Beats Headphones Not Charging: Causes & Fixes

Manufactured by Beats Electronics, a subsidiary of Apple Inc., Beats headphones are a line of high-quality headphones that were founded in 2006 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

Aside from a number of high-end features like ANC, its premium sound quality is what makes it one of the top five types of headphone lines in the world.

However, even though it’s a high-end device and we expect it to last well beyond average expectations, there are several nuances where users claim that their headphone stops charging. If you happen to be in that category of users, you’re in luck.

In this article, we’ll be giving some solutions on how to fix your Beats headphones if it’s not charging, and also, possible causes so you avoid it happening again.

Beats Headphones Not Charging: Possible Causes

There are not a lot of reasons that can cause your Beats headphones to stop charging. Being a high-end durable device, it’s well-built to avoid issues like this. However, this also means that some of these issues are not correctable as most Beats headphones are sealed, instead of coming with knots.

• Damaged Charger or Charging Cable

This is the most common cause of Beats headphones not charging. Rather than having a damaged headphone port, it’s usually a result of a faulty charger. In most cases, it’s either there was a power surge when the charger was plugged in, or the charger is no longer putting enough power on your headphones when plugged in.

• Dirt Blocking the Charging Port

If you’ve been using your Beats headphones for a while, or have kept it idle for a long period without cleaning, chances are that there has been an accumulation of debris in the charging port of your device. If this is the case, a simple cleaning of the charging port with a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol can do the trick.

• Faulty Battery 

Most people typically damage the batteries of their rechargeable devices in the first 3years of usage. What usually happens is that the charge cycle of the battery is exhausted, as such, the battery fails to properly hold a subsequent charge or doesn’t even hold a charge at all. Meanwhile, even though the charging light indication may be on while plugged in, the battery won’t be able to hold a charge.

• Software Issue

In rare cases, a software bug/glitch can prevent your Beats headphones from charging. Usually, a simple restart/reset can get it working again, but the lasting solution is to update the firmware of the device.

While that’s the case, Beats headphones are designed to automatically update when connected to a device with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. If you’re using an Android, you can manually update with the Beats app.

Beats Headphones Not Charging: How to Fix

While several problems can occur, stopping your device from charging, it’s surprising that there’s only so much you can do on the device without voiding its warranty.

For this article, we’ve focused on the procedures that won’t lead to warranty violation, in case it comes to you needing to make a warranty claim.

• Try Charging with Another Power Source

This is the first solution you want to explore; it doesn’t only get the job done, but it’s also relatively the easiest. If you’ve been using a bus-powered USB hub for charging your Beats headphones or anything that’s not a direct wall outlet, you may want to try using a wall socket for a change. Also, you want to consider changing the wall socket you’re using just in case that has been the problem.

• Change the Charger and/or USB Cable

If that doesn’t solve your problem, your next step should be an alternate charger. In some cases, especially after a power surge, your charger becomes the problem and not the device itself.

If you’ve got a spare charger around or have access to one you can test for free, you may want to try it on your device. This is often to make sure that you’ve got an issue with your charger so you don’t waste money buying a new one, especially if you’re not sure if there was a power surge or not.

• Clean the Charging Port and/or Case

This is often the solution when you only notice the device charging with you move the charging cable around a little.

Cleaning your charging port or charging case is necessary even if you don’t physically spot dirt because in most cases, what’s clogging the golden/metal contacts of the ports isn’t visible. You can clean with a soft brush and then gently blow, or use a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol to do the job. 

• Reset Your Beats Headphones

If the above headphones don’t work, your next best option is to perform a factory reset, just in case the charging error is from a software bug. There are currently seven lines of Beats headphones, each with different steps for performing a factory reset.

How to Reset Beats Flex

1. Put your Beats Flex in your ears.
2. Press and hold the volume up and volume down buttons for 15 seconds.
3. The LED indicator will blink red twice, then white twice.
4. Your headphones have been reset.

How to Reset Beats Studio Buds

1. Put your Beats Studio Buds in your ears.
2. Press and hold the force sensor on either earbud for 15 seconds.
3. The LED indicator will flash red twice, then white twice.
4. Your headphones have been reset.

How to Reset Beats Fit Pro

1. Put your Beats Fit Pro in your ears.
2. Press and hold the force sensor on either earbud for 15 seconds.
3. The LED indicator will flash red twice, then white twice.
4. Your headphones have been reset.

How to Reset Beats Solo3 Wireless

1. Make sure your headphones are turned off.
2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds.
3. The LED indicator will flash white twice, then red twice.
4. Your headphones have been reset.

How to Reset Beats Studio3 Wireless

1. Make sure your headphones are turned off.
2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds.
3. The LED indicator will flash white twice, then red twice.
4. Your headphones have been reset.

How to Reset Powerbeats Pro

1. Make sure your headphones are turned off.
2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds.
3. The LED indicator will flash white twice, then red twice.
4. Your headphones have been reset.

How to Reset BeatsX

1. Make sure your headphones are turned off.
2. Press and hold the power button and the volume down button for 10 seconds.
3. The LED indicator will flash white twice, then red twice.
4. Your headphones have been reset.

• Contact Support

If you happen to be using a Beats headphone that’s available for warranty, and none of the steps above solves the charging problem, your next step should be contacting customer support. Manual battery replacement should not be an option as it voids your warranty. If you can’t have it fixed by Apple Care, you should be getting a replacement.