(ABC NEWS)- We spend so much time on our phones, one of our biggest concerns is keeping them charged. But could grabbing some of those inexpensive cables to charge our iPhones put your phone at risk?
They’re known as lightning cables and they seem to be available everywhere we go now from gas stations to drug stores, and when you’re down to a low battery, you might just grab what’s convenient. But many people don’t realize that in some cases that move could end up doing some serious damage to your phone.
We’ve seen the reports and home videos of damaged iPhones when cables overheat or catch fire.
Jessa Jones, owner of iPad Rehab in Honeoye Falls, NY, gets phones shipped to her from around the country that she says have been damaged by bad cables.
“Fake cables can and do kill iPhones, all day, every day,” Jessa said.
But what keeps your phone safe from this always happening? There is a little protective chip inside Apple approved lightning cables that guards your iPhone from a power surge or potentially overheating.
Experts say many cables on the market don’t have that chip.
Apple has a certification program called Made For iPhone of MFi. MFi cords made by other manufacturers have to include the protective chip, but how do you know what’s an MFi certified cable?
Apple has a database on their website where you can search brands and models to see if they’re certified.
