Pi GPIO as a 12v switch?

Need Help With My Project
1

Hello all.

I need some help.
I want to use the GPIO pins on my Pi as a switch.
I would be attaching the Pi to a circuit that operates on 12 volts with very low amperage in place of a switch. When I press a button on my phone the Pi shorts these two leads. So it seems like I would need some sort of transistor or relay. I am not knowledgeable with circuits enough to construct this on my own yet though so I don’t want to burn out my Pi.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

2

If you are not having enough knowledge to construct, it is better to by 12 V relay module and it is safe to connect directly GPIO out put to module input, if the relay module is opto coupler based, is more safe since it is totally isolated from the direct power supply.