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iOS 27

How to fix iPhone not charging after iOS 27 update

by Emily Long

Is your iPhone not charging after iOS 27 update, or charging very slowly? This is a sadly common problem for Apple customers, and the complaint spikes in the weeks after a major software release like iOS 27. Before long the battery will be empty and you’ll be stuck with the world’s most expensive chopping board.

This isn’t a problem that’s unique to Apple products: for various reasons the charging port and cable are almost always a weak point on tablets and smartphones.

Your iPhone’s charging port – USB-C on iPhone 15 models and later, Lightning on iPhone 14 models and earlier – is open to the air and therefore susceptible to dust getting inside and clogging up the connections; the bit just behind the head of the charging cable often frays. And this all assumes that there are no problems with the plug or your power outlet, and that the iPhone’s battery unit is still performing properly – neither of which are safe assumptions.

In this article we walk you through a range of troubleshooting tips that will help you establish why your iPhone won’t charge after iOS 27 update, and offer solutions that will fix many of these issues either permanently or temporarily. If all else fails, we explain your consumer rights, and offer some advice about getting Apple to step in and repair a malfunctioning device for you.

1. Absolute basics

Let’s check the absolute basics first.

Make sure the cable is plugged firmly and fully into the iPhone, that the other end is plugged firmly into the power adapter plug, and that the adapter plug is plugged firmly into the wall outlet. Apple starts in the same place with an iPhone that won’t charge: a wall outlet, firm connections the whole way along, and a different outlet if you have one to hand. (If you’re charging via a Mac rather than through a wall plug, jump to the next step.)

Make sure the power outlet is switched on. Yes, we know – but it’s still worth checking.

2. Charging via a Mac

A computer is rarely the quickest way to fill a battery. Plug into a machine or a hub that already has other devices hanging off it and the maximum power output drops, because everything attached is drawing on the same budget. Car ports are no better.

The iPhone may warn you if the Mac isn’t able to charge it, but in our experience that often doesn’t happen: sometimes the charging icon appears yet the percentage doesn’t increase, or does so at a glacial rate.

If you’re charging via a MacBook, make sure the MacBook itself is plugged in: depending on the settings you’ve selected, there may be problems if the laptop is trying to preserve battery power. And whichever Mac you’re using, be sure to plug into the Mac itself rather than a USB-connected keyboard or similar.

As in the previous step, make sure the cable is attached firmly to the Mac. Similarly, make sure the Mac is switched on and awake. Technically, you should be able to charge from a sleeping Mac provided it was awake when you plugged your device in – if it then goes to sleep the charging should continue. But let’s play it safe here.

3. Stop using the iPhone!

Are you using your iPhone at the same time as charging it? Any charge you gain will be set against the loss incurred through working the processor and screen. Graphics-heavy games, processor-heavy apps, the camera, video streamed at full brightness – all of them slow the charge while they run.

Charging via a Mac in particular (see previous step) is almost always a dead loss if you have the screen powered on at the same time – a sad fact we discovered after trying to use an iPad Air 2 as a spare screen at work. Despite being plugged into the main Mac and only having a (continually refreshing) web page open, the iPad was always dead by lunchtime. You’re losing charge quicker than you’re gaining it.

In other words, try switching the iPhone off – at least power off the screen – and see if that helps.

4. Check the charging port for detritus

Remove the cable from the charging port and take a look at the connector at the bottom of your device. Every iPhone that can run iOS 27 has either a USB-C port (iPhone 15 models and later) or a Lightning port (iPhone 14 models and earlier). Whichever you have, the same principles apply.

Clear any debris out of the port, then plug the cable back in firmly. Check here before you spend money on an iPhone not charging after iOS 27 update: lint compacts at the bottom of a port over months, and it will hold the connector just short of contact.

5. Are you using the right kind of charger?

The old 5W, 10W and 12W plugs are long gone. Pair a modern iPhone with the wrong adapter and you can lose an afternoon diagnosing a fault that was never there.

For fast wired charging you want a USB-C Power Delivery charger, with a USB-C cable on iPhone 15 models and later, or a USB-C to Lightning cable on iPhone 14 models and earlier. A wired charger of 7.5W or less will crawl. So will a wireless charger under 10W, such as a Qi1 pad. And with a USB-A charger, iPhone 15 models and later cap out at 7.5W anyway.

An iPhone 8 or later reaches 50 percent in around 30 minutes on an Apple 18W or greater USB-C Power Adapter, or a comparable third-party unit that supports USB Power Delivery. iPhone 12 and later need 20W or higher. iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max get to 50 percent in around 20 minutes on a 40W adapter or higher.

If you’re not sure which Apple power adapter you have, the wattage is printed on the top or bottom of the plug. Label it once you know, and you’ll never grab the wrong one again.

6. Check your charge limit before blaming the update

Here is the one to check before you buy anything. If the percentage climbs and then parks at 80, an iPhone won’t charge after iOS 27 update because you told it not to.

Optimized Battery Charging reduces the time your iPhone spends fully charged, and delays charging past 80 percent when your iPhone predicts it will be connected to a charger for an extended period. When it’s active, a notification on the Lock Screen says when your iPhone will be fully charged. If you need it charged sooner, touch and hold the notification, then tap Charge Now.

On iPhone 15 models and later there’s also Charge Limit, which stops charging at a level you set:

  1. Open the Settings app, then tap Battery.
  2. Tap Charging.
  3. Choose an option. You can choose a charge limit between 80 percent and 100 percent in 5 percent increments. When the charge limit is 100 percent, Optimized Battery Charging is available.

On iPhone 14 models and earlier, open the Settings app, tap Battery, tap Battery Health & Charging, then turn Optimized Battery Charging on or off.

The same screen flags chargers, too. A Slow Charger message appears on the Lock Screen and in Battery when a higher-wattage charger would improve things. An Incompatible Charger message appears when iOS sees a charger connected but not charging. It will also show you whether charging went on hold because the battery got too warm.

7. Waiting, restarting and resetting

Leave it plugged in for half an hour before going any further. That costs nothing but patience, and it clears a surprising amount.

If it still won’t power on, or the screen just shows a battery icon, force restart it. Press and quickly release the volume up button. Press and quickly release the volume down button. Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. Then give it another half hour on the charger.

You may see an alert when you plug in your device saying the accessory isn’t supported or certified. In which case you know the problem is the charging equipment. Connect the device straight to the charger with nothing in between, clear the port, restart the iPhone, try a different cable or charger, and check you’re on the latest version of iOS. We’ll try swapping out various parts of the charging setup in the next step.

8. Work out which component isn’t working

At this point we appear to be headed into the realms of component failure. But if we’re lucky, the part that is misbehaving may be cheap to replace. Fingers crossed.

Set up the iPhone, cable and plug as before – keep everything the same – but this time, plug into a different power outlet (or into a different USB port on your Mac). If it starts working, congratulations! Your power outlet (or USB port) is broken. Okay, that’s not ideal but at least you know.

If it still won’t charge, keep everything the same but this time use a spare charging cable or borrow one from a friend. There are alternatives to Apple’s own cable: you can buy a third-party MFi-certified cable.

Finally, do the same with the plug adapter on the end of the charging cable.

If your cable or power adapter is at fault, in almost every case we would strongly advise paying for a new unit instead of attempting a repair – the words "amateur repair" and "mains power" should never appear in the same sentence.

If none of these substitutions work, it’s most likely your iPhone that’s misbehaving. If that’s the case, we need to get help from the professionals.

9. Get Apple to fix your iPhone

First of all, be warned that the Apple representative who deals with your issue will ask you to repeat some or all of the steps we have outlined previously. Try not to lose your patience!

Many of us prefer to speak to an Apple employee face to face while discussing tech problems, but it may be inconvenient to get to an Apple Store, or to make an appointment there. Instead you may choose to get in touch with Apple support, but you will most likely be asked to send or take in your iPhone for a service, and at that point you just have to sit back and wait for Apple’s diagnosis.

If you’re still in warranty, this should remain financially painless. The one-year warranty covers the battery as well, on top of whatever rights your local consumer law gives you. Out of warranty, you may be able to claim for the repair through any insurance you took out specifically to cover the iPhone, or even a good quality of home and contents insurance.

If not, consider whether the repair is worth the cost. Check the latest prices for the model you would choose as a replacement. Would you have been thinking about an upgrade soon anyway?

Before you get that far, though, go back to step 6. An iPhone not charging after iOS 27 update is far more often a charge limit somebody set and forgot than anything a technician needs to open up.

Tag: iOS 27
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iOS 27 Best New Features, From New Siri to AI Photo Editing

by Dave Johnson

From getting Siri to control your iPhone to crazy new photo editing features, here are the top new features of iOS 27.

Quick new iOS 27 features

The updated Timer control

In the Control Center, you’ll find the updated Timer control that has a cool new visualizer. It is so much better to use in iOS 27. You swipe to set the time from anything between 1 minute to 2 hours. It also has a satisfying haptic effect as you swipe, which is nice.

Shortcuts you can describe out loud

Another great iOS 27 feature is in the Shortcuts app, where you can create shortcuts by saying what you want them to do. For example, you can say make a noise to tell me to put my phone on charge when the battery is below 20%. You hit Send and then it’ll make that shortcut for you in a matter of seconds. These used to be hard to make but now they’re easy.

Shake to undo

Let’s say you’ve made a bunch of changes customizing your home screen. If you shake, you can undo that one change. If you shake again, you can undo the previous change. And if you shake again, you can undo the previous change and keep on shaking until you are completely satisfied with all your changes.

Shake to undo also works in other apps. In Notes, for example, you can bring back any deleted text. In Safari, maybe you deleted a tab, you can bring the tab back. Even with Messages, if you deleted something by mistake, you can shake to bring it back. This is useful, especially when it comes to customizing your home screen.

Customization

The Liquid Glass transparency slider

There have been a bunch of updates to customization. In the Appearance settings, under Liquid Glass, there’s now a new slider that makes everything less transparent or more transparent. This means you can now control the transparency of let’s say your app icons or widgets to make things look a lot more visible. Nice.

Minimizing the lock screen clock

The lock screen also had a major update that I love, starting with the clock, where you’ll find a new icon. If you tap the icon, that minimizes the clock and puts it inside the top widget section. So if you want a better view of your wallpaper, now you can. Sweet.

Extend for wallpapers

If you want to set a photo or image of yours that doesn’t fit too well as a background, you can now pinch to zoom out to get the new Extend option. If you tap Extend, your iPhone will extend that image and generate everything around your wallpaper to get that perfect framing. Extend also works with regular photos you want to use, basically any image you might have. You’ve got to admit that is crazy cool.

Image Playground wallpapers

If you don’t have an image, you could instead choose the new Image Playground option. All you do is type in a description of what you want, like desert dunes at midnight, hit Send, and in a couple of seconds, it’ll generate a brand new wallpaper for you. That looks good. You can get some pretty cool results and even take your own photos and generate them into multiple different styles.

The resizable connectivity control

This is super hidden, but in the Control Center, when you go to edit your controls and you resize the connectivity control, it now has a few other sizes. So you get the large original one, a new medium size, the pill-shaped sizes, and the small size you already know.

Full screen home screen widgets

The home screen widgets also got a new size in iOS 27. If you tap and hold down and extend the handle, you can now have full screen widgets. This works with the photo widgets, the weather, notes, reminders, music, and the calendar. Basically all the good ones. And don’t forget, you could stack these giant widgets all into one, because you do get a lot more detail with them.

App updates

Custom passes in Wallet

Three apps got some big changes in iOS 27: Wallet, Weather, and Camera. But Wallet is probably my favorite update, because when you go to add a card now, you can create your own custom pass. So finally we can add membership cards, loyalty cards, tickets, all that jazz. All you have to do is scan the card. Your iPhone then automatically creates the pass for you and you can then customize it.

If you hit the little palette icon, firstly, you can change the background color. There are a few different options to choose from, nothing too crazy. Then there are four different background options to choose from. You can have a bit of fun with it. Then you can also choose a completely custom icon. Mine was a gym pass. I went with a little gym bro. In all the text fields, you can put down exactly what info it is you want.

In iOS 27, there is no need to carry around a stack of cards. You can add them to your iPhone. The crazy part though is Samsung has had this feature for 10 years. So it’s about time, Apple. Thank you.

A more detailed Weather app

The Weather app got way more detailed in iOS 27. There are three new buttons at the top. The first one is Conditions. That shows the temperature and cloud cover. The second is Precipitation. That shows you how likely it is to rain and also how many inches it’ll rain. Then you get the Wind button that shows speed graphs and directions.

The redesigned Camera settings

As for the Camera app, it got a slightly updated design because all your camera settings now live at the top of the camera screen. If you swipe down, you can see all of them, but the important ones are still right at the top, like your flash and resolution.

Siri mode in Camera

The biggest upgrade in iOS 27 has got to be the brand new Siri mode. You’ll notice it’s got a new logo that looks like something you might find on a can of soda. If you take a photo in Siri mode, Siri will give you some information on what it is you took a photo of, like the product’s name, for example. You can then even chat about that product and ask it things like, “where do I buy this?” And it’ll quickly respond with a couple of links, which is cool.

The new photo editing tools

To find the new photo editing tools in iOS 27, all you do is open any photo, tap the Edit button, then tap Tools, and they’re all at the bottom. We’ve got Clean Up, Extend, and Reframe.

Reframe

Reframe does something nuts. It scans your image, then you can pinch to zoom out and swipe either left or right to adjust the angle the image was taken in, which is crazy. Then tap Reframe and it’ll recreate your photo as if it was taken from that angle. It works incredibly well.

Extend in Photos

The Extend option works the exact same way as the wallpaper. You pinch to zoom out, but you can also adjust the aspect ratio. I went with the square, you then tap Extend and, like magic, it fills out the empty areas. That was a lot of extra detail to get right and it did such a good job. That is impressive.

Clean Up

There’s also the Clean Up tool. We have had Clean Up for a while, but it has been updated in iOS 27. All you do is draw over what it is you want to remove and your iPhone will remove that specific thing from the photo. Much better. It even highlights suggestions for you. And if you tap on the highlights, poof, they are gone.

Siri

Probably the craziest new feature on iOS 27 is Siri can now edit photos for you. Wow.

How to open Siri

Straight off the bat, to open Siri in iOS 27, you can either swipe down on the Dynamic Island and start chatting with it in a new interface, or you can press and hold down the side button just like before, or you can use the new Siri app that comes with iOS 27. The Siri app is where you’ll find all your conversations with it.

Switching from Siri to ChatGPT

Essentially it’s like ChatGPT, but for Siri. By default, when you start a new conversation, it’ll use the updated Siri AI model, which is way more advanced than before, but you can also tap the text input field, then tap Ask and change from Siri to ChatGPT. That’s in case you ever wanted to do more complex things like in-depth research, writing, or even coding.

Siri can see your screen

Besides for chatting, Siri can now also see what is on your screen. So you can ask it any questions about what is on your screen, like “summarize this page for me,” and it comes back with “The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed by Apple.” Or “please reply to this message,” and it comes back with “I’ve drafted a reply for you.” Siri will look at your conversation and put a reply together. Whoa.

Siri can act inside your apps

In iOS 27, Siri now works in your photos. This works in a few different ways. For example, you can ask it, “please open the Photos app and make my most recent photo black and white.” Siri will then open the Photos app, open the editing menu, go to the filters and give it a black and white filter. I’m amazed this actually works now.

Or you could say, “Hey Siri, take a photo,” and it comes back with “Photo in three, two, one.” You can also say: “please open Amazon and search for dog toys,” and again, Siri opens up Amazon and searches for that specific thing. This is handy now.

Siri in the keyboard

Siri is now also in the keyboard too. If you get a message from someone, straight away it gives you a suggestion on what to reply with. Nice. Or if you press the Siri icon, you can straight up ask it to write a reply for you. Then give it a couple seconds and boom, you got yourself a reply. There are a ton of new things Siri can do, and I’m impressed.

More new features in Photos

Image search

Inside the Photos app, if you open an image, then swipe up on it, there’s a new image search option, which looks that item up on Google and then gives you a bunch of search results. This is handy for finding things like products.

Star ratings for photos

In iOS 27, you’ll notice a new star icon on the top right hand side of your images. This is for rating your photos from one to five stars. So now you’ll be able to filter your photos out based on what star rating you gave them. This is off by default, but all you do is tap your profile icon, scroll down and turn on Show Ratings Control.

Captions in videos

In videos, there’s now also a new captions button in the play bar. If you tap the captions button, then turn it on, it’ll show you the subtitles for any and every video in your Photos app. What’s even cooler is there are four different subtitle styles to pick from, but unfortunately this doesn’t work for US English for now.

Save Video Frame as Photo

Still in videos, if you ever want to grab a still from a video, you tap the three dots in the top right and you have the new Save Video Frame as Photo option that will extract a literal frame out the video for you. Love it.

Insight buttons

If you open a photo of something like a loyalty card and swipe up, there are new insight buttons, like Add Pass to Wallet. Different buttons show up for different things. So with a poster, you’ll get an Add to Calendar button. For a business card, there’s Add to Contacts along with a couple other ways to directly contact that person. Sweet.

Identity Documents

This is pretty hidden, but back inside the Photos app under Collections, if you scroll down to Utilities, there’s a new option, Identity Documents. This groups all your photos of IDs, passports, and cards into one spot, which is handy.

Connectivity Assist

If you go to Settings, tap Wi-Fi youll see an option called Connectivity Assist. What this does is it makes your iPhone instantly switch from Wi-Fi to data when your Wi-Fi signal drops. So if you’re on a call or anything, it doesn’t get interrupted. Nice.

Separate alarm and system volumes

This setting is something you should turn off. This one is found inside Sounds & Haptics, and by default Alarms and Timers, as well as Alerts and System Sounds, are turned on, but when you turn them off, looky, looky, you can now finally adjust those volumes on their own. So if you want it, you can now set your ringtone to max, your alarms and timers to mid and system sounds to low. I am glad we can finally do this.

The redesigned AirPods settings

In iOS 27, AirPods settings got something brand new too. When you connect a pair of AirPods, then jump into Settings and AirPods settings straight away, you’ll notice that everything now looks different. Compared to the old iOS, everything has now been categorized into its own separate sections.

For example, if you wanted to find the biggest new AirPods feature in iOS 27, all you have to do is go into Audio & Routing. You’ll find the equalizer. Yeah, that’s right. After literally 10 years of having the AirPods, we finally get the equalizer. It’s nothing too complicated. You can adjust your lows, your mids and your highs. This is how I like to have it for some extra bass. So if you want that extra bump in your tunes, then copy this setup.

Shortcuts

My favorite new shortcuts

Here are a few of my favorite shortcuts in iOS 27 that you got to try. Inside the Shortcuts app, all you do now is hit the plus icon and describe what shortcuts you want. For example, “create a shortcut that gives me a summary of the temperature, my phone’s battery, my commute time to home, and add a nice affirmation.” You tap Send. What’s crazy is it does everything for you. You don’t have to know exactly how Shortcuts works anymore.

What I also love is if you don’t like its response or the way it looks, you can go back into the chat section and say something like “stylize this with bullet points and emojis.” Then hit Send, it’ll do its whole AI thing. When you’re done with the shortcuts, add it to your home screen. You can customize the icon as well if you want. But now anytime you press that shortcut, boom, you get a rundown of all that info in a nice stylized form.

Another cool shortcut you can try in iOS 27 is “create a shortcut that automatically finds and delete screenshots older than 10 days.” Again, you hit Send, it’ll do its thing. And now anytime you run that shortcut, it’ll bring up all your screenshots older than 10 days and you can delete them with one tap.

Another one you can try is “create a shortcut that shows me five pictures I took on this day two years ago.” But as cool as shortcuts are, shortcut automations are even cooler.

Shortcut automations

You can say “create an automation where every time I put my phone on charge, it says, oh yeah.” I also like this one: “create an automation that shows me a picture of coffee and an inspirational message every day at 3pm.” Now every time it hits 3pm, I automatically get a sick inspirational message and a pic of coffee. What’s not to love? There is so much more you can do with shortcuts.

Tag: iOS 27
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