Nexus 6P Flashing Charge Icon

Recently the USB-C quick charger that came with my Huawei Nexus 6P appeared to stop working. I normally leave the phone charging over night, but one morning I found its battery charge was low and it hadn’t been charging. When I disconnected and reconnected it to the cable (which is reversible with USB-C connectors on both ends), the lightning bolt inside the battery charge indicator kept blinking (flashing on and off), rather than being solid on as it normally would while the device is charging.

Disconnecting and reconnecting the device or unplugging and reconnecting the charger to the wall socket made no difference whatsoever. Reversing the cable direction did not help either.

My only way to still charge the phone was to use a USB-A to USB-C cable that draws power from a PC USB socket, which is a much slower way to charge the phone. So I decided that the charger must have failed after less than a year of use. I already started looking for USB-C quick chargers on Amazon (they exist but are much more pricey than USB-A chargers), but didn’t order one yet.

Today I decided to Google for the problem and found others who had the exact same issue. It turned out that simply powering down the phone and powering it up again will fix the problem: Yepp, it will charge again!

I’m not sure what the fundamental issue is, but it seems I won’t have to rush out and buy a new charger (which wouldn’t have helped anyway!), as the issue is on the phone side.

If a simple phone reboot fixes it and it doesn’t happen too often, I guess I can live with that. The Nexus 6P has worked great for me so far.

14 thoughts on “Nexus 6P Flashing Charge Icon”

Same problem running Android 6.0.1. Powered down and up, and the problem went away, just as you suggested.
Thanks for the fix! Love my 6P – it’s just a great phone.

I had the exact same issue with my month-old 6P. This solved the issue for me. Thanks!!!!

Yes exact same issue, exact same solution. Though, perhaps unrelated, my WiFi icon now shows the disconnected icon, yet I am connected. Weird. Thanks for battery charge solution

Yes just happened with my 6P. Plugged it in to charge and nothing. Noticed the charging icon flashing. Re-booted the phone and now charging. First time it’s done that.

Exactly had the same issue, except that I was randomly charging my 6p with a power bank with different output voltage, so I guess this might have been the trigger for the issue! However the reboot fixed it. Thanks for your blog mate.

Thanks for your help! I was annoyed because I thought I would have to buy a new charger. The “IT Crowd” solution wins again!

Thankfully, this solution works even today.
Sadly, this problem exists even with Oreo.

Thanks mate!

The problem has not re-occurred for me in the past 14 months. I am still using the same USB-C charger that came with the phone, so I’m not sure what triggered the problem last year. Recently I upgraded the phone to Android 8.0.0, the latest. Together with a battery upgrade (my old battery had significantly lost capacity after less than 2 years) that should give me a few more years of usable life for this otherwise great phone.

Had the same problem with a 2 year old Nexus 6P and the original charger – first time I’ve seen this. Thanks for the fix.

Thanks for fix same issue only my mains charger was doing nothing no flashing icon would charge via USB but 3 hours bought new type c lead and then achieved flashing icon read this rebooted phone now both leads work fine .great post great help.many thanks