A Broken iPhone Charger: Fix it? Replace it?

Having a broken iPhone charger cable is exceptionally annoying, not only because they become extremely delicate and often wind up failing completely, but also because it’s only a matter of time before you’ll need to replace the thing and toss out the broken cord. Aside from that, they can also throw various errors, and if they’re badly broken or ripped they may not allow backups and syncs to occur at all, let alone fail to charge the iPhone or iPad properly.

If your iPhone charger is broken, should you try to fix it? Or should you just replace it?

Because a broken, torn, ripped, damaged, or frayed charging cable could be a hazard, the best thing to do is to replace it. You can get a cheap replacement on Amazon for just a few bucks, and the Amazon brand of charging cables appears to be notably more durable than the official rubber cables, and certainly better than low quality third party knockoffs.

• Get an Apple Certified iPhone Charging Lightning USB Cable for $10 on Amazon

While you’re waiting for the new cable to arrive though, maybe you’ll want to try and get a few extra hours or days out of the broken cable. So before you toss a broken or ripped iPhone charger into the garbage though, you might want to consider a temporary fix of sorts that could prolong its lifespan a bit until the new cable comes in the mail. And if you’re lucky, it may last quite a bit longer.

Repairing a Broken iPhone Charger with Electrical Tape

The magic temporary fix to a broken iPhone charger? Good old electrical tape. And yes, you can patch repair the same iPad charger this way too.

Yes, electrical tape, everyones favorite tape (well, next to duct tape anyway). It can assist in a Do-It-Yourself repairing of a ripped charging cable for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and help it hold together for a while longer. It’s not foolproof or perfect, nor should you rely on this for longer than you need to, but it can certainly function as a temporary fix or interim solution until you can replace the cable. So pull out your tool box or explore the gadget drawer and grab some electrical tape, then carefully wrap it around the ripped or torn portion of the iPhone charger cord.

Yes it can work if the damage isn’t too bad, but no it’s not necessarily perfect. And no, it’s not a perfect or permanent fix, and no, it’s not a perfect repair. If you want a perfect repair, it’d require wire cutters, a soldering iron, and a replacement rubber sleeve with a side of patience and electrical know-how, but again for a simple quick little patch repair job, electrical tape can hold a shredded iPhone or broken iPad charger cable together quite well.

Of course, use your discretion with this. Electrical tape is not the magic solution, and will not prevent electrical problems or worse. If the cable is severely damaged, or sending out electrical shocks, or smelling funny, or melting, or burning, or getting extra hot, you need to toss it and just get a new cable. Do not try to use a clearly melting or hot or dangerous charger, and do not try to repair a charger that is clearly sketchy. Don’t try to repair a severely damaged cable yourself, just trash it and get a new one. Use your brain, don’t try to MacGyver an irreparably destroyed broken iPhone charger.

Forget It, Replace the Broken iPhone Charger. Seriously.

Seriously, just get a new cable. Don’t try to use the broken cable forever, it is asking for trouble, and eventually the thing is going to fail.

Replacement iPhone and iPad USB cables are on Amazon for low prices and will arrive quickly, they represent a perfectly satisfactory option if you don’t want to spring full price for an official cable from Apple and are typically 1/2 the cost.

It’s also worth remembering that Apple sometimes replaces frayed lightning cables for free, though success with getting a broken or torn cable swapped out seems to vary widely. But if you’re near an Apple Store and it’s not much of a hassle, it’s probably worth attempting to get a broken cable swapped out. If your primary device is still under warranty, you can even call the official Apple support phone numbers and they may be able to swap it out for you. It’s worth a try, that’s what a warranty is for after all.

What do you do with your broken iPhone or iPad chargers? Do you replace them? Try to MacGyver them with some tape and do a simple repair on the cable? Let us know in the comments if you have some great solution!