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.
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.
He said “some people,” not “all people.”
I don’t think plate manufacturers have to tell you to do the dishes. Everything needs cleaning, how do people not know this?
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.
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.
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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!!!
Sounds like you haven’t met very many people.
Cheese and rice theres a lot of responses jumping to accusations of people too lazy but I’ve never heard someone too lazy to clean a phone port for $1000 savings.
100% of the people im surrounded by in my family/friends would be to afraid of breaking it beyond trade in value towards the new phone. My case was extreme but since the screens got better id have to guess charging issues is up there for one of the biggest reasons people trade their phones in.
They just need an excuse to buy a new phone.
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.Lol this one is truly unbelievable to me. Its glass! Soak it in soapy water, vinegar or bleach, for gods sake…
it’s true… i’ve found them like that and my friend told me that’s why….
also i’m in california and everyone smokes weed and glass pipes are cheap and everywhere.
i really hate the “disposable” usb-c rechargeable vapes that can’t be refillable by law….
A 1¢ toothpick works 99% of the time.
For the missing 1% use isopropanol.
YSK that OP is now mad at wasting $9.99
Who’s wasting money on 1 cent toothpicks?
LOL, that’s the value of them—not the price of them.
I used to shock and amaze people when I’d pull out half a cottonballs worth of pocket lint and get their phones working again.
And don’t waste $10 on a kit. A toothpick and canned air does everything you need.
As I told another person with similar reply, the purchase was for the adhesive plugs to prevent this from happening in the future as i prepped to buy a new phine but the plugs happened to come with a jankey cleaning kit and turned my frown upside down. The plugs are as much of the take away as the cleaning the port.
You could also set up wireless charging and put the phone down for a bit.
Heathen!!!
I had a phone that I put the charging cable in backwards, and the port was completely broken. Bought a wireless charger and never had any problems.
(Whoever decided to standardize phone chargers on that connector should be put into prison.)
The last time I plugged my phone in to charge was … Well, never with this one.
It has a 3.5mm and a Qi charging and sharing rig. I wish I could have this phone forever.
For whoever isn’t aware, you can just add wireless charging to a device. It’s a paper thin cord and a pad that goes under whatever case you have. You won’t even notice it’s there under your case. They work well.
So you missed the part where I explained I need it for my constant glucose monitor which perpetually drains my phone battery creating the whole battle of the port?
Or you saying im not being a risky enough diabetic leaving my phone out of Bluetooth range for the 8 or more hours it takes to charge a zfold5 on a wireless charging pad? Cuz say the word and ill go hypo-g right the fuck meow, son. /s couldnt pass on good diabeeetus joke lol
You posted this as a “You Should Know” clean your port before getting a new phone. Just because you have a need for constant charging, does not mean that wireless charging is an invalid option for the audience you’re taking to.
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 came here to say this. I bought a cleaning kit but all the tools were too thick. The plastic dental pick was perfect. I used a drop of 90% rubbing alcohol to loosen the lint first.
Alternatively, just grab a free toothpick from a restaurant and use that to clean the port.
Toothpicks are WAY too thick. A sewing needle did the job for me though
I wouldn’t use metal to clean it. A sewing needle is surely hard enough to scratch the coating on the pins. Plastic or wood would be less destructive for repeated use.
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The old Reddit trope
The real LPT is in the comments
a simple sewing needle does the job
I use a toothpick as the metal could potentially short something
You really won’t short something, and wooden toothpicks are at risk of splintering and leaving more behind than getting out if you’re not careful.
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.
You generally won’t be touching the contacts much, since most gunk like lint can just be scooped out. Just be a bit gentle and you’ll be fine.
My phone is a Galaxy Z-Fold5, not new but not old enough for me to replace since the Fold7 just shipped.
Was hell bent sure the issue causing my phone to begin not accepting charging cables* was something Samsung was doing with their software updates. (*It charged fine with contactless chargers if youre ok with it taking 10-14 hours to charge)
It was too much of a coincidence that the phone charged 100% fine with any and all cables. Download a software update (not android update, this was samsung delivered update) phone doesnt charge with a cable after that for 2-3 weeks. Im T1Diabetic who uses wifi connected glucose monitor, so it fuckin drains battery juice 24/7 with very little setting controls to mitigate it. So I spent 2-3 weeks battling with it to charge on charging pads.
Didn’t change a thing with what I was doing and BAM another Samsung update, weirdly close to the last update and fuck me running if the phone didnt start charging very very tenderly with charging cables again.
Eventually figured fuck it, if its hard to do the phone is broke if its easy enough to do then maybe it will help and bought a pack of adhesive rubber type C port plugs from Amazon that came with a super cheap cleaning kit. It wasnt anything special. It came with the picture pointed and spaded q-tips, a flexible wire brush, then I used my own zip tie that I shaped, a sim card tool and a cloth for cleaning glasses. AND WENT TO FUCKING TOWN.
Everytime you plug in your charger to your phone, any dust that is in there is getting buttfucked into the back of the phone’s charging port like its a muzzleloaded gunpowder. Lol a bit hyperbplic but you get the point.
Finished cleaning the port. Plugged it in. First fuckin try, no fighting it, no switching chargers, no “charging but not fast charging” bullshit, no more voids in guessing my blood sugar, no more watching tv holding charger into phone. AND $1,000+ THAT IS STILL IN MY FUCKING ACCOUNT.
I gotta assume this is the #1 driver for phones needing to be replaced ever since the screens stopped shattering everytime you sneezed. The adhesive rubber plug is amazing. It is hardly noticeable and stays in the charging port even with my opening and closing of screens. It never pops out.
Honestly the smartest $10 I think I may have ever spent.
TLDR: Phone not charging? Buy $10 type C cleaning kit from amazon, watch 5min video on tips for cleaning, clean charging port for night and day results. Not difficult, very hard to fuck up your phone unless you jackhammer the port cleaning it. Saves you the cost of a new phone.
And obviously this isnt a fix all for all charging issues.
Get a magnetic charge cord. There’ll be a tiny dongle that you plug in once, then the complementary cable has a magnet end that snaps to.
They’re cheap and easy, though not all of them are interchangeable with each other, so figure out how many device you want to use and in how many places, and buy everything at once.
Hollllllly fuck why is this the first time im hearing about this. It makes soooo much sense.
This is the ebay listing for some I bought, that I like the best. These are popwer only, no data, just two contacts. The magnetic part is circular, so it’ll rotate, and the 90 degree hinge in the cable is loose so it won’t bind up. When I bought these, you could buy all sorts of cable lengths and all sorts of dongle ends in pretty much any quantities you want. I’d bet you can find this at the same seller’s store or elsewhere.
Could you please link the kit you bought?
I use a toothpick.
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?
Gotta be careful as well with USB-C ports. I managed to break off the middle section while cleaning a couple of times. Not a good thing, luckily phone battery was already dying at the time.
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
Do the same with your butthole. Thank me later
Genuine curious question (assuming you are from the west): Why do you guys use toilet paper to clean your butt instead of a jet spray like we do in the east?
Jet spray. Toilet paper is just for drying off afterwards. Or dressing like a mummy
Literally just use one of those toothpick flosser things. The end is usually a plastic pick, which is perfect.
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.
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).
No one bought those. By the time any corrosion occured, you mastered the game.
