Cloaked Link Generator — Custom Preview Cards for Facebook, X & WhatsApp

When you share a plain link, social apps show whatever title and image they find on the destination page. Sometimes that preview is ugly, missing or wrong. This tool fixes that without an account: it builds a complete share page with your own title, description and image, which sends every visitor straight to your destination. Download the page, put it on any free static host, and share the hosted page address instead of the raw link.

How a cloaked link works

The page this tool makes is ordinary HTML with two jobs. First, its head section carries Open Graph and Twitter Card tags: og:title, og:description, og:image and the matching twitter: tags. When Facebook, X or WhatsApp fetch the page, they read those tags and build the preview card from them, so the card shows your title, your words and your image. Second, a meta refresh tag sends the visitor to your destination instantly, in zero seconds. The visitor barely sees the middle page. They click your shared link, the card looked right, and they land where you wanted them.

Hosting the page in three steps

First, fill in the form and press Generate page. Second, press Download .html and save the file. Third, upload that file to any host that serves static files: Netlify Drop, GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, or even the file area of your own website. The host gives you a public address for the file. That address is the link you share. Share the file address, never the destination address, or the custom preview will not appear. Test the shared address in a private message to yourself first, and check the card looks right before you post it widely.

Why the preview image matters

People decide in a second whether to tap a link, and the image does most of that work. Use a clear image that matches the destination, at least 1200 pixels wide if you can, and keep the title under about 60 characters so it is not cut off. The description should say plainly what the visitor gets. A preview that promises one thing and delivers another will cost you trust fast, so keep the card honest: the title, text and image should describe the real destination.

What this tool does not do

These free tools do not include hosted click analytics, custom domains, password-protected hosted links or media hosting. Those features need an account and a backend server, and this page has neither. The share page you download is a file you own and host yourself. Nothing here tracks your visitors, counts your clicks or stores your links. If you want click counts, add UTM labels to the destination address, or read the statistics of the host where you put the file.

Limits to know, stated plainly

Social apps cache previews. If you change the title or image later, old posts may keep showing the old card until the platform refreshes it, and you cannot force that refresh from here. Some platforms also fetch the destination after the redirect and may show its preview instead, and messaging apps sometimes show only a plain link for pages that redirect instantly. The redirect itself is real and instant, and the preview tags are real markup, but no tool can promise that every app renders the card exactly the same way. Test on the apps you care about before a big launch, and never use a cloaked page to mislead people about where a link goes.

Choosing the file name

When you download the page, give the file a short, readable name before you upload it, because the file name becomes part of the shared address. A name like summer-guide.html is easy to trust and easy to remember, while page-final-v7-copy.html looks careless and may put people off clicking. Keep the name lowercase, use hyphens instead of spaces, and avoid dates in the name unless the content really expires, so the same shared address keeps working for months.

Related tools

URL Shortener · What Is My IP · Versión en español: Generador de Enlaces Enmascarados · All Free Online Tools.

Embed this tool on your website — free

Copy the code below to add this working tool to your own page. A small credit link stays with it — that’s all we ask.

<iframe srcdoc="&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt; &lt;html lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt; &lt;head&gt; &lt;meta charset=&quot;UTF-8&quot;&gt; &lt;meta name=&quot;viewport&quot; content=&quot;width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0&quot;&gt; &lt;title&gt;Cloaked Link Generator&lt;/title&gt; &lt;style&gt; body{font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:#f4f4f9;padding:16px;margin:0} .container{background:#fff;padding:20px;border-radius:8px;box-shadow:0 0 10px rgba(0,0,0,.1);max-width:680px;margin:0 auto} h2{margin:0 0 6px;color:#0f3d3e;font-size:22px} p.sub{margin:0 0 14px;color:#555;font-size:14px} label{font-weight:600;font-size:14px;display:block;margin:10px 0 4px} input[type=text],input[type=number],select{width:100%;box-sizing:border-box;padding:11px;font-size:16px;border:1px solid #cbd5e1;border-radius:6px;background:#fff} .row{display:flex;gap:10px;flex-wrap:wrap} .row&gt;*{flex:1;min-width:140px} button{background:#0f766e;color:#fff;border:0;padding:11px 22px;font-size:16px;border-radius:6px;cursor:pointer;margin-top:12px} button:hover{background:#115e59} button:disabled{background:#94a3b8;cursor:wait} #status{font-size:13px;color:#666;margin-top:10px;min-height:16px} .err{color:#b91c1c} .card{border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;padding:12px 14px;margin-top:12px;background:#f8fafc} .big{font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:#0f3d3e} table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;margin-top:10px;font-size:14px} th,td{text-align:left;padding:7px 8px;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e8f0} th{color:#0f3d3e} .bar{height:10px;background:#e2e8f0;border-radius:5px;overflow:hidden} .bar&gt;i{display:block;height:100%;background:#0f766e} img.cover{max-width:120px;border-radius:6px} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;/head&gt; &lt;body&gt; &lt;div class=&quot;container&quot;&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Cloaked Link Generator&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;sub&quot;&gt;A share page with your own title, text and image that redirects to your link. Free, no sign-up.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;label&gt;Destination URL&lt;/label&gt;&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; id=&quot;dest&quot; placeholder=&quot;https://example.com/your-page&quot;&gt; &lt;label&gt;Preview title&lt;/label&gt;&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; id=&quot;title&quot; placeholder=&quot;My amazing guide&quot;&gt; &lt;label&gt;Preview description&lt;/label&gt;&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; id=&quot;desc&quot; placeholder=&quot;One short sentence about the page&quot;&gt; &lt;label&gt;Preview image URL (optional)&lt;/label&gt;&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; id=&quot;image&quot; placeholder=&quot;https://example.com/image.jpg&quot;&gt; &lt;label&gt;Site name (optional)&lt;/label&gt;&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; id=&quot;site&quot; placeholder=&quot;My site&quot;&gt; &lt;button id=&quot;go&quot;&gt;Generate page&lt;/button&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;status&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div id=&quot;prev&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;label&gt;Page code — download it and host it anywhere&lt;/label&gt;&lt;textarea id=&quot;code&quot; rows=&quot;10&quot; style=&quot;width:100%;box-sizing:border-box;font-size:13px&quot;&gt;&lt;/textarea&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;button id=&quot;dl&quot;&gt;Download .html&lt;/button&gt; &lt;button id=&quot;cp&quot;&gt;Copy code&lt;/button&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;script&gt; function sendH(){ try { parent.postMessage({wpcId: 6545, wpcH: document.body.scrollHeight + 16}, &#x27;*&#x27;); } catch (e) {} } window.addEventListener(&#x27;load&#x27;, sendH); window.addEventListener(&#x27;resize&#x27;, sendH); //__CORE_START__ function isValidUrlC(s) { try { var u = new URL(s); return u.protocol === &#x27;http:&#x27; || u.protocol === &#x27;https:&#x27;; } catch (e) { return false; } } function escapeHtml(s) { return String(s).replace(/&amp;/g, &#x27;&amp;amp;&#x27;).replace(/&lt;/g, &#x27;&amp;lt;&#x27;).replace(/&gt;/g, &#x27;&amp;gt;&#x27;).replace(/&quot;/g, &#x27;&amp;quot;&#x27;); } function buildCloakPage(d) { var t = escapeHtml(d.title || &#x27;Shared link&#x27;); var de = escapeHtml(d.description || &#x27;&#x27;); var im = escapeHtml(d.image || &#x27;&#x27;); var dest = escapeHtml(d.dest); var site = escapeHtml(d.site || &#x27;&#x27;); var og = &#x27;&lt;meta property=&quot;og:title&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + t + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; if (de) og += &#x27;&lt;meta property=&quot;og:description&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + de + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; og += &#x27;&lt;meta property=&quot;og:type&quot; content=&quot;website&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; if (im) og += &#x27;&lt;meta property=&quot;og:image&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + im + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; if (site) og += &#x27;&lt;meta property=&quot;og:site_name&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + site + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; var tw = &#x27;&lt;meta name=&quot;twitter:card&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + (im ? &#x27;summary_large_image&#x27; : &#x27;summary&#x27;) + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; tw += &#x27;&lt;meta name=&quot;twitter:title&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + t + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; if (de) tw += &#x27;&lt;meta name=&quot;twitter:description&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + de + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; if (im) tw += &#x27;&lt;meta name=&quot;twitter:image&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + im + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27;; return &#x27;&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;\n&lt;html lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;\n&lt;head&gt;\n&lt;meta charset=&quot;UTF-8&quot;&gt;\n&#x27; + &#x27;&lt;title&gt;&#x27; + t + &#x27;&lt;/title&gt;\n&#x27; + &#x27;&lt;meta name=&quot;description&quot; content=&quot;&#x27; + de + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27; + og + tw + &#x27;&lt;meta http-equiv=&quot;refresh&quot; content=&quot;0; url=&#x27; + dest + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&#x27; + &#x27;&lt;link rel=&quot;canonical&quot; href=&quot;&#x27; + dest + &#x27;&quot;&gt;\n&lt;/head&gt;\n&lt;body&gt;\n&#x27; + &#x27;&lt;p&gt;Redirecting to &lt;a href=&quot;&#x27; + dest + &#x27;&quot;&gt;&#x27; + dest + &#x27;&lt;/a&gt;…&lt;/p&gt;\n&#x27; + &#x27;&lt;/body&gt;\n&lt;/html&gt;&#x27;; } //__CORE_END__ var $ = function(id) { return document.getElementById(id); }; $(&#x27;go&#x27;).onclick = function() { var dest = $(&#x27;dest&#x27;).value.trim(); var st = $(&#x27;status&#x27;); st.className = &#x27;&#x27;; st.textContent = &#x27;&#x27;; if (!isValidUrlC(dest)) { st.className = &#x27;err&#x27;; st.textContent = &#x27;Enter a full destination URL starting with http:// or https://.&#x27;; return; } var img = $(&#x27;image&#x27;).value.trim(); if (img &amp;&amp; !isValidUrlC(img)) { st.className = &#x27;err&#x27;; st.textContent = &#x27;Image URL must also start with http:// or https://.&#x27;; return; } var page = buildCloakPage({ dest: dest, title: $(&#x27;title&#x27;).value.trim(), description: $(&#x27;desc&#x27;).value.trim(), image: img, site: $(&#x27;site&#x27;).value.trim() }); $(&#x27;code&#x27;).value = page; $(&#x27;prev&#x27;).innerHTML = &#x27;&lt;div style=&quot;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;overflow:hidden;max-width:480px&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background:#f1f5f9;padding:10px 12px;font-weight:700&quot;&gt;&#x27; + escapeHtml($(&#x27;title&#x27;).value.trim() || &#x27;Shared link&#x27;) + &#x27;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;padding:10px 12px;color:#475569;font-size:14px&quot;&gt;&#x27; + escapeHtml($(&#x27;desc&#x27;).value.trim()) + &#x27;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#x27;; st.textContent = &#x27;Page generated. Download it, host the file, and share the hosted file URL — not this page.&#x27;; $(&#x27;dl&#x27;).onclick = function() { var b = new Blob([page], { type: &#x27;text/html&#x27; }); var a = document.createElement(&#x27;a&#x27;); a.href = URL.createObjectURL(b); a.download = &#x27;shared-link.html&#x27;; a.click(); }; $(&#x27;cp&#x27;).onclick = function() { if (navigator.clipboard) navigator.clipboard.writeText(page); st.textContent = &#x27;Page code copied.&#x27;; }; }; &lt;/script&gt; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt; " id="wpc-frame-6545" class="wpc-embed-frame" style="width:100%;border:0;display:block;overflow:hidden;" scrolling="no"></iframe> <p><a href="https://ilmhunt.com/cloaked-link-generator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cloaked Link Generator — Custom Preview Cards for Facebook, X & WhatsApp</a> by <a href="https://ilmhunt.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IlmHunt</a> — free online tools</p>