Clean LinksWhen you share an Instagram URL, the app appends igsh, a share tracker tied to your account (older shares carry igshid). Meta uses it to map who you sent the link to, rebuild your private sharing graph, and steer the algorithm toward your contacts. Clean the Instagram link before you paste.
Before and After
Tracked link
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DExample/?igsh=MWQxZExample&utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Clean link
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DExample/
Removed
Instagram adds share IDs — `igsh` today, `igshid` on older links — so Meta can connect off-app clicks back to accounts, campaigns, and sharing behavior. Every extra identifier gives Meta and downstream sites one more chance to measure who shared the link and what happened next.
Pin the web cleaner as a progressive web app on Chrome, Edge, and Android, or install the iPhone, iPad, and Mac app for on-device cleaning, Share Sheet actions, Safari extension, QR scanning, and Shortcuts.
Add Clean Links to your Home Screen
Open your browser menu and choose Install Clean Links or Add to Home Screen.
igsh tracker and legacy igshidigsh - account-linked share identifier on current sharesigshid - the older share identifier still found on legacy linksutm_source=ig_web_copy_link - web-share tag added when you copy a link on instagram.comutm_medium=instagram, utm_campaign - campaign tagsfbclid - Meta click identifier sometimes appended via in-app browserOther ad-tech tokens added by destination sites after the redirectTracking often hides behind redirects or appears as you move through a chain. Manual edits miss those and can break links. Clean Links follows the chain and cleans the final URL safely.
No. Cleaning removes trackers but preserves the destination.
Clean Links removes only tracking parameters. If a parameter is needed for functionality (rare for Instagram shares), it is preserved.
Original links expose who shared them and how recipients engaged. Cleaning removes that exposure.
`ig_web_copy_link` is the `utm_source` value Instagram sets when you copy a link on instagram.com. It labels which share channel you used. Clean Links strips it along with the other UTM tags.
The Apple app cleans Instagram links on-device. The web cleaner currently sends the link to the Clean Links API because the full rule engine is too large to ship to every browser right now. We do not log, store, or tie those requests to an account, and shortlinks are still resolved in an isolated, cookie-free context with a randomized user agent.
The cleaning rules are the same, but the Apple app has more system hooks: Share Sheet cleaning, Safari extension support, QR scanning, Shortcuts, Siri, and Mac clipboard tools. The web cleaner focuses on paste-and-clean in your browser today, and a browser-native WASM version is in progress.
Clean Links is broader. The Apple app works system-wide from the Share Sheet, Safari extension, Shortcuts, and clipboard tools. The web cleaner uses the same privacy-first cleaning logic without requiring an account. Both versions unwrap redirects that browser-level URL trimming often misses. See Link Cleaner vs Clean Links and Clean Links vs Safari ATFP.
Need to clean a link from any other site? Try the free link cleaner
Paste any link to strip trackers and unwrap short links. Works in any browser with no account; recent-link history stays in this browser.
Clean links from the Share Sheet on iPhone and iPad, plus the Mac app. No account or link history; redirect checks run from your device when network access is enabled.
Why we built Clean Links
Someone close to us scanned a QR code on a parking meter, typed in their card details, and lost the money before they realized anything was off. A sticker had covered the real code, and the link behind it went somewhere else. We're two engineers in the EU who've spent years building privacy-first apps, and that was the push. We wanted a fast way to see where a link or QR code really goes before you tap it, and to strip the trackers off the ones we share. Clean Links now covers both cases: the Apple apps scan and clean on your device, and the web cleaner lets you check a link in the browser without an account. It's free, and we'd rather earn a spot on your home screen than sell you out.
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