As we suspected when Apple added a warning to a pre-release version of iOS 7 that non-certified cables may not work reliably with iPhones, the launch version is actually blocking some of them from charging the phone. Certified cables contain a chip that allows them to authenticate.

We first spotted this in a Reddit post, and have since confirmed. The warning message itself is unchanged, but it’s no longer an empty threat – though as seen in comments, some non-certified cables are still working. Possibly ones that use cracked chips. The good news is that there is a workaround for others, but it’s not pretty … 

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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.

We suspect people are going to simply buy a certified cable rather than go through that palaver every time they connect. Certified cables have to be built to Apple’s spec, and manufacturers pay a licensing fee for the privilege. The best deals on certified cables at present can be found over on 9to5Toys.