{"id":5280,"date":"2026-08-18T13:44:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/?p=5280"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:44:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:44:58","slug":"why-my-tinyurl-link-show-ad-preview-screen-before-redirecting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/why-my-tinyurl-link-show-ad-preview-screen-before-redirecting\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Does My TinyURL Link Show an Ad or Preview Screen Before Redirecting?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your TinyURL link now shows an ad or a preview\/interstitial screen before sending visitors to your destination, this usually means the link was created using our <strong>old, deprecated API endpoint<\/strong>. This article explains what changed, how to remove the ad screen, and how to avoid the issue going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What&#8217;s Happening<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent changes added an <strong>interstitial ad\/preview screen<\/strong> to links created through our old API endpoint (<a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/api-create.php\"><u>http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/api-create.php<\/u><\/a>). Your link still works: after a few seconds, it redirects to the correct destination URL. The ad screen simply appears first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is possible to remove this screen from your existing links (see How to Remove the Ad\/Preview Screen below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the Old API Endpoint<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The old API endpoint at http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/api-create.php should be considered <strong>deprecated<\/strong>. In reality, it was never officially supported. You can read more about this in our blog post: <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/retiring-our-old-api-endpoint\/\">Retiring Our Old API Endpoint<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our <strong>official API<\/strong> is fully supported and documented here: <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/app\/dev\">TinyURL API<\/a>. We strongly encourage you to migrate to the official API to avoid any future issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please note:<\/strong> Links created with the old API <strong>cannot be associated with a registered account, modified, or deleted<\/strong> under any circumstances, because we are unable to independently verify who owns them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Remove the Ad\/Preview Screen<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can request to have the ad\/preview screen removed from your existing links through our whitelisting process. Here&#8217;s how it works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Step 1 &#8211; Send us your links first (before upgrading)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before upgrading your plan, please share the following with us so our authorized team can review them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A <strong>CSV file of your TinyURLs<\/strong>, along with their <strong>destination URLs<\/strong>, or<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A <strong>list of the domains<\/strong> used in your destination URLs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ll review this list to confirm whether the links can be whitelisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Important:<\/strong> Please send your links and destination URLs to us for review <strong>before<\/strong> you upgrade. Our authorized team needs to verify eligibility first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Step 2 &#8211; We review for eligibility<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our team will check whether your links and domains can be whitelisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> We are <strong>unable to whitelist widely used or common domains.<\/strong> Whitelisting is intended for your own links and destinations, not for broadly shared or high-traffic public domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Step 3 &#8211; Upgrade to a paid plan<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once your links are cleared for whitelisting, upgrading to one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/app\/pricing\">paid plans<\/a> lets us remove the ad\/preview screen. <strong>There are no extra charges for whitelisting<\/strong> on a paid plan, unless the number of links is unusually large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Quick Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><th>Step<\/th><th>What to Do<\/th><\/tr><tr><td>1<\/td><td>Send us a CSV of your TinyURLs + destination URLs (or a list of destination domains) <strong>before upgrading<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2<\/td><td>Our authorized team reviews them for whitelisting eligibility<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3<\/td><td>Upgrade to a paid plan &#8211; whitelisting is free unless the link count is unusually large<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key things to remember:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Widely used or common domains <strong>cannot<\/strong> be whitelisted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Old-API links <strong>cannot<\/strong> be linked to a registered account, edited, or deleted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Migrate to the <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/app\/dev\">official API<\/a> to prevent this in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Still need help?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/app\/freescout\" style=\"border-top-left-radius:5px;border-top-right-radius:5px;border-bottom-left-radius:5px;border-bottom-right-radius:5px;background-color:#0d7693;padding-top:7px;padding-right:40px;padding-bottom:7px;padding-left:40px;font-size:16px\">Contact Support<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If your TinyURL link now shows an ad or a preview\/interstitial screen before sending visitors to your destination, this usually means the link was created using our old, deprecated API endpoint. This article explains what changed, how to remove the ad screen, and how to avoid the issue going forward. What&#8217;s Happening Recent changes added [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[66,61],"class_list":["post-5280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-help","tag-other-help-content","tag-quick-help"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5280"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5303,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions\/5303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}