{"id":43044,"date":"2018-02-09T23:01:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T15:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=43044"},"modified":"2018-02-09T19:57:37","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T11:57:37","slug":"see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\/","title":{"rendered":"How to See Shortened URLs Without Opening Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you ever come across a link in email or on a website, always hover your mouse cursor over it to see the destination URL<\/strong> at the bottom of the browser to ensure it\u2019s safe. But, this trick doesn\u2019t work with shortened URLs that are quite common these days on social media websites.<\/p>\n

However, this also doesn\u2019t mean you have to facecheck every short URL and risk your security. There are multiple ways to check what\u2019s behind a shortened URL without opening it<\/strong>. And in this post, I\u2019ll show you how to do it on your PC and your smartphone.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/strong> Create Your Own URL Shortener with Polr<\/a><\/p>\n

Use the built-in preview<\/h2>\n

Most of the popular link shortening services<\/a> let you preview the link by tweaking the shortened URL. Just memorize these simple tweaks, and for most short URLs you won\u2019t have to depend on a third-party service<\/strong>. Below is the list of preview tweaks:<\/p>\n

TinyURL<\/h3>\n

Add preview<\/code><\/strong> before the tinyurl.com<\/code><\/strong> part of the link. For example:<\/p>\n

convert https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/2loblt<\/code><\/strong> to https:\/\/preview.tinyurl.com\/2loblt<\/code><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"tinyurl\"<\/figure>\n

Goo.gl<\/h3>\n

Add +<\/code><\/strong> (plus sign) at the end of the original URL. For example, convert goo.gl\/0WhZa7<\/code><\/strong> into goo.gl\/0WhZa7+<\/code><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Bitly.com<\/h3>\n

Similar to Goo.gl, add a +<\/code><\/strong> at the end of the URL.<\/p>\n

is.gd<\/h3>\n

Add -<\/code><\/strong> (hyphen) at the end of the URL. For example, convert https:\/\/is.gd\/1j6nkF<\/code><\/strong> into https:\/\/is.gd\/1j6nkF-<\/code><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Tiny.cc<\/h3>\n

Add ~<\/code><\/strong> (tilde) at the end of the URL.<\/p>\n

BudURL<\/h3>\n

Add ?<\/code><\/strong> (question mark) at the end of the URL.<\/p>\n

Use an online service<\/h2>\n

If you don\u2019t deal with short URLs often, then an online expander may work<\/strong> better for you. For this purpose, I like GetLinkInfo<\/a> for its extensive support of URL shortening websites and detailed information about the link. Just paste the link on the website and press enter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"getlinkinfo\"<\/figure>\n

GetLinkInfo will tell you the main title of the page, starting description, exact long URL, and any external links<\/strong> on the page. It also uses Google to check the safety of the website content.<\/p>\n

Use a browser extension<\/h2>\n

In case you deal with short URLs frequently, then a dedicated browser extension is a better choice. Unshorten.It! is a good extension for this purpose<\/strong> that is available for both Chrome<\/a> and Firefox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The cool thing about Unshorten.It! is that it doesn\u2019t depend on the URL shortening service\u2019s API<\/strong>, therefore, it can expand almost all types of short links. Once the extension is installed, right-click on any short link and select Unshorten it from the menu<\/strong>. The extension will expand the link in a new tab and also show safety information based on the Web Of Trust score.<\/p>\n

\"unshorten.it\"<\/figure>\n

I also really liked the non-intrusive nature of the extension<\/strong> as it allows you to choose which links to expand and which to leave.<\/p>\n

Expand short URLs on Android<\/h2>\n

On Android, you can use the free URL Manager<\/a> app. This is actually an all-in-one link manager, but we will only be Looking at the expanding feature of the app. Here\u2019s how to expand a link:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Copy the short URL that you want to expand.<\/li>\n
  2. Tap on the +<\/strong> icon in its main interface and select Expand<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  3. Now paste the URL into the text field and tap on Expand<\/strong>. The original link will be shown below.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"url<\/figure>\n

    You can also share a link directly from your browser to expand it in URL Manager.<\/p>\n

    Expand short URLs on iOS<\/h2>\n

    On iOS, you can use the free URL X-ray<\/a> app. Although URL X-ray is popular for its web service<\/a>, its iOS app does a fine job of expanding URLs<\/strong>. Once installed, you can copy\/paste the short URL in the URL X-ray interface to expand it. It also adds a button in the share menu<\/strong> to let you directly share URLs from other apps.<\/p>\n

    \"url<\/figure>\n

    Summing up<\/h2>\n

    You should be very careful while opening short links and always check what\u2019s on the other side before opening, especially if you received them via email or a direct message. Memorizing short URL preview tweaks might involve some work, but it will make the process very easy if you deal with short URLs often. But of course, you can always get help from a third-party app when you are in doubt.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you ever come across a link in email or on a website, always hover your mouse cursor over it to see the destination URL at the bottom of the browser to ensure it\u2019s safe. But, this trick doesn\u2019t work with shortened URLs that are quite common these days on social media websites. However, this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3398],"tags":[4212],"topic":[4521],"class_list":["entry-content","is-maxi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to See Shortened URLs Without Opening Them - Hongkiat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you ever come across a link in email or on a website, always hover your mouse cursor over it to see the destination URL at the bottom of the browser to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to See Shortened URLs Without Opening Them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you ever come across a link in email or on a website, always hover your mouse cursor over it to see the destination URL at the bottom of the browser to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-09T15:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\/01-tinyurl.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Karrar Haider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Karrar Haider\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Karrar Haider\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/958e86e540a026b3ff39e5378f2ce49f\"},\"headline\":\"How to See Shortened URLs Without Opening Them\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-09T15:01:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":691,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/01-tinyurl.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"URL Shortening\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Internet\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/see-shortened-urls-without-opening-them\\\/\",\"name\":\"How to See Shortened URLs Without Opening Them - 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