Problem charging some iPhone XS and XS Max while in sleep mode

October 1, 2018

A number of iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners in Apple Support Communities and MacRumors forums are reporting that the devices are not charging when the lightning cable is connected while the display is off.

As with many issues that concern many people, experiences vary. In most cases, the iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max starts charging as soon as the user wakes up the device by pressing the side button or simply lifting the device. However, some users report having to "wake up" the iPhone, unplug and reconnect the Lightning cable to start charging.

In rarer cases, iPhone stops responding altogether after connecting a Lightning cable while the screen is off.

Lewis Hilsenteger recently raised the issue on the popular YouTube channel "Unbox Therapy" today, connecting a Lightning cable to one iPhone X, four iPhone XS and four iPhone XS Max devices. While the iPhone X started charging normally, it appears that two iPhone XS and three iPhone XS Max did not.

The customers involved have mentioned the issue in at least a dozen online discussions, including Apple support communities, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube and other forums and platforms. It's not clear how widespread the issue is at this time, but not all users are affected.

Some users have speculated that the issue could be related to the USB Restricted feature introduced in iOS 11.4.1, which prevents the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch from communicating with USB accessories via the Lightning port if an hour or more has passed where the device has not been unlocked.

However, while the USB Restricted Access feature is enabled by default in iOS 12, Hilsenteger and others say that disabling the feature doesn't help. Apple also has a support document that confirms that "the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch charges as usual when plugged into a power adapter" with the feature enabled.

In the YouTube comments on the Unbox Therapy video, some users claim to be experiencing the same problem on older iPhones and iPads, so there's a chance it's a software issue that could be addressed in a future version of iOS 12. In the meantime, there doesn't appear to be a fix.

If you are affected by this issue, we recommend that you contact Apple Support. Apple often passes information and results of diagnostic tests to its engineering teams to address potential errors such as these.

Apple did not respond to multiple requests from customers and media for comment. Whether this is a software or hardware issue will be seen in the coming days, when the company will provide an official response. At least, that's our guess.