Alternatively, just grab a free toothpick from a restaurant and use that to clean the port.
this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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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.
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.
What are the black sticky things for?
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
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).
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.
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.
No I got that alright. I have generally had a policy of it it's broken, then trying to repair it before replacing was something I would throw my hand at. Fixed a good few thing and learnt a lot over the years. (Broke a few things along the way too)
yeah of course, and tbh, ifixit has some good guides on how to fix phones. you might be able to try your hand at fixing it, and then not even worry about having to rely on someone else doing it, and then closing that security loop.
trust me i also do the same with my stuff, i can i fix it i try to (unless its beyond repair)
Impossible for iPhone users
- sent from my iPhone that I regret buying in some ways
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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.
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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 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.
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.
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