I use a toothpick.
You must appease the Machine Spirit. You have to chant the prayers to the Omnissiah, burn the holy incense, and rub the phone in purified oils.
The Machine Spirit must be appeased.
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.
The old Reddit trope
The real LPT is in the comments
Kinda, you really want to use a soft brush and 90% isopropyl. A tooth pick is only useful if you are EXTREMELY gentle. Otherwise you might cause more damage.
Are a worrying amount of people going at the charger port hammer and tong?
Lemmings really don’t have a lot of common sense do they
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
Not my precious charging port dust bunnies! I once had one that could’ve easily won the fat dust bunny contest
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
What are the black sticky things for?
Looks like a cover for the port
I see it now! Thanks for helping my autistic dumb ass.
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.
Also, how come they need to unlock the phone to replace the battery … like, I guess they’re running diagnostics?
But like, can do that without getting access to bloody everything on my phone?
they will usually find an excuse to unlock your phone, also, they will have tools to dump what they can as well. they can even do it without unlocking your phone, but good luck proving that.
Yeah :/ my password manager and everything is accessible! I have no defenses!
The thing is my phone is already in a dire state by the time they get it. I can’t pre-emptively wipe my phone :(
hmm fair. what model is your phone?
Oh, the last one I took to the shop was my Pixel 7 with water damage. I traded it for a Pixel 10 now.
Oh perfect there are repair guides for that. So if you ever need to fix it, you can get all the tools yourself and fix it!
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.
Why would that be? Getting parts replaced and/or broken? Or would it be a matter of trust with your phone/data?
they take genuine parts from the phone you bring and put in aftermarket or shit ones that are almost on their way out, and they will (especially women) dump any data they can get from the phone.
Really good to know. Thanks for the quick response!
if you can, try to make friends with someone you can trust to fix your phone, and if you do, anything sensitive, backup and delete from your phone and cloud. if you want me to really be specific, im talking about photos, but i didnt want to sound gross.
I don’t understand how it could be worse than a phone that you can’t turn on?
They will harvest what they can (not talking Louis Rossman types) and then either A)offer either OEM or aftermarket and be honest with the part replacement or put aftermarket and claim it’s OEM parts.
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
Google’s fuckery is impotent against phones without Google.
Just install your own OS and don’t jnstall gappa (by default its absent) and Google can’t stop you from installing apps from third party app stores.
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 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.
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.
You can regularly blast the port with compressed air to minimise the build up of crud which necessitates this, but the time comes to all.
I mean I cant speak for the fancy new oil-less compressors but dont you lubricate your compressor and run oil thru the lines to protect your tools and prevent broken airlines?Plus the chance of forgetting to lower the psi before spraying the port cuz I’ve never done that ever before 🤣 idk man, id prolly test it first on an old broken screen phones before I started blasting phone holes lol.Ohhhhhhh shit your talking about the aerosol cans of compressed air hahahaha fuck im an idiot lol
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
No need to waste money on a “kit” for such a basic task.
The plugs homie. I bought the plugs. They came with the jankey cleaning kit that changed my life hahah
We seem to have very different lives.
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
A 1¢ toothpick works 99% of the time.
Who’s wasting money on 1 cent toothpicks?
LOL, that’s the value of them—not the price of them.
YSK that OP is now mad at wasting $9.99
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.
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.
One of the lads at work was freaking out because he had tickets to a festival on his phone, and it wouldn’t charge. I spent three minutes digging in the port with a wooden toothpick and wouldn’t you know there was fuck all wrong with his phone.
They just need an excuse to buy a new phone.
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.
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.”
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.
Don’t believe this person, they’ve clearly lost their mind.
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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.
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.
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….
