.

Close-up of dirt extracted from the charging port of an iPhone
Cleaning the charging port on your phone of clutter is gratifying.
With any luck, it will now plug in more firmly and start charging. If not, continue attempting to remove further dirt before testing the charger once again. It’s time to look into alternative options, such as a new cable or charger, if it doesn’t resolve the problem.