First, confirm your phone actually supports wireless charging
The most common 'wireless charging not working' case is a phone that never supported it, so confirm before troubleshooting. Wireless (Qi) charging is a feature many midrange and budget phones simply lack, and no accessory adds it to a phone without the internal coil. Check your model's specifications (search your exact model plus 'wireless charging', or use our device info tool to identify the model precisely), if the spec sheet does not list Qi or wireless charging, the phone cannot charge wirelessly, and the fix is wired charging, not troubleshooting a capability it does not have.
If your phone does support it, understand how it works, because the mechanism explains every failure. A coil in the phone's back aligns with a coil in the charging pad, and energy transfers across the small gap by magnetic induction. This demands precise alignment (the coils must overlap), a clear path (thick or metal cases interfere), and adequate power to the pad. It is also inherently less efficient than wired charging, so it runs warmer and, on most phones, slower, which is normal, not a fault. Knowing it is finicky by nature prevents you from chasing a 'problem' that is just how induction behaves.
Set expectations accordingly. Wireless charging is convenient (drop-and-go, no port wear, and a lifesaver when the charging port has a moisture warning, per our moisture-detected guide) but it is not the fast, cool, foolproof experience wired charging is. It wants careful placement, a compatible pad with enough power, and a case it can charge through, and it pauses when things get warm to protect the battery. Most 'wireless charging not working' turns out to be alignment, a case, or an underpowered pad, all easy to fix once you know to look.
Alignment, cases and the pad itself
Alignment is the number-one culprit for wireless charging that does not start or keeps stopping. The phone's coil is usually centered on the back, and it must sit directly over the pad's coil, being off by even a centimeter can prevent charging or make it drop in and out. Center the phone deliberately on the pad, and if charging does not begin, shift it slightly in each direction until the charging indicator appears, then leave it there. Pads with multiple coils or a larger charging area are more forgiving, but with a single-coil pad, precise centering is essential.
The case is the second culprit, because everything the energy must cross is a potential blocker. Thick cases increase the gap beyond what the coils can bridge; cases with metal plates (including magnetic-mount plates and some card holders) block induction entirely; and a wallet case with cards between the phone and pad both blocks charging AND can damage the cards' magnetic strips. Remove the case and test, if wireless charging works caseless, the case is the problem, and a thinner or wireless-charging-compatible case solves it. This single test resolves a large share of complaints, especially right after a new case.
The pad and its power supply are the third area. Wireless pads need adequate input power to charge properly, and a pad plugged into a weak charger or a computer USB port may not deliver enough, use the pad's own recommended adapter, ideally a fast-charge one. Test the pad with another phone (or your phone with another pad) to isolate which side is faulty, the same swap logic as our wired charging guide. Also confirm the pad's indicator light behaves correctly (many signal successful charging versus a misalignment error by color or blinking), and restart your phone on the pad, since a stuck charging state sometimes clears with a reboot.
Heat, slow charging and the pause behavior
Wireless charging and heat are intimately linked, and understanding this explains behavior people mistake for faults. Induction generates more heat than wired charging, and heat is the enemy of battery health, so phones deliberately PAUSE or slow wireless charging when they get warm, to protect the battery. A phone that charges wirelessly for a while then stops, especially if it feels warm, or that charges only to a certain percentage overnight, is very often doing this on purpose, not failing. Our live Battery Status tool lets you watch the charge behavior and see the pause-and-resume cycle for what it is.
Minimize the heat to keep charging flowing: remove thick cases (which trap heat as well as blocking induction), place the pad somewhere cool and out of direct sun, and do not use the phone heavily while wireless charging (gaming or navigating on the pad stacks heat sources and guarantees throttling). Overnight, the slow-and-pause behavior is fine, the phone sips power and stays cool; it is during active use or in warm environments that heat-pausing becomes noticeable. This is the same heat-management principle as our overheating and battery-health guides, applied to the charging method that runs warmest.
On slow wireless charging specifically, calibrate expectations: wireless is slower than wired on most phones by design, and 'fast wireless charging' requires BOTH a phone and a pad that support the same fast-wireless standard, plus a capable adapter feeding the pad. A mismatch (fast-wireless phone on a basic pad, or vice versa) falls back to slow standard-wireless speed, which is not a fault. If you want speed, a wired fast charger is always faster and cooler; wireless is for convenience and port-sparing, not for the quickest possible charge. Verify your battery is healthy too (our Battery Health Calculator), since a worn battery charges slowly by every method.
The hardware verdict and living with wireless charging
Conclude a hardware fault only after ruling out alignment, case, pad, power and heat. The phone's wireless coil earns suspicion when: wired charging works perfectly but wireless never works with a known-good pad, caseless, precisely aligned; or wireless charging stopped working after a drop (which can crack the coil or its connection) or heavy water exposure. Because wired charging still works in these cases, the fault is isolated to the wireless coil or its circuitry, a genuine but non-urgent hardware issue, since you can simply charge with a cable. Repair (coil replacement) is possible but rarely worth it given wired charging remains, unless the phone is high-value and you rely on wireless.
Confirm the pad is not the culprit before blaming the phone, using the swap test: your phone on a different pad, and a different phone on your pad. Pads fail too, coils, circuitry and power supplies wear out, and a dead pad masquerades perfectly as a dead phone coil. If a known-good pad charges your phone, your original pad was the problem; if no pad charges your phone while it charges other phones, the phone's coil is the fault. This five-minute isolation prevents both an unnecessary phone repair and endless frustration with a quietly-failed pad.
For living with wireless charging happily: use a pad with enough power and, ideally, a larger or multi-coil charging surface for placement forgiveness; use a case that is verified wireless-charging-compatible (thin, no metal); keep the pad in a cool spot; and treat it as the convenient, port-sparing method it is rather than the fast one, wired charging remains your speed option and your fallback. Wireless charging's real hidden value is sparing the charging port from wear (fewer insertions, per our charging-port guide) and bypassing the port entirely when a moisture warning strikes, both genuine benefits. Set up with a good pad, a compatible case and realistic expectations, wireless charging is a pleasant convenience, and its finickiness is entirely manageable once you know alignment, cases and heat are the usual suspects.