Link preview checker / WhatsApp link preview
WhatsApp link preview checker
WhatsApp has no debugging tool, and its previews are built on the sender's phone. Paste a URL and see what WhatsApp has to work with: your Open Graph title, description and image.
You don't need an account. Paste any public page and see what X, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, Facebook and iMessage will show.
What WhatsApp needs from your page
- Tags it reads
- og:title, og:description and og:image.
- Image
- Keep the file small and served over https. Heavy images are often dropped, leaving a text-only preview.
- Shape
- Usually a square thumbnail beside the text; a wide image appears only for some links and senders.
- Refreshing a preview
- There is no tool. Previews are generated on the sender's device, so a changed URL (?v=2) is the reliable way to get a new one.
Questions
Why is my WhatsApp link preview not showing an image?
The most common reasons are a missing og:image, an image URL that isn't absolute https, or an image file that's too large. Check the link here to see which.
How do I refresh a WhatsApp link preview?
There is no cache to clear from outside: each phone builds its own preview. Sharing the URL with a small change, such as ?v=2, makes WhatsApp fetch it fresh.
Why does WhatsApp crop my image to a square?
Most WhatsApp previews use a square thumbnail. Keep the important part of the image near the centre so it survives the crop.
Fix it once, for every page
OGsmith turns each page into a correctly sized card from one meta tag, and a new version reaches every platform when you change it.
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