iPhone XS 'Chargegate': Apple reveals fix for handsets that have major charging problem

Update to iOS should allow people to charge phones without worrying whether they are unlocked

Apple has revealed its fix for a major charging problem that meant people were failing to power up their iPhones.

In recent days, it emerged that the latest iPhones were not charging when they were plugged into their charging ports. Their batteries would not start to fill until the phone was unlocked – in some cases, forcing people to unplug their phone, unlock it, and then plug it in again before it received any power.

Now that problem appears to have been fixed by an upcoming software update that has already been pushed out to some users. The update – iOS 12.1, which also brings new emoji – is available to Apple's beta testers now and will presumably be pushed to other iPhone users very soon.

Apple is yet to publicly comment on the bug. But numerous reports have suggested that the latest update contains the fix.

Reports had initially suggested that the issue was limited to the brand new iPhone XS and XS Max. Numerous owners of the latest handsets took to the internet to complain about the charging behaviour, which meant that some people only found out their phone hadn't charged when they went to take it away.

But users of older phones then suggested they were having issues too. That appears to indicate that the problem is actually with iOS 12, which presumably makes the fix easier for Apple to implement.

It is still not clear how the behaviour occurred, or what Apple changed to fix it in the latest update.

iOS 12 does bring alterations to the way that iPhones and iPads handle devices that are plugged into their Lightning ports, restricting the amount of data they can transfer. But that is supposed only to control things that could be used to hack into the phone, and plugging in to charge should not be affected by those updates.