You’re not alone.

It happensall the timeand it’s one of the more common questions we get.

Terminals one and four transmit power, while terminals two and three transmit data.

Illustration of two scenes showing a 17% phone charge and a 9% phone charge in a car

Lifewire / Tim Liedtke

Data only cables totally omit terminals one and four, and power only cables omit terminals two and three.

However, the situation is actually a little more complicated than that.

This works for most devices, but Apple products do things differently.

If it doesnt, youre probably stuck with using acigarette-lighter USB adapter.