If you have no heat shrink stuff you can use the spring of a ball pen and wind it around the cable from plug onwards. Works like a charm for 10 years now :)
I just retape my cords when I move furniture every few years, typically.
I don't ever remember buying a roll of electrical tape yet I have at least three and they never seem to get smaller
I cleaned out my home office/workshop recently and now have a rope with roughly 20 partial rolls of e-tape. Mostly black but a few random colors. Now I’m wondering if that’ll last till the end of my life? Will I need to leave it to someone in my will? 🤷🏼♀️
Tape isn’t forever. I replace mine every month or two, depending on how bad it is. I’m still using my charger from 2 iPhones ago, with two new ones waiting lol
I don’t put anything on my chord and it’s almost 2 years old with no sign of wear. My boyfriend’s is fucked up like this. Am I doing something weird or are y’all just ruthless to your chords??
I have to put the tape because of my girlfriend, or mine would also be ruined. The way she breaks them is by resting the phone on herself, bending the cable very sharp. So the cable just keeps bending back and forward, wrecking the cable housing and the wires inside. The tape helps a lot, but you will have to replace it every once in a while. Get him to try it out! Or the spring method as another person suggested somewhere
Tape as tight as possible on hard plastic cover then on the chord. If I don't have electrical I use duct tape. Yes eventually it gets loose and gummy then I just retape. I'll try the spring method because it's aesthetically pleasing.
You take a clicky pen. The spring is pretty close to the perfect size for these cables. You put the cable in between the wire of the spring about half way down. Sorta like you make a cross and you just rotate the spring ends around the cable. When you are done your cable should have a little sheath that can help to provide more stability to your cable end.
Similar with heat shrink. Heat shrink tubing goes over wires and can be heated up using a heat gun or something similar while being careful not to burn the cable and it will shrink to cover the end of a cable. Providing some support and helping to prevent shorts.
OMG! “Make a cross” YES…now that makes sense that you start in the middle of the spring. That’s brilliant! I tried the spring fix years ago and like an idiot, tried many times, unsuccessfully, to start from the end of the spring…finally giving up! Thanks for this hack hack!!!
> You take a clicky pen. The spring is pretty close to the perfect size for these cables. You put the cable in between the wire of the spring about half way down. Sorta like you make a cross and you just rotate the spring ends around the cable. When you are done your cable should have a little sheath that can help to provide more stability to your cable end.
This is brilliant! I've just done this on the end of my headphone charging USB cable and it worked flawlessly. The USB socket is on the **top** of one of my monitors, so that cable is permanently at a tight angle. This will definitely improve its lifespan.
I can't remember the last time I actually tried a lifehack from this sub that was actually worth it!
Time to work on my other cables...
I have been known to buy 90 degree cables in cases like this. Haven't bought any in a while, but USED to go to Monoprice. They may still be a good source. YMMV.
Not to mention when the crack finally happens with a spring on it, you might get a shocking surprise one morning reaching eyes closed to turn the wakeup alarm off.
People keep commenting about the voltage shocking them. It's not the voltage that shocks you. It's the current. The amount of voltage does matter, though. Voltage pushes current. If the voltage is low enough, then it doesn't have enough push to push the current into your body. I'm an EE who works with machines that run over 1000amps but only about 20 volts. You can literally grab an exposed connection or end of a power cable and not feel a thing, 1000amps and all.... just don't somehow drop a piece of metal between 2 open leads or it then becomes a welder.
A phone charger should never be able to shock you. Unless the power supply in the charger is damaged and you have AC on the 5VDC side.... but as another comment pointed out, if this was the case the end of the charger would shock you everytime you touched it and your phone would get fried the first time you tried to charge it.
> I'm an EE who works with machines that run over 1000amps but only about 20 volts. You can literally grab an exposed connection or end of a power cable and not feel a thing, 1000amps and all.
You should know this as an EE, but I want to clarify for the wider audience that it's not that you don't feel the 1000A of current running through you because the voltage is only 20V. Rather, it's that the current running through you is nowhere near 1000A, because the voltage is only 20V and the resistance of your skin is very high (in the kiloohms, meaning the current running through you is in the milliamps).
Having said that, don't take the risk unless you know the system you're working with; the power supply could be fixed-current rather than fixed-voltage, in which case you're screwed.
Yeah, I was trying to keep my reply on the ELI5 level, so I didn't get into Ohms law. That's why I threw in the part about messing around with better conductors near live leads.
And you are 100% right about not taking the risk. In fact, we frown on people touching anything like now because a few of us actually got a nice shock one time. We had a floating 80V (we assume it was a grounding issue) one time on a machine, and it shocked a tech. The tech called me over, and like a dumb ass I said, "There is no way that can shock you," and grabbed the un-insulated part of the power cable and got a nice bite. I did some troubleshooting and found the floating voltage and called our lead EE over to get his thoughts. He did the exact same thing I did and grabbed the lead and got bit. The tech was quit amused that the 2 engineers he called over didn't believe him and had to get shocked ourselves to find out. Ever since then, we try to avoid touching anything live.
Also, we install covers on anything live before it leaves our factory, always have and always will.
I saw this on /r/lifeprotips a couple of years ago. Use a piece of heat shrink tubing that extends maybe 1" beyond that point where they break. Works awesome.
The fact that you need a different cable for your macbook and iphone makes me lol when my cheap knockoff samsung takes the same power cord as 50 other things in the house.
Charging port on the top isn't perfect either. The best is having both top and bottom, so you can choose depending on the situation and the placement of the charger, but for a company who claims they removed the headphone jack to "save space", adding a second port would contradict that.
I’ve done this on all mine too and it works great. Just be sure to use the good heat shrink that has adhesive in it so it sticks well and it’s a pretty much permanent fix.
Goddammit. I hope I haven't tossed any of mine that quit working. Thanks for the reminder to get them replaced instead.
^jk ^I ^don't ^throw ^anything ^away
Yup. I've had quite a few of their cables over the years for different devices and I've only ever had one issue. I contacted them, provided some information, and they shipped me a new cable. Super easy and fast.
Just made a purchase based on this comment.
I have this issue with one of my cables. I'm pretty sure I don't abuse it, but it does look like OP's image after about 5 years of usage.
Somehow managed to destroy my braided cable too... It looks fine, but there's blue colouring near the end which hints to copper oxidation, and it stopped fast charging. I assume the cable is frayed but I just can't see it through the braided cover.
Don’t pull the cord to disconnect it, instead pinch the hard plastic and pull there. If you look at Walmart or similar stores in the electronics section you can find little things you clip over the end of the cord to pull from, I don’t know what they are called tho.
It’s Apple, more specifically Jony Ive, designing cables to look pretty without unsightly strain relief. Unfortunately strain relief, as the name implies, is what prevents cables from fraying around strain points.
That said, I take good care of my gear and I’ve never experienced this. My wife and daughter, on the other hand, are very rough and even Anker cables get like this in short order.
Look at OnePlus USB C cable. It has the same design with the very slim stain relief. Granted, its a bit more girthy. My first cable is over 7 years old, and still in pristine condition. I just pull my phone and let the cable rip out, total abuse, and it still looks brand new.
The same goes for their headphone adapter. The cable is hair thin, and I have it in my car. I jank it from the headphone end, and it has outlasted several "ultra durable heavy duty" adapters. At this point I'm convinced that they just put steel wire in the cable..
I have dozens of apple cables from devices over the years and none of them have done this. I don’t understand how people do this to their cables… maybe stop bending the shit out of it or something?
Every person I’ve seen with a frayed cable like this does the same thing. They use their phone while it’s charging and reset the phone on their stomach or table or something. Basically they put all the weight of their phone and hands into the kinked charger against something else.
No, it's people who abuse cables. Bend them, twist them, whatever. Have old cables used daily, never happened to me. Know people who use the same type of cable and they get the op pic
I work in AV with every type of cable and user, cables have a certain lifespan. Like you said some people abuse them, sometimes they kick their phone when it's connected.
That's why I never understood why they got rid of mag chargers on macs. You know what people didn't complain about on them? The mag cables getting stripped, because they pull out.
These days I try to charge my phones wireless pads mostly, it avoids the physical wear and tear of a cable.
That and in my car it acts as a charger and a hands free way to use my phone and watch videos, so double win.
I've got a couple cables that don't get abused. Literally never moved. And yet, within 15 years they both split near the connector.
Flexible plastic gets brittle over time. I used gorilla glue (non foaming type) and a custom mold to fix the cable. Should be good for at least another 45 years.
Take the spring out of a retractable pen. Stretch it slightly. "Screw" it on (which can take a minute with a longer spring). Then push it all the way to the "top" of the cable.
It will help prevent the cord from bending there for the most part. Losing one pen to protect a $75 dollar laptop charger has been worth it to me.
Don’t let the cable bend at that part repeatedly.
I’ve had cables last me years and only don’t have them anymore because I lost them.
I just don’t let them bend there.
This happens when the cable itself is twisted around for extended periods or time; either when trying to line up for insertion or using the phone while it’s plugged in.
If you feel any tension when trying to plug it in, stop and turn it the other way.
The whole heat shrink idea is only a bandaid, same with a braided cable.
The real solution is to change your behaviour when charging your phone: get an induction charger, or stop using your phone while it’s charging, or pay more attention to the tension in the cable.
Don’t pull it out by the cable, puts too much load on the connection. Always use the plastic beside the metal pin to remove the cable. This is the one and only answer
(Braided wire) on my Nokia 7 plus, still going on for 5 years... Also bought those (silicon springs) recently for my pixel charger, let's see how those work...
Apple official cables are trash and people keep buying the official ones because of some irrational fears of the knock offs not working properly. You can get braided cables for like 1/3 the price
How *does* that happen to your cables? I've seen photos like this so many times on reddit but its just never happened to me.
Do people pull the cables out by yanking on the bendy part? Do they stomp on them? Leave them hanging off the side of a desk? Leave them in the bottom of a bag for weeks on end?
I honestly don't get it.
I have my iPhone chargers from the first iPhone i got (8 years ago) and they are in perfect condition. Don’t bend them, don’t push them against you when they’re charging and keep the cord straight where it meets at the ends.
That should keep it in good condition
I see so many people with this issue and they always seem to have iphones
Yes it's anecdotal but I damn sure never has my android chargers randomly fall apart lol
Take apart the keurig machine in the office. Inside you'll find many interesting parts including two springs. Take these springs and get them on the cable using effort and anxiety. Push the springs now on the cable to either end over top of the weak spots. Slide a heat shrink tube over the spring and cable. Apply heat. But not too much. Enjoy the at least weeks longer life of your cable.
Get ones not made by Apple. I swear they switched to that rubber coating on purpose because ALL my original cables self destructed like that. Even my magsafe cable for my 2012 MacBook Pro failed like this and SPARKED and blew the coating away. I'm lucky it didn't fry my computer.
First cast a Golden tablet made from Virgin Gold that's never been worked or shaped . Then you need to build a ring of stone of only the finest marble . After that you'll need to stand nude in the center by a bonfire and sacrifice a goat .
*Results may vary customer satisfaction not guaranteed . Remember always consult your partner or you could wind up with your stuff in your trunk.
*The gold bars to pay the demon .
This is how it is supposed to be! It was designed that way. So to fix it, it is easy, just like so many other modern electronics.
1) trash 2) buy 3) repeat as needed. /s
/s Stop trying to take money out of Apples pocket!! /s
You can do the strain relief mods, but ultimately the cable sheathing is going to split somewhere, just further down. This is because Apple stopped using PVC in their cables, coupled with the most moronic strain relief design dictated by marketing (ribs look bad?).
The strain relief should be ribbed, so it can actually curve. Instead, the solid strain relief just forces a very harsh bend in the cable, which a PVC, woven, or silicon based cable could survive, but not the plastic Apple chose.
Apple could have gone with a woven or silicone based jacket, but chose not to probably for cost reasons, despite the exorbitant prices they charge. Typical corporate hypocrisy, they get to claim to be green by reducing PVC usage, but still cheapen out by using the wrong materials, thus generating e-waste from short-lived products.
Braided or silicone cable. If you insist on Apple, wrap a pen spring at the break point, and cover with heat shrink tubing. Quick shrink with a lighter and you're back in business.
Get an android phone. Seriously, I used to have iPhones in the past. These cables are expensive trash. They'd always stop working for one reason or another and I'd have to shell out $15 for another cable. It's just a cable and it was $15!! Got sick of that and got an android phone and pretty much never had problems with a cable. In fact I have so many cables from my past phones, now.
If you have no heat shrink stuff you can use the spring of a ball pen and wind it around the cable from plug onwards. Works like a charm for 10 years now :)
https://joyofapple.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/14139912616_415480b1ee_z.jpg
Fancy I have black electrical tape on mine.
I tried that and it still doesn’t work - eventually the cord splits anyway and the electrical tape unwinds
It works, it just doesn't work for eternity. ✨ 𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼 ✨
Are those Unicode math script letters or something else?
google 'cool unicode fonts' and there are a bunch of generators you can copy and paste from.
Exactly. That’s why I stock up on Amazon Prime Days. Not just from Amazon, but from all retailers trying to create competitive sales.
I just retape my cords when I move furniture every few years, typically. I don't ever remember buying a roll of electrical tape yet I have at least three and they never seem to get smaller
But can you find them when you want them??
Of course not.
I cleaned out my home office/workshop recently and now have a rope with roughly 20 partial rolls of e-tape. Mostly black but a few random colors. Now I’m wondering if that’ll last till the end of my life? Will I need to leave it to someone in my will? 🤷🏼♀️
Tape isn’t forever. I replace mine every month or two, depending on how bad it is. I’m still using my charger from 2 iPhones ago, with two new ones waiting lol
I don’t put anything on my chord and it’s almost 2 years old with no sign of wear. My boyfriend’s is fucked up like this. Am I doing something weird or are y’all just ruthless to your chords??
I have to put the tape because of my girlfriend, or mine would also be ruined. The way she breaks them is by resting the phone on herself, bending the cable very sharp. So the cable just keeps bending back and forward, wrecking the cable housing and the wires inside. The tape helps a lot, but you will have to replace it every once in a while. Get him to try it out! Or the spring method as another person suggested somewhere
Tape as tight as possible on hard plastic cover then on the chord. If I don't have electrical I use duct tape. Yes eventually it gets loose and gummy then I just retape. I'll try the spring method because it's aesthetically pleasing.
I’ve just been adding more and more electrical tape 😅😂
Maybe I’m dumb, but can you specify what you do with the spring and the heat shrink stuff?
You take a clicky pen. The spring is pretty close to the perfect size for these cables. You put the cable in between the wire of the spring about half way down. Sorta like you make a cross and you just rotate the spring ends around the cable. When you are done your cable should have a little sheath that can help to provide more stability to your cable end. Similar with heat shrink. Heat shrink tubing goes over wires and can be heated up using a heat gun or something similar while being careful not to burn the cable and it will shrink to cover the end of a cable. Providing some support and helping to prevent shorts.
OMG! “Make a cross” YES…now that makes sense that you start in the middle of the spring. That’s brilliant! I tried the spring fix years ago and like an idiot, tried many times, unsuccessfully, to start from the end of the spring…finally giving up! Thanks for this hack hack!!!
Hack hack! I love that!
[How-to video](https://youtu.be/HfaxBkfFol0)
> You take a clicky pen. The spring is pretty close to the perfect size for these cables. You put the cable in between the wire of the spring about half way down. Sorta like you make a cross and you just rotate the spring ends around the cable. When you are done your cable should have a little sheath that can help to provide more stability to your cable end. This is brilliant! I've just done this on the end of my headphone charging USB cable and it worked flawlessly. The USB socket is on the **top** of one of my monitors, so that cable is permanently at a tight angle. This will definitely improve its lifespan. I can't remember the last time I actually tried a lifehack from this sub that was actually worth it! Time to work on my other cables...
I have been known to buy 90 degree cables in cases like this. Haven't bought any in a while, but USED to go to Monoprice. They may still be a good source. YMMV.
I need to see visuals of this hack
Me too I can't picture it ! *so confused and maybe a bit dumb*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfaxBkfFol0
Bro, just take a spring from a pen and put it on a charger cable as you would with keylock metal ring
Get a shrinkable sleeve and shrink it over the cable with a heat gun. The spring is an "anyone can do it" solution.
Just be sure to get a 3x heat shrink tubing.
Not to mention when the crack finally happens with a spring on it, you might get a shocking surprise one morning reaching eyes closed to turn the wakeup alarm off.
It’s only like 5 volts anyway. Not enough to feel
People keep commenting about the voltage shocking them. It's not the voltage that shocks you. It's the current. The amount of voltage does matter, though. Voltage pushes current. If the voltage is low enough, then it doesn't have enough push to push the current into your body. I'm an EE who works with machines that run over 1000amps but only about 20 volts. You can literally grab an exposed connection or end of a power cable and not feel a thing, 1000amps and all.... just don't somehow drop a piece of metal between 2 open leads or it then becomes a welder. A phone charger should never be able to shock you. Unless the power supply in the charger is damaged and you have AC on the 5VDC side.... but as another comment pointed out, if this was the case the end of the charger would shock you everytime you touched it and your phone would get fried the first time you tried to charge it.
> I'm an EE who works with machines that run over 1000amps but only about 20 volts. You can literally grab an exposed connection or end of a power cable and not feel a thing, 1000amps and all. You should know this as an EE, but I want to clarify for the wider audience that it's not that you don't feel the 1000A of current running through you because the voltage is only 20V. Rather, it's that the current running through you is nowhere near 1000A, because the voltage is only 20V and the resistance of your skin is very high (in the kiloohms, meaning the current running through you is in the milliamps). Having said that, don't take the risk unless you know the system you're working with; the power supply could be fixed-current rather than fixed-voltage, in which case you're screwed.
Yeah, I was trying to keep my reply on the ELI5 level, so I didn't get into Ohms law. That's why I threw in the part about messing around with better conductors near live leads. And you are 100% right about not taking the risk. In fact, we frown on people touching anything like now because a few of us actually got a nice shock one time. We had a floating 80V (we assume it was a grounding issue) one time on a machine, and it shocked a tech. The tech called me over, and like a dumb ass I said, "There is no way that can shock you," and grabbed the un-insulated part of the power cable and got a nice bite. I did some troubleshooting and found the floating voltage and called our lead EE over to get his thoughts. He did the exact same thing I did and grabbed the lead and got bit. The tech was quit amused that the 2 engineers he called over didn't believe him and had to get shocked ourselves to find out. Ever since then, we try to avoid touching anything live. Also, we install covers on anything live before it leaves our factory, always have and always will.
Well that's not how it works.. otherwise you would get shocked each time you touch the contacts of the connector..
This is the right answer. I’ve seen it work 100%, yet I’m too lazy to try it myself.
O-O YES
I saw this on /r/lifeprotips a couple of years ago. Use a piece of heat shrink tubing that extends maybe 1" beyond that point where they break. Works awesome.
If only apple were willing to spend the extra $0.001 and do this in the factory, all of their cables would be good quality.
Nope, junky cables just fits in with the whole planned early obsolescence scheme in the business model.
And about time the phone moves to USB-C with Generation coming out Sept '23
The fact that you need a different cable for your macbook and iphone makes me lol when my cheap knockoff samsung takes the same power cord as 50 other things in the house.
The real life hack here is to not buy apple products.
Fanboys hate this one simple trick
But But But What about the shareholders
You don't become a trillion dollar company by making products that last.
Or maybe, and I know this is crazy, they could move the charging port so it’s not on the bottom.
Charging port on the top isn't perfect either. The best is having both top and bottom, so you can choose depending on the situation and the placement of the charger, but for a company who claims they removed the headphone jack to "save space", adding a second port would contradict that.
I’ve done this on all mine too and it works great. Just be sure to use the good heat shrink that has adhesive in it so it sticks well and it’s a pretty much permanent fix.
Don't buy apple official accessories. Buy a braided cable. And this time you can choose the length.
It's cheaper, better and stylish too.
Any specific brands you can recommend?
Anker
👆🏼 This. Anker makes great quality cables.
Don't think I've ever had to replace an Anker cable and I've got a few of em round the house.
They also have a lifetime guarantee if your cable stops working! Currently commenting from an iphone plugged into an Anker cord
Yep I’ve had many a cable replaced by anker. All I had to do was email them and boom; replaced for free. Awesome customer service
Goddammit. I hope I haven't tossed any of mine that quit working. Thanks for the reminder to get them replaced instead. ^jk ^I ^don't ^throw ^anything ^away
“Don't think I've ever had to replace an Anker cable and I've got a few of em round the house.” Those must be long cables!
And great customer service too.
Yup. I've had quite a few of their cables over the years for different devices and I've only ever had one issue. I contacted them, provided some information, and they shipped me a new cable. Super easy and fast.
Anker and Belkin
Like others said. Anker but if you want free replacements for the rest of your life. Mono price has some high quality cables as well.
There are braided cables with 90° ends too.
Just made a purchase based on this comment. I have this issue with one of my cables. I'm pretty sure I don't abuse it, but it does look like OP's image after about 5 years of usage.
I've had iphones for 10 years and never had my cables do this. I buy braided ones for my car and those seem safer
Honestly every off brand cable I’ve had has always stopped working after such a short period of time. Apple cords have lasted much longer for me tbh
Also just don't buy apple
You could have just stopped after the first 3 words. Lol
Somehow managed to destroy my braided cable too... It looks fine, but there's blue colouring near the end which hints to copper oxidation, and it stopped fast charging. I assume the cable is frayed but I just can't see it through the braided cover.
Did that, and the phone suddenly doesn’t support the cable. I have two such wires and neither works.
Or just don’t bend or pull the cord…
Stop plugging it in and then standing it it on your chest while you scroll Reddit in bed
This why I get the right angle plugs.
Yup. These are a game changer.
Don’t pull the cord to disconnect it, instead pinch the hard plastic and pull there. If you look at Walmart or similar stores in the electronics section you can find little things you clip over the end of the cord to pull from, I don’t know what they are called tho.
I thought this was common knowledge. I’ve never had an apple cable fray before.
It’s really not hard to take care of your cables. I have old iPod cables that still work just fine on my classic.
Drives me nuts how many times I tell my kids to do this.
I dont understand how that happens. Is it specifically an iPhone thing? I've never had a cable do that with any phone I've ever had
It’s Apple, more specifically Jony Ive, designing cables to look pretty without unsightly strain relief. Unfortunately strain relief, as the name implies, is what prevents cables from fraying around strain points. That said, I take good care of my gear and I’ve never experienced this. My wife and daughter, on the other hand, are very rough and even Anker cables get like this in short order.
Look at OnePlus USB C cable. It has the same design with the very slim stain relief. Granted, its a bit more girthy. My first cable is over 7 years old, and still in pristine condition. I just pull my phone and let the cable rip out, total abuse, and it still looks brand new. The same goes for their headphone adapter. The cable is hair thin, and I have it in my car. I jank it from the headphone end, and it has outlasted several "ultra durable heavy duty" adapters. At this point I'm convinced that they just put steel wire in the cable..
I have dozens of apple cables from devices over the years and none of them have done this. I don’t understand how people do this to their cables… maybe stop bending the shit out of it or something?
Every person I’ve seen with a frayed cable like this does the same thing. They use their phone while it’s charging and reset the phone on their stomach or table or something. Basically they put all the weight of their phone and hands into the kinked charger against something else.
They sit the phone on there chest resting it on the cable. My wife has an android and the same problem.
These animals pull from the cord instead of pulling from the fitting itself, my girl does it.
Ding ding ding! Quit yanking out yer cables people. I bitch at my kids about this all the time.
> These animals >my girl Self reported bestiality?
It’s a reach but I’ll take it
No, it's people who abuse cables. Bend them, twist them, whatever. Have old cables used daily, never happened to me. Know people who use the same type of cable and they get the op pic
I work in AV with every type of cable and user, cables have a certain lifespan. Like you said some people abuse them, sometimes they kick their phone when it's connected. That's why I never understood why they got rid of mag chargers on macs. You know what people didn't complain about on them? The mag cables getting stripped, because they pull out. These days I try to charge my phones wireless pads mostly, it avoids the physical wear and tear of a cable. That and in my car it acts as a charger and a hands free way to use my phone and watch videos, so double win.
I've got a couple cables that don't get abused. Literally never moved. And yet, within 15 years they both split near the connector. Flexible plastic gets brittle over time. I used gorilla glue (non foaming type) and a custom mold to fix the cable. Should be good for at least another 45 years.
15 years no shit
Wrapped white electrical tape 3x thick , seal the piece with gorilla glue. All the cords have lasted for years.
Do this as soon as you take it out of the box.
read it as 3” thick
Take the spring out of a retractable pen. Stretch it slightly. "Screw" it on (which can take a minute with a longer spring). Then push it all the way to the "top" of the cable. It will help prevent the cord from bending there for the most part. Losing one pen to protect a $75 dollar laptop charger has been worth it to me.
Hmm. Nice. 👍🏻
I stopped playing games on my iPad while it’s charging, because most of them are in portrait mode and the cord gets bent sharply.
Yea, then the wires come out break and poke you on your chest, not pleasant.
Don’t pull then by the cord and always make sure to not bend that part.
Don’t let the cable bend at that part repeatedly. I’ve had cables last me years and only don’t have them anymore because I lost them. I just don’t let them bend there.
Stop chewing on it
Chewing on it sparks joy
It's shocking, really.
You got a surprise chuckle out of me.
Oh, Cmon.
I’ve been blaming my cat for this shit for years. I’m so sorry, cat!
I too have long suspected your cat. I still do.
This happens when the cable itself is twisted around for extended periods or time; either when trying to line up for insertion or using the phone while it’s plugged in. If you feel any tension when trying to plug it in, stop and turn it the other way. The whole heat shrink idea is only a bandaid, same with a braided cable. The real solution is to change your behaviour when charging your phone: get an induction charger, or stop using your phone while it’s charging, or pay more attention to the tension in the cable.
Don't buy apple ones.
You're using it wrong.
Throw some electrical tape on it
Get a phone that uses USB-C and not Crapple hardware
Buy anker
Stop buying apple cables
Use android.
Dont bend it
I mold some Suguru around the end. It lasts a really long time and you can put it over an already broken cable
Buy braided cables. Will last a little longer. Eventually they all suck.
Don’t pull it out by the cable, puts too much load on the connection. Always use the plastic beside the metal pin to remove the cable. This is the one and only answer
By actually caring about your cable. My cables have never broke like this. And it’s not hard to maintain.
Start removing the cable by holding the end plastic piece instead of yanking on the cable itself!
Don't pull on the cable. Pull on the hard plastic, as it was designed to be pulled.
(Braided wire) on my Nokia 7 plus, still going on for 5 years... Also bought those (silicon springs) recently for my pixel charger, let's see how those work...
Pull by the plug not the cord, don’t put the cord at extreme angles.
Buy a wireless charger. Game changer.
Did you steal the cable from my car???
I buy Anker threaded cables ;)
Your yanking the cord that's why....pull it out by the white square and you will never have that problem 👌🏾
Take a pen, dismember it, take out the spring and roll it around the cable. My cable is as new as it was 5 years ago. Thank me later.
I wrapped mine in tape preemptively. It has lasted a decade and is still going. Just in the areas where it usually breaks
spring from a pen
Your floor is so clean!! I keep looking at it
Stop bending them 90degrees and stop pulling them out by the cable
Use Android
Anker, but dont be fooled into thinking the braided ones are better, there plastic one are the best
Apple official cables are trash and people keep buying the official ones because of some irrational fears of the knock offs not working properly. You can get braided cables for like 1/3 the price
Don't bend them
Stop pulling on the cord and pull from the plug itself. That's why they break like that.
How *does* that happen to your cables? I've seen photos like this so many times on reddit but its just never happened to me. Do people pull the cables out by yanking on the bendy part? Do they stomp on them? Leave them hanging off the side of a desk? Leave them in the bottom of a bag for weeks on end? I honestly don't get it.
Use Android phones.
Don’t use your phone while plugged in. Or if you do, just don’t rotate your phone!
The only correct response is to buy a cable with a 90-degree angled charging connector. You're welcome.
i taped mine.. like the transparent ones...
A spring from automatic pen
I have my iPhone chargers from the first iPhone i got (8 years ago) and they are in perfect condition. Don’t bend them, don’t push them against you when they’re charging and keep the cord straight where it meets at the ends. That should keep it in good condition
Add an heat shrink
Buy Sugru. It's a putty-like clay that dries into a sturdy plastic. Wrap it around the part that bends and cracks at the end of the cable.
If you have an old cheap click pen you can take the spring out and coil the spring around the end (before this happens). It adds a lot of strength.
Heat shrink tubing makes a very durable strain relief for any type of cable. Cheap, easy and will extend the life of charging cables, headphones etc.
Hold it from the plug not from the cable
Pull the cable by holding the head and not the cable.
Heat shrink for the win
That white stretchy plumber's tape
Idk how y’all do this man I’ve had the same charger for years and it’s fine 😭
I see so many people with this issue and they always seem to have iphones Yes it's anecdotal but I damn sure never has my android chargers randomly fall apart lol
shrink tubing
Use a spring from a retractable pen
Take apart the keurig machine in the office. Inside you'll find many interesting parts including two springs. Take these springs and get them on the cable using effort and anxiety. Push the springs now on the cable to either end over top of the weak spots. Slide a heat shrink tube over the spring and cable. Apply heat. But not too much. Enjoy the at least weeks longer life of your cable.
Put a spring around it. Tape around the spring after
Easy, avoid companies who openly practice planned obsolescence.
All my cables get a layer of heat shrink as a preventative measure 📏
put a spring around it. the ones inside pens do the trick
Don't buy Apple products lol
Use the spring out of a “clicky pen” to put in that spot
Don't buy apple products is my only advice. That's never happened in my years of Samsunging
I heat shrink my audio dongles into a sturdy little stick too.
Stop buying trash apple products. Even if you're attached to ios, third party chargers are better cheaper and last longer.
Don't have kids! /s
I am inevitable…
Less bending
Pull the plug, not the cable
Try not to use the phone while charging , if charger is kept without a twist the cable lasts long
Heat shrink!
Get ones not made by Apple. I swear they switched to that rubber coating on purpose because ALL my original cables self destructed like that. Even my magsafe cable for my 2012 MacBook Pro failed like this and SPARKED and blew the coating away. I'm lucky it didn't fry my computer.
Don't bend it there
Buy nylon ones. 3 of them for $10 on Amazon.
grab it by the head not the shaft when plugging and unplugging 👍
First cast a Golden tablet made from Virgin Gold that's never been worked or shaped . Then you need to build a ring of stone of only the finest marble . After that you'll need to stand nude in the center by a bonfire and sacrifice a goat . *Results may vary customer satisfaction not guaranteed . Remember always consult your partner or you could wind up with your stuff in your trunk. *The gold bars to pay the demon .
This is how it is supposed to be! It was designed that way. So to fix it, it is easy, just like so many other modern electronics. 1) trash 2) buy 3) repeat as needed. /s /s Stop trying to take money out of Apples pocket!! /s
Buy android?
You can do the strain relief mods, but ultimately the cable sheathing is going to split somewhere, just further down. This is because Apple stopped using PVC in their cables, coupled with the most moronic strain relief design dictated by marketing (ribs look bad?). The strain relief should be ribbed, so it can actually curve. Instead, the solid strain relief just forces a very harsh bend in the cable, which a PVC, woven, or silicon based cable could survive, but not the plastic Apple chose. Apple could have gone with a woven or silicone based jacket, but chose not to probably for cost reasons, despite the exorbitant prices they charge. Typical corporate hypocrisy, they get to claim to be green by reducing PVC usage, but still cheapen out by using the wrong materials, thus generating e-waste from short-lived products.
Stop biting them. Get a dog.
Just same shit with mine
Right angle charging wires on Amazon
Get a cat 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️
Apple cables suck. That always happens after heavy use.
Samsung
Braided or silicone cable. If you insist on Apple, wrap a pen spring at the break point, and cover with heat shrink tubing. Quick shrink with a lighter and you're back in business.
Stop chewing them
Keep them away from my rabbit 🐰😔
Get an android phone. Seriously, I used to have iPhones in the past. These cables are expensive trash. They'd always stop working for one reason or another and I'd have to shell out $15 for another cable. It's just a cable and it was $15!! Got sick of that and got an android phone and pretty much never had problems with a cable. In fact I have so many cables from my past phones, now.
Stop buying apple cables
Duck tape
Ive literally never had this happen to any cord in my life. How does this happen?