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Agent Derek Meister-Geek Squad spoke to Bill about How to clean a phone charging port - 1. Turn off your phone - 2. Use a toothpick or similar tool - 3. Wrap a piece of cotton around a toothpick - 4. Blow compressed air into the charging
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If you’ve ever noticed that your phone isn’t charging properly, a dirty charging port could be to blame.
These ant-sized openings are a magnet for dust and general grime – even on the very best smartphones – and in this article, we walk you through the best ways to clean a phone charging port.
Steps for cleaning your phone port:
1. Turn off your phone
First things first: switch off your phone. This may seem obvious, but you don’t want to be prodding any sort of spiky instrument into something that isn’t a million miles away from a plug socket – especially if that instrument is wet with cleaning fluid. 2. Gently use a toothpick to clear out the port
2. Use a toothpick or similar tool
It's a simple task to unclog your phone's port. You'll need a cocktail stick, toothpick or other thin item that you can poke in to the port to scrape out the grime. Wood or plastic is better as it's less likely to scrape against anything inside and potentially cause harm. I've done this using a metal SIM removal tool and while it worked well, it's not the safest option for your phone.
3. Wrap a piece of cotton around a toothpick
Tear a small piece of cotton from a cotton pad and wrap it around the end of a toothpick. The best way to do this is by rolling both elements between your fingers, so the cotton sticks to the tip of the toothpick.
At this stage, it’s important to bear in mind the size of your phone’s charging port. USB-C and Lightning ports, for instance, are about the size of a grain of rice, so you only need to wrap enough cotton around the toothpick to fill that opening.
You can also dampen your cotton swab with cleaning alcohol. This step is optional, but if you’ve got some tech-friendly cleaning alcohol at your disposal – isopropyl alcohol is a good option – then lightly dampen your cotton swab with it. This will help to loosen any stubborn debris, once you begin rummaging around in your phone’s charging port.
4. Blow compressed air into the charging port (but only a tiny bit)
If you’ve got either a canister of compressed air or a silicone air blower at your disposal (both available from Best Buy, use this tool to blow compressed air into the charging port from a left- or right-sided angle. This should clear away any loose dust.
If using a canister of compressed air, take caution not to apply too much pressure to the charging port, as this may damage your phone’s precious internals. We advise blasting the charging port with air for no more than two seconds.