My old iPhone might be okay

[redbird]

So, after an annoying runaround, I got through to Apple tech support. They advised cleaning the charging cable connector. I did that, nothing seemed to happen, but I left it plugged into my computer. An hour later it's up to 17% battery, and I will be moving the sim card back from cattitude's old Samsung phone, where I'd put it as a necessary step to talking to Apple tech support.

They literally require you to have a code sent to your phone when you pick "device won't turn on" as the problem. *sigh*

That said, when I got this refurbished iPhone SE I figured I was buying time in the hope that Apple, or someone, would make another small-enough phone, and it looks like the iPhone 12 mini is that phone, so I will be buying one soon.

ETA: and then the charge dropped from 21% to 19% while the phone was sitting here quietly charging.

Comments

[green_knight]

The 12 mini is slightly larger than the SE, which I find mostly affects my kinesthetic typing - the letters are just slightly further apart on the keyboard, and occasionally that catches me out. Other than that, I've adapted in five seconds flat - the lack of earphone jack has annoyed me a couple of times, but I am not going out where I'd want to listen to earphones, so this has been minor - I have just ordered my first pair of bluetooth earphones, so we see how they'll work out. The lack of 'home' button, on the other hand, is a red herring - there's an indentation and you put your finger there for recognition and press there - while the phone is turned on, it's completely indistinguishable from the home button, and when it's turned off, I don't care.

(I needed to upgrade my phone to apply for settled status - you have to scan your passport, and the SE does not have the technology.)

[princessofgeeks]

Doesn't sound good.

[kate_schaefer]

This happened to me a few years ago with a refurbished iPhone 5c. The solution was to buy a new charging connector, a solution we discovered by accident after buying a new phone and using its charging cord on the old phone.

[voidampersand]

Apologies if you already know this, but just in case this might be useful: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/charge-and-monitor-the-battery-iph63eecc618/ios Look for "View your battery usage information" and "Check your battery’s health". Also make sure "Optimize battery charging" is turned off.

If it is not the battery or the software settings, it could be the connector or the cable. I had the lightning connector wear out on a iPhone. If the cable feels loose and pulls out very easily, it could be the connector. In my case the phone would stop charging, then I would wiggle the cable and the phone would go "beep" and start charging again, until the cable got loose again. I tried replacing the cable and that made a slight difference but it was still bad. At that point I realized my phone was 5 generations old and maybe it was time for a new one.