Ez Dock Connector
Michael Rosiles
A dock connector is an electrical connector used to attach a mobile device simultaneously to multiple external resources. The dock connector will typically carry a variety of signals and power, through a single connector, to simplify the process of docking the device. A dock connector may be embedded in a mechanical fixture used to support or align the mobile device or may be at the end of a cable.
Classic docking connectors for laptop computers are usually embedded into a mechanical docking station and port replicator devices that supports and aligns the laptop and sports various single-function ports and a power source that are aggregated into the docking connector. Docking connectors would carry interfaces such as keyboard, serial, parallel, and video ports from the laptop and supply power to it.
Dock connectors can be used to interface with accessories such as external speakers, including stereo systems and clock radios. Automotive accessories for mobile devices include charging cradles, FM transmitters for playing audio through the car's speakers, and GPS receivers. There are dock connector cables that offer additional capabilities such as direct integration with the car's audio system and controls.
Apple's proprietary 30-pin connector was common to most Apple mobile devices (iPhone (1st generation), 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S), 1st through 4th generation iPod Touch, iPad, iPad 2, and iPad (3rd generation)) from its introduction with the 3rd generation iPod classic in 2003 until the Lightning connector was released in late 2012. Originally, the Apple dock connector carried USB, FireWire, some controls and line-level audio outputs.[3][4] As the iPod changed, so did the signals in the dock connector. Video was added to the connector. FireWire was phased out of the iPods, which led to a discontinuity in usage of the dock connector.
As a result of the popularity of Apple's iPod and iPhone devices using the connector, a cottage industry was created of third-party devices that could connect to the interface.[5] With the discontinuation of the sixth-generation 160 GB iPod Classic and the iPhone 4S, the last Apple products to feature the original 30-pin connector, the connector was discontinued in September 2014 but the production of 30-pin connectors in India and developing markets still continued until February 2016.[2][6] However, Apple does continue to sell and produce a 30-pin-to-USB cable, [7] as well as a 30-pin VGA adapter compatible with the iPhone 4, 4S, 4th generation iPod Touch, and the first three iPads.[8]
Apple introduced an 8-pin dock connector, named Lightning, on September 12, 2012, as replacement of the 30-pin dock connector. The iPhone 5 to iPhone 14 series, the fifth- to seventh-generation iPod touch, seventh-generation iPod nano, first- to fifth-generation iPad mini, the fourth- to ninth-generation iPad, the first- to third-generation iPad Air, and the first- and second-generations of the iPad Pro used the Lightning connector, as do some Apple accessories. Apple Lightning connector pins can be accessed from both sides of the connector allowing reversibility.[9]
Since the release of the 3rd generation of iPad Pro, the Lightning connector is being phased out in favor of the more universal USB-C. The transition was complete for all latest models of iPads since March 18, 2022 and iPhones since September 22, 2023.[10]
The 2001 Korean Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) "Standard on I/O Connection Interface of Digital Cellular Phone" defined a 24-pin electromechanical interface specifications for cellular phone charging, wired data communication, analog audio, etc.[12] The 2007 updated version has only 20 pins but added composite video output support among other changes.[13]
The Portable Digital Media Interface (PDMI) is a 30-pin interconnection standard for portable media players. It was developed by the Consumer Electronics Association as ANSI/CEA-2017-A, Common Interconnection for Portable Media Players in February 2010. The standard was developed with the input or support of over fifty consumer electronics companies worldwide.[14]
Upon plugging my iPhone into my (officially supported) car stereo, I started to get the message "This accessory is not supported by iPhone" on the screen. Didn't think much of it as I only use it for charging purposes, and that still worked so I ignored it. Then I bought a small ANT+ dongle, which is a little accessory you plug into the dock connector to allow your phone to receive data from various health/fitness devices like heart rate monitor, and cycle sensors etc. It produces the same error message every time I plug it in, and the apps that use the dongle will not recognise it.
The dongle does officially support my hardware and OS level. I've checked that it is not broken by plugging it into an iPhone 5, an iPad 3 and an iPod of some description, none of which showed the error. The supported apps find the device on the iPad, the iPhone 5 does not have the apps installed but offers to do so as soon as I plug it in, so I know the dongle is working correctly.
In addition to the above, when nothing is plugged into the dock connector, it still occassionally thinks that something is, resulting in a muted phone. When it's in this state I am not able to hear anything or change any volume settings (music playback or ringer volume) with the physical keys. Going into the Music app shows that it thinks it's outputting the music to the dock connector.
This commonly occurs when there is an issue with your dock connector. It is likely dirty, obstructed in some way, or possibly even broken with a bent pin or something. Very often this is not apparent, because with 30 pins to play with, chances are most of the time you only need the ones for charging and USB data transfer, leaving the rest unused such that you will not notice if they start working sub optimally.
Your first step is to check for any obvious blockage. If you have a can of compressed air, you can try to blow any debris out. If you don't, then using a fine non metallic scraper (a plastic toothpick is ideal, a wooden one may leave small fibers behind) carefully clean out what you can - even if it looks clean you will be surprised how much crap and fluff you can scrape out. Take care to blow any debris out of the phone, and not into it - i.e. hold it upright and get at it from underneath, don't sit it upside down and work from the top
If there is no obvious obstruction then the problem may be more subtle, a coating on one or more of the pins that is preventing a neat conductive contact, or is grounding a pin against another one for example - perhaps there has been some contact with a liquid in the past etc. You need to clean the pins to get rid of this. You will need a couple of things things - 1) some cleaning agent, 2) a lint free cloth/piece of sponge, or an old toothbrush.
For a cleaning agent, 99% isopropyl is perfect, but if you don't have that kicking around you could try a very small quantity of the neatest and purest alcoholic drink you have in the house - I've used Vodka which is by and large 50/50 alcohol and water. Don't use anything flavoured or anything that it likely to have anything other than alcohol and water in it! Especially sugars or salt!.
Using a very small amount of your cleaning agent, and keeping the phone upright so any drips fall out, and not into the phone, lightly brush or wipe the dock connector, taking care not to be rough enough to disturb the pins out of alignment. I've used a small piece of synthetic sponge and prodded it about with the same toothpick I used earlier.
If this doesn't work, then the issue could still be a physical obstruction, although it may be beyond the dock connector and more internal. Short of taking the phone to bits, there is not a lot you can do, and whilst you cannot clean the inside, you can try to dislodge anything that's stuck by using a combination of lightly tapping the phone on all 4 sides whilst playing about with the vibrate functions for alarms etc.
Assuming I could not fix that one, I went to turn on Vibrate alerts (which I had previously turned off) as a workaround, only to find that after playing with all the vibrate "tones" etc it magically fixed itself!
I had this same issue. I'm pretty sure from being in a damp pocket during a snowy 5k.
Here's what I did:
Turn the phone off
I used a concealer makeup brush dipped in alcohol to brush down the connector (while I was at it I also did the usb cord i use on my imac and the headphone jack).
Did a hard restart (hold down the power button and the home button for like 5 secs).
Hopefully this isn't a temporary fix!
@stuffe came up with a couple of correct solutions based on traditional wisdom, but failed to realize the depth to which Apple will go to obfuscate problems from the user. It appears that there is a software setpoint for current (or power since the voltage is supposed to be the fixed) below which this state is triggered.
I am sure there is/was an Apple engineer could tell you exactly what current threshold triggers it (probable reasoning is adverse affect on battery life), but that is really irrelevant. Here are some things that you can do to correct it.
I have an ASUS laptop running Linux and it has an easy to access usb port on the right hand side near the front that doesn't output quite enough power. Combined with a bit of connector corrosion, the only way it would charge was if I held it down fairly tightly on the charging base. As soon as I would let go, I would get "This accessory may not be supported". Simply switching it to the usb port near my power connector (in a less convenient location) was sufficient. This tells me that it likely has nothing to do with any "device" specifics and since I have no iApps installed, those are ruled out too. The only difference is the power output. I will probably eventually need to clean my connections, but for now I'm good.
TODO: Write a polite letter to Apple requesting error messages that actually mean something.... It's probably in errno.h and strerror.h depending on how far they have gotten from their BSD roots (just add something like ELOWPWR and "This accessory has insufficient power for charging." respectively).
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