---
title: "WhatsApp Link Preview Checker — Free Online Tool | LinkPilot"
description: "Free WhatsApp Link Preview Checker. See the og:title, og:description, and og:image WhatsApp uses for its preview card when a URL is pasted into a chat."
lang: en
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---

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1.  [Home](/)

3.  [Tools](/tools)

5.  [Open Graph Preview](/tools/open-graph-preview)

7.  For WhatsApp chats 

For WhatsApp chats

# WhatsApp Link Preview Checker

See the title, description, and thumbnail WhatsApp shows when a link is pasted into a chat.

URL to inspect

Inspect

[Track clicks on this link — create a free LinkPilot account ](/signup)

No credit card required · Free forever plan

## How WhatsApp builds link previews

WhatsApp reads standard Open Graph tags — og:title, og:description, and og:image — from the page's HTML head. There is no WhatsApp-specific tag set, so a page that previews well elsewhere usually previews on WhatsApp too.

The preview is generated on the sender's phone at the moment the URL is pasted, before the message is sent, and is then attached to the message. Recipients see whatever the sender's device fetched — so if the sender pasted the link while your tags were still wrong, that stale card is what the whole group sees.

Image handling is the main WhatsApp-specific trap. For most links WhatsApp shows a small square thumbnail cropped from the centre of og:image, so an image with the subject or text at the edges loses it. Very small images are skipped entirely: og:image should be at least about 300 pixels wide, and keeping the file compact (well under a megabyte) avoids the preview silently dropping the image on slow connections.

WhatsApp fetches pages with its own user agent (it identifies itself as WhatsApp). Bot-protection rules or CDN firewalls that block unknown user agents return an error page to it and the preview comes back with no image, or nothing at all — check that the URL returns a 200 to non-browser clients.

There is no public WhatsApp debugger and previews are cached per device. To force a fresh fetch after fixing tags, append a throwaway query parameter (for example ?v=2) so the URL is treated as new, or paste the link again after the fix has propagated.

## Common use cases

### Group-share readiness

Check the card once before a link goes out to a WhatsApp community — the sender's first paste is what everyone sees.

### Square-crop QA

Confirm the centre of og:image survives the small square thumbnail WhatsApp uses on most links.

### Diagnosing a missing image

Spot og:image tags that are too small, too heavy, or served from a host that blocks WhatsApp's user agent.

### Customer-support links

Make help-centre and order-status URLs render a trustworthy card in one-to-one chats.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why is my link preview not showing on WhatsApp?

### What og:image size does WhatsApp use?

### How do I refresh a WhatsApp link preview?

### Does the recipient's phone fetch the preview?

### Can I turn off the preview for a link?

## Other Open Graph Preview variants

Pre-configured variants tuned to specific platforms and use cases.

[

For LinkedIn shares

### LinkedIn Link Preview Checker

See how your URL looks when shared on LinkedIn — before you post.

Open variant ](/tools/open-graph-preview/linkedin)[

For Slack unfurls

### Slack Link Preview Checker

Check how your URL unfurls inside Slack messages and channels.

Open variant ](/tools/open-graph-preview/slack)[

For X / Twitter Cards

### X (Twitter) Card Preview Checker

Preview how your URL renders as a Twitter Card on X.

Open variant ](/tools/open-graph-preview/twitter)[

For Facebook shares

### Facebook Link Preview Checker

Inspect how your URL will render in a Facebook post or share.

Open variant ](/tools/open-graph-preview/facebook)[

For Discord embeds

### Discord Link Preview Checker

See how Discord embeds your URL inside a channel or DM.

Open variant ](/tools/open-graph-preview/discord)[

For Telegram messages

### Telegram Link Preview Checker

See how Telegram renders your URL in chats, groups, and channels.

Open variant ](/tools/open-graph-preview/telegram)[

For iMessage rich links

### iMessage Link Preview Checker

See the rich link card Apple Messages builds from your og:title and og:image.

Open variant ](/tools/open-graph-preview/imessage)

[Back to the full Open Graph Preview](/tools/open-graph-preview)

## Get more from your links

The WhatsApp Link Preview Checker is just the start. Create a free LinkPilot workspace to track every click, manage custom domains, and share securely with your team.

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