I never knew such things existed until I read an article about the safety hazard of charging your phone with free USB sockets at airports. This gadget also solved the problem of plugging my iPhone into a USB port in my car to charge it, only to have the phone and car in an endless embrace trying to sync or play a song I was listening to had never heard of. I will take it on a trip to use the security aspect of charging at the airport. Good deal, good product.