How To: Unstick Your Stuck Lightning Cable from a USB Port

I have this problem with it getting stuck in an old MacBook Pro. Usually, I have to take out any other USB-connected devices in the nearby ports just to get enough leverage to yank the Lightning cable out!

I used scissor to cut a plastic cap of a bottle. The pointed edge helped me pulling out the USB charger of my iPhone 5 from the charging point of a Sony Experia mobile phone

Yes! My cable just got stuck in the USB port of my smart tv. The collar-stay trick didn't work but I used a piece of a soda can and that worked perfectly.

Great tip! The cable was stuck in the port of my HP laptop and I tried removing it with my name card and it worked!

Thank you! I just fixed my stuck USP cable using this technique. Phew!!

Thanks for sharing this! I managed to get it out without ruining the power cable and USB port!

oh yes! what an annoying problem. About to try now to unplug the VERY stuck lightning cable....not yet.....

Did it!!!

OMG ............................. I spent almost 3 hours only trying to remove it .... I used everything .... literally .. and it didn't work ...... but your way is amazing ...... thank you very much .....

Jaws of death held my iPad mini cable which I received this weekend into my PC. Still working it out :(

This happened on my Lenovo w530. It hadn't been an issue with the chargers I had been sing, various wall units, mostly with multiple USB ports.

Appreciate the help, similar to releasing a door latch with a credit card.

Ahh if only this was stuck in my computer or some other little device....but alas it is freakin' stuck in the built in USB port in my car. Can't wait to see how this goes--Verizon denies this is a known issue (because of course Apple would have reported it and provided a fix hahahaha hahaha). How many iPhones do they sell? This is unbelievable. Sadly I do not have a collar stay to use on it.

RE the USB iPhone 5 cable stuck in my car USB port--had to cut a strip off my Home Depot gift card but darn if this doesn't do the trick. Thank you so much! I did notice that the connector has the little square holes on both sides of the connector--one side is shallow and the other is deep. It was actually the shallow side that was stuck (or provided the release). ever had this problem with the iPhone 4 plug

This just saved my pc! Thanks so much, worked like a charm.

I have a few families who use iPad Mini's and have gotten the other end of the charger broken off into the iPad. Any suggestions on how to get that out?

same thing has happened with my acer laptop and its still not giving OMG. Ive tried using my store cards and metro card and its still not giving.

wow - thank you mine got stuck in my acer laptop. I didn't have a dress shirt collar so I used the corner of my makaton cards which are laminated (I work in a school) It worked a treat. Thank you. :-)

The same thing happened with my iPod Nano cable - it got stuck in our 2013 Honda USB port. The shirt stay trick worked like a charm - you are a life saver! Thank you!

yes, my cable is currently stuck in USB port in my Prius v. Will try this

Same issue. Brand new ipad mini with retina display. Charger stuck in nonapple USB port. Ridiculous that this has been going on so long and there is yet to be a solution (or even a warning to avoid this) from Apple! I appreciate you posting this. I was able to get mine out from this method. Thanks!

Super annoying. Thank you so much for the fix!!!!

Unbelievable! i just bought a new iPhone 5s with the same problem! was almost giving up and going to the apple store.
this solution works like a charm.
thanks!

THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! i have the lightning cable for my iPad mini 2, worked absolutely fine on all computers and laptops (my own, one at college, in adaptors, etc...). plugged it into my dads laptop and bam it was stuuuuck, thought i'd spilled glue on it from my art course it was so fast! we didn't have a collar stay so tried the tin can trick and it came out! a heart attack has been saved...thankyou so much

thank you. I was ready to break the darn thing. After I got it out I bought a generic cable to use with my pc. Problem solved.

Thank you for sharing this miraculous solution to a puzzling problem. My iPhone 5 connector was stuck in the USB port of my car. I'm sure either I or the car service folks would have broken the port had we persisted in trying to pull out the connector with pliers. Your approach was brilliant!

Thanks so much for this tip :D I have never had this problem before with my previous laptop (a lenovo one) but now I have dell one and was shocked when I tried to get it out with no success I either couldn't imagine it was something so common, your trick worked just fine and my cable is free from now :)

Thanks again!!!

Same problem with a new iphone 6 cable. I guess apple is too stubborn to fix their problem. Kind of like the bending phones: if they dont acknowledge it, then there is no QC issue.

We had one stuck in the usb/esata port of a Dell laptop. This method worked like a champ! Thank you.

Thank you for posting this - it worked with a bit of cut up packaging once I understood the issue! You saved the day.

This worked a treat for me on a Lenovo y470. Rather than fish out a collar stay from a shirt, I cut a similar 8mm wide widget with an arrow point out of some plastic weld-pack packaging. The plastic strip will now live in my ipad case to rescue the next person that gets stuck. Thanks for the tip!

Thanks so much, this worked a treat, I cut a piece off a document I had laminated and used that, took under a minute and I have been stressing about it for hours and was brewing up to having to buy a new cable. You just saved me 15 quid and a load of hassle!

I thought I broke my smart tv. I really want apple to fix this goddam problem. I used pliers and it indented the charger. So I googled it, saw this, and didn't have that, so I used clear tape. It didn't work so I used the pliers again and it work. So happy I got. Ps my parents weren't home. I would've been grounded for a year or so.

Just had this problem plugging my iPad mini into my Dell desktop computer. Used a guitar pick to loosen it following your directions. Thank you so much!

So my USB plug does not have enough room the put one of those things in so what should I do my phone is at 10% and I need it for work tomorrow please help me!

Woot Woot!! My iphone5 usb plug was stuck in my automobile Sirius Radio usb port ... tried for days to wiggle it out and was taking it to my auto dealership - starting price just to look $100.00! I didn't have a collar stay so I cut a piece of plastic from a water bottle. Wow did you save me $$$!! So glad I did one more search for the answer and found you. Thank you so much!!!

You are a life saver.I was driving my friends brand new car when my daughter decided to charge her Iphone.Guess what happened ? I asked myself so many whys and hows but could not come up with a solution.I turned on my computer and started searching for solutions.Thanks God I found your posting.After reading the post grabbed my wife's nail filer and went straight to the car.THE SOLUTION WAS FOUND.

Thank You...............................................................................

Just had this issue. The cord got stuck in the usb port of the fm transmitter I have in my car to play my music. Didn't have a collar-stay so I used an old insurance card.

Great help thanks. Used collar stay to get usb cable out of hp desktop PC's port

I just had this problem on a new apple wired keyboard with the cord to charge a new wireless mouse. Thanks so much for the solution I was in instant anger mode.

Mine was stuck in my docking station USB port so spent eons of time reading the docking station manual thinking it was actually "locked" in. Then I found your video and realized it was just "stuck". Thank goodness...a plasticized gift card cut into a skinny strip and out it popped. Thank you!

My USB cable was stuck in a Toyota Avalon. This method worked beautifully! Made me feel silly for the amont of pain I went through trying to pull the cable out with my fingers and nails for so many days! I didn't have the dress shirt thingy so I cut out a bit of laminated paper.

My IPhone 6SPlus cable usb cord was stuck in my HP laptop port, I depressed underside of the usb cable cord and was able to release usb cable cord from my hp laptop. Interesting concept of the apple divots not compatible with older usb ports, thank you for sharing the information