Your Old Lightning Cable Might Not Work Well With iOS 7

It happens to the best of us where we’ll lose our trusted iPhone charging cable. Sometimes, if you just lost your iPad or iPhone’s Lightning cable, you’ll decide to buy some cheaper replacement online instead of buying the more expensive Apple version. While this may often workout fine, Apple doesn’t want you using cables which are unregulated.

Because of this, uncertified Lightning cables will not work with iOS 7. Several Reddit users have discovered that they’re no longer able to charge their phones, and that plugging in their cable simply pops up the message, “This cable or accessory is not certified and may not work reliably with this iPhone.”

Internet users have managed to find a workaround, however, so if an uncertified cable is all you have you’re not completely out of luck. Follow these steps and you should be good:

1. Turn on USB power
2. Plug in lightning cable to iPhone
3. Dismiss any warnings
4. Unlock your iPhone.
5. Dismiss any remaining warnings.
6. Now with the screen turned on.
7. Unplug the knock off lightning cable.
8. Plug it back in.
9. Dismiss warning again
10. It should now charge

Obviously you probably aren’t going to want to do this every time you charge your phone, so it’s likely time you invested in an official Apple cable or one by a certified third party. Who knows, Apple might even squash this workaround in an upcoming update, so best be prepared.

Toby is a writer of word and a lover of Apple, hip-hop, life, and technology.