Why has my wireless charging stopped working properly?
Almost always alignment, something in the gap, or the adapter behind the pad — not the phone. Four checks in order settle it.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 15 min
- Read
- 4 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Take the case off and place the phone centrally on the pad, then check the adapter feeding the pad is the one it came with and is plugged into a socket rather than a computer port. If it works, the cause was case thickness, a metal plate, a card, or an offset that left the coils only partly overlapping. If it still does not, the pad or its cable has failed, which is far more likely than the phone's coil failing.
Wireless charging moves energy between two coils that have to be close together and roughly concentric. Everything that goes wrong with it comes back to that geometry, to what is in the gap, or to the power feeding the pad. The phone's own receiving coil almost never fails.
Safety
Step by step
- Remove the case and try again.Thick, armoured, or metal-containing cases add distance and shielding. A wallet case with cards in it is the worst combination — the cards both block the field and get damaged by it. If it charges without the case, you have your answer and a decision to make about the case.
- Centre the phone deliberately.Offset coils give slow charging, repeated starting and stopping, and heat, rather than a clean failure — which is why people describe it as working badly rather than not at all. Slide the phone slowly until the charging indicator appears, and note where that is; many pads have a poorly marked sweet spot.
- Check what is between the surfaces.A coin, a key, a bank card or a hotel key card left on the pad will trigger the charger's foreign-object detection and it will shut down deliberately. That is a safety feature working correctly. Clear the pad completely.
- Check the adapter and cable feeding the pad.A wireless pad is only as good as its power supply. Plugged into a laptop port, a low-power adapter, or a car socket that only powers up intermittently, it will charge very slowly or not at all. Use the adapter it shipped with, in a mains socket, and try a different cable — cables fail far more often than pads.
- Look at the temperature.A phone that is already hot will refuse a fast charge or stop charging entirely to protect the cell. Wireless charging generates its own heat in both coils, so a warm room, a sunny spot or a thick case compounds it. Let the phone cool and try again in a cooler place.
- Rule the phone in or out on another pad.Try your phone on someone else's pad and their phone on yours. Two minutes of swapping tells you definitively which side has failed, and saves you buying the wrong replacement.
- Check whether the phone supports the standard the pad uses.Magnetic-alignment and higher-power fast wireless charging vary by phone and pad. A pad may charge your phone at a trickle because it only supports the baseline standard, which looks like a fault but is a specification mismatch.
- Reconsider whether you want it overnight.Wireless charging turns a meaningful part of the energy into heat in both coils. A phone spending all night warm on a pad ages its cell faster than the same phone on a cable. Convenient during the day; a cable is kinder overnight.
If it doesn't work
Starts charging, stops, starts again, phone gets warm
Cause: Partial coil overlap, or a case that is marginal — Fix: Reposition until the phone stays connected, and take the case off. Repeated cycling like this is the classic signature of misalignment rather than failure.
Charges much more slowly than the cable
Cause: This is normal, and worse if the adapter is underpowered or the phone is warm — Fix: Expect wireless to be slower than wired on the same phone. If it is dramatically slower than it used to be, replace the adapter and cable behind the pad before suspecting anything else.
Works in the house, not in the car
Cause: The car socket cuts power on start, or the cradle's grip does not hold the coils aligned over bumps — Fix: Check whether the socket is switched with the ignition, and reposition the phone in the cradle. Heat in a sunny car will also stop it independently.
Stopped after a case with a magnetic mount plate was added
Cause: The metal plate blocks and absorbs the field — Fix: Metal ring mounts and magnetic plates are incompatible with wireless charging unless they are designed for it. Remove the plate or use the cable.
Questions people ask
Can wireless charging damage my phone?
No, but the heat it produces does age the battery slightly faster than a cable does, and a phone that is repeatedly charged while hot will lose health sooner. Use it for convenience during the day and a cable overnight if you want to be careful.
Will it charge through any case?
Through most thin plastic, silicone and leather cases, yes. Not through metal, not reliably through very thick or armoured cases, and not with cards or magnetic plates in the gap. Case makers state compatibility, and it is usually accurate.
Why does my phone say charging on hold?
Either the temperature protection has engaged or an optimised-charging feature is deliberately holding it partway overnight. Both are intentional. Check the temperature of the phone to tell which.
Is a more expensive pad better?
Generally only in build quality, alignment tolerance and the adapter included. The charging standard is what determines speed, and a cheap pad supporting the same standard with a good adapter performs much the same. Alignment tolerance is the thing genuinely worth paying for.