Back in June, we discovered Apple implemented a warning in iOS 7 Beta builds to caution people against using non-certified Lightning cables, many of which contain cracked authentication chips.
Specifically, connecting an accessory to an iOS 7 Beta device through a non-certified Lightning cable produced a prompt saying “This cable or accessory is not certified and may not work reliably with this iPhone”.
It seems the company has thrown down the gauntlet to unauthorized accessory makers over the use of unapproved Lightning cables because folks have confirmed that the shipping version of iOS 7 now in fact blocks such cables, preventing them from actually charging your iPhone…
According to an ongoing thread over at Reddit, though some non-certified cables are still working, many do not. Other people have confirmed this as well.
I have a cable which worked perfectly fine on iOS 6.1.4. But now on iOS 7, it will not charge the phone whether using the mains adapter or via USB.
One commenter added:
Yes I get the “cable not certified” message everytime, but until recently my cheap cables worked fine. I plugged one in to my work computer to charge and was greeted with a new message, asking if I “trusted this computer.”
So everytime I plugged my phone in I had to dismiss the “certified” message and accept the “trusted” prompt. After a few times, the cable stopped working. Used another cheap cable, same thing happened.
Previously, iOS 7 Betas only put up a warning when using a knockoff cable.
There seems to be a workaround solution:
- Turn on USB power
- Plug in lightning cable to iPhone
- Dismiss any warnings
- Unlock your iPhone.
- Dismiss any remaining warnings.
- Now with the screen turned on.
- Unplug the knock off lightning cable.
- Plug it back in.
- Dismiss warning again
- It should now charge
The somewhat complex and annoying workaround could push some people to consider buying certified accessories which are often priced at a premium due to licensing fees paid to Apple and the use of Lightning authentication chips found in both the cables and connectors.