What to do if iPhone 8 stopped charging after it got wet (charging is erratic)

iPhone 8 devices may be water resistant but sometimes, problems may occur if they are exposed to water. In this post, one user complains about his iPhone 8 suffering from erratic charging behavior or it stopped charging after it got wet in shower. Learn what to do when faced with this problem.

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Problem: iPhone 8 stopped charging after it got wet

Last week, after a shower, I unlocked my phone, but got a significant amount of water on the screen; I thought nothing of it because I thought the iPhone 8 was water resistant. However, afterwards, I noticed that when I was charging my phone, it was at 32% the battery kept draining while charged as well. The screen was Also slightly unresponsive, but I fixed it by placing my phone in rice. However now, my phone only charges regularly if I use a portable charger. It only charges 1-3% every hour if I use the original charging cable, connected to an outlet. It does does not charge, and even drains if I use a wireless charger. My question is, is this an issue caused by the water? Is the battery the problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Solution: We don’t think this is a charging port issue. If the only different thing that you did was to expose the phone while in shower, that shouldn’t damage charging port at all. There may be a software or app bug that causes the battery to drain while charging and the iPhone stopped charging or with an erratic charging behavior. To fix this problem, follow the troubleshooting steps below.

Dry the phone

Making sure that your device is fully dried is important after getting it wet. If the charging port is wet or has traces of moisture in it, charging may be erratic. Wipe the phone with a clean, soft cloth and let it dry for a few hours in room temperature. Water naturally dries after a few hours.

If you want to make sure that there’s no water in the port at all, you can do more drastic but time consuming way of drying. You can do that by using rice or silica gel desiccant. Just put the phone inside an air sealed bag with rice or silica gel for a couple days. This should allow the rice or silica gel to absorb the water.

Force restart

To see if the problem is caused by a simple update bug, we suggest that you try to simulate the effect to disconnecting the battery to refresh the system. You can do that by following these steps:

1. Quickly press and release the Volume Up button.
2. Then quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
3. Finally, press and hold the Side button.

If you are able to do the regular restart, you can also do so:

1. Press and hold the Side button and either the Volume buttons until the slide to power off screen appears.
2. Drag the slider to turn your iphone x completely off.
3. After your iPhone turns off, press and hold the Side button again until the Apple logo appears.

Charge while turned off

In order to let your phone charge faster, you can turn off the screen off throughout the process. One of the top services that consumes huge amount of energy is the screen so turning it off and not using the phone makes sense. To make this as hassle-free as possible, charge your iPhone 8 during the night, when you have no use for your phone.

Calibrate the battery

Sometimes, iOS may lose track of the actual battery levels. To recalibrate the operating system so that it gets accurate battery level readings, do the following:

1. Drain the battery completely. This means using your device until it powers down by its own and the battery level reads 0%.
2. Charge the phone until it reaches 100%. Be sure to use original charging equipment for your device and let it charge up completely. Do not unplug your device for at least two more hours and also don’t use it while charging.
3. After the elapsed time, unplug your device.
4. Restart the device.
5. Use your phone until it completely runs out of power again.
6. Repeat steps 1-5.

Install updates

If you changed the default setting of your device to only install updates manually, make sure to regularly check for updates. Some bugs may only be fixed by new coding changes brought about by updates. This is also true for some app bugs. Needless to say, keep iOS and apps updated.

Reset all settings to fix iPhone that stopped charging

Deleting all settings on your iPhone 8 may be needed if the iPhone stopped charging problem still remains at this juncture. This troubleshooting step will return some settings to their defaults but will not clear any of your personal data.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Reset.
4. Tap Reset All Settings.
5. You may be asked to enter your passcode. If you are, do so.
6. In the pop-up window, tap Reset All Settings.

Factory reset

A more drastic solution may be necessary if nothing has changed after resetting all settings. Factory reset will delete all personal data and return all software settings to their defaults. Be sure to back your files up before doing it.

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Reset.
4. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
5. If prompted, enter your passcode.
6. Tap Erase iPhone.

Try DFU Mode Restore

Performing a DFU Mode Restore may be necessary if nothing has changed at this point. This troubleshooting step will restore all firmware to their default state so if the problem is due to bad programming changes, this might help.

These are the steps to do a DFU Mode Restore:

1. Connect your iPhone X to your computer using the USB or Lightning cable that comes with it.
2. Open iTunes on your computer.
3. Turn off your iPhone X as you normally do. In iOS 11, you can turn off your iPhone by going to Settings-> General-> Shut Down menu-> then toggle the slider to the right. Doing so turns off the iPhone.
4. Press and hold the Side button (Power button) for 3 seconds. Then, press and hold the Volume Down button  while still holding down the Side button. Keep holding both buttons for 10 seconds.
   1. If the Apple logo appears, it means that you have held the buttons for too long. If this happens, you need to go back from the very start. Otherwise, skip to the next step.
5. Release the Side button but keep holding down the Volume Down button for about 5 seconds more.
   1. If you are prompted with the Plug into iTunes screen, it means that you have entered Recovery Mode instead. So you’ll need to go back to the very first step and make sure you’re not holding the buttons for so long.
   2. If your iPhone X screen remains black, that means your device has successfully entered DFU mode. iTunes will then prompt you with an alert message saying that it has detected your iPhone and will allow it to be restored. Follow the onscreen instructions to restore your iPhone X in iTunes.

Send the phone in

In many cases, the iPhone stopped charging issues come down to hardware malfunction or battery problem. If none of the solutions will help, contact Apple so they can examine the hardware and repair it if necessary.

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