Over the last six months or so, my phone's USB-C port has become quite unreliable... both charging and data delivery has been crazily janky and annoyingly flaky.

When plugging it in to either charge or for data, it has been really quite sensitive to exactly how the plug has been fitting... there seemed to be a quite specific sweet spot... otherwise, the data connection drops or the phone wouldn't charge.... and this would be immensely annoying when I would wake up in the morning with a phone that had next to zero charge on it!

I started to think that I had a USB-C port that was on the way out... and that it was starting to be time to get a new phone before it keeled over completely. Actually, my wife's Pixel was suffering a similar issue about a year ago, and we picked up a new Pixel for her when it was on sale.

I started hunting around the internet to see if there were any quick fixes that might have done the trick... and there were quite a few posts about how the dust and lint would clog the USB port. I figured that that was worth a try... and I blew into the port, and also used compressed air as well. No result...

... I went on tour, and started looking at some nice alternatives for upgrading my phone (the Nothing 2a looks really sweet!). But then I figured that I might as well give the cleaning another go, but this time with some wooden teeth picks that I had in my travel kit.

Digging quite firmly into the USB port, I soon discovered that years of lint and dust HAD been compressed by the plug connection into a thick layer that meant that an incoming plug would not be properly seated (and would sometimes just fall straight out again)... only a couple of millimetres or so, but more than enough to prevent the port from functioning correctly!

I was actually quite astounded by the amount of compacted dust that came out... and now that it is clean (cleaner...), the phone charges and handles data again like a champ!

So, if you find yourself in a similar situation... I can definitely reccomend cleaning with a thing wooden teeth pick (the sort used to clean between your teeth)... not the round ones (too big), but the flat ones. Of course, you still need to be a bit careful as to not damage the USB port... but you also need to be a bit firm... that is some seriously compacted dust in there!

Unbelievable....

I can also be found cross-posting at:
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