How to Dry Out Your iPhone Charging Port

Moisture and liquid can be a death sentence for your smartphone. If your iPhone’s charging port is acting wonky after you had an accidental spill or a rain mishap, you’ve come to the right spot to fix it. This guide discusses nifty ways to dry out your iPhone charging port so you can charge it again in no time.

How to Dry Out Your iPhone Charging Port

When your iPhone detects moisture or liquid in its charging port, it alerts you with the “Liquid Detected in Lightning/USB-C Connector” or “Charging Not Available” warnings. This error can prevent your iPhone from topping up its battery, which can be annoying, especially when you are in a hurry.

Newer iPhones are water-resistant, so there’s little chance of liquid damage. Still, you should take the necessary precautions and dry out your iPhone’s charging port as soon as possible.

Before you begin troubleshooting, force restart your iPhone to ensure the error is not triggered by a glitch. If the error persists, unplug all connected cables to ensure there is no short circuit.

Use a Soft, Lint-Free Cloth

The first step to dry out your iPhone’s charging port is to clean it with a dry, soft, and lint-free cloth (a lens cloth, for example). Doing this will absorb all excess moisture. Make sure the cloth is lint-free to avoid fine particles accumulating inside the slot, worsening the situation.

Also, avoid inserting any foreign metallic object into the port while cleaning to avoid damaging the connector. Apple’s standard warranty does not cover accidental damage, and you might have to pay repair charges if you haven’t purchased AppleCare+.

Use the Push Down Motion to Remove Excess Liquid

If your iPhone gets wet, shaking it randomly won’t help. Hold your iPhone upright (with the charging port facing downwards) and tap it firmly against your hand to let excess water droplets slide out of the charging port. Doing this will also prevent water from moving up your device’s internal components, as gravity will keep pushing it down with each tap.

Repeat the process a few times until the water droplets stop coming out of the charging port.

Keep the Device in a Dry Place With Airflow

Once you’ve wiped off the charging port and removed excess liquid droplets, place it in an airy environment to speed up evaporation. Avoid blowing air directly into the charging port or keeping it in direct sunlight. The former might push moisture deep inside your phone, while the latter will only increase the internal component’s temperature, causing permanent damage.

You can also place it under a cooling fan, but make sure the airflow doesn’t hit your charging socket directly. Avoid using compressed air or a blower to create direct airflow.

Use Silica Gel Packets

Silica gel packets are excellent moisture absorbers. They are often included in the packaging of electronic items, shoes, handbags, or medicines. Each packet contains granular particles that can absorb a significant amount of liquid in a closed space.

Grab a few silica gel packets and pack them with your iPhone in a box or a sealable bag. Leave it unattended for at least 24 hours and check back later to ensure the charging port has dried out.

Furthermore, it’s best to avoid using rice to absorb moisture as its fine particles might get inside your iPhone, creating unforeseen issues.

Use a Dehumidifier

As the name indicates, a dehumidifier is an appliance to reduce moisture in your air. If you have one, you can place your wet iPhone close to the dehumidifier to dry out your charging port. However, the process might take a few hours and its efficiency depends entirely on the size of the space where your phone is.

Elevate Your iPhone

Besides electrical appliances and silica gel packets, you can trust gravity to dry out your iPhone’s charging port. Affix your iPhone to a vertical position so gravity can pull down excess water droplets and moisture from the charging port.

Do note that this technique might take up to a few days to dry out your iPhone’s charging port completely.

Wait Patiently

Your patience plays a crucial role in the success of all the above troubleshooting methods. If you panic and turn on your iPhone repeatedly out of anxiety, you might cause it permanent or irreparable damage.

A foggy screen, muffled audio, and damaged charging connectors are some common examples of permanent water damage on an iPhone. Therefore, it is better to wait longer to ensure all moisture has dried up.

Things to Avoid While Drying Out Your iPhone’s Charging Port

We recommend you avoid the following mistakes to maximize the success of rescuing your iPhone while drying out its charging port:

• Don’t put your iPhone inside rice bags to dry out moisture. The fine grains will get into your device and do more harm than good.
• Avoid using hair dryers to evaporate moisture in your device. The hair dryer’s hot airflow can heat your iPhone, activating its charging fail-safe feature, which prevents the device from charging at high temperatures.
• Don’t use compressed cans to blow air into the wet charging port. It can quickly push the moisture further up into your iPhone.
• Avoid using sharp objects such as a SIM ejector pin, toothpicks, or a cotton swab to clean the insides of the charging port. It might damage the connector pins permanently.
• Don’t use Emergency Override to charge your iPhone if you’ve detected moisture in its port.

Wrapping Up

The inability to charge your iPhone after accidentally getting it wet is no less than a nightmare. Thankfully, you can utilize the above steps to resolve all moisture-related errors and charge your iPhone back again. If nothing happens, you can schedule an appointment in your nearest Apple Store to diagnose and repair it.

Additionally, don’t forget to check your iPhone’s charging cable and the power brick to ensure they are functioning properly.

Once your iPhone is running properly, you might want to learn how to enable Stolen Device Protection on it for additional security.

FAQs

How do I know if my iPhone’s charging port is damaged?

Moisture can permanently damage your charging port. If you’ve tried the methods above and your phone still throws error codes when you plug it in or doesn’t charge at all, the damage is likely severe. You can continue trying to dry it out or call Apple Support for more help.

Will my phone be ok after I dry it out?

If your phone is charging properly after drying it out, it’s likely you’re in the clear. However, moisture can corrode the charging port over time. If you start having issues later, it may be time to get a new charging port or phone.