Do Flyn short links show ads or an interstitial page?
Updated November 10, 2026
No. Flyn does not show ads on short links, on any plan, Free included, and it never puts an ad page in front of your destination. A plain Flyn link has no interstitial at all: no preview screen, no countdown and no Continue button, just a redirect straight to your page. Links made on Flyn's homepage without an account work the same way. No paid plan removes ads, because no plan has any.
What a plain link does
A working link with none of the settings in the next section answers a click with a 302 redirect whose location header is your destination. The browser follows it without drawing a page, so nothing appears between the tap and your site. A link on flyn.to first answers with a 301 to the same link on www.flyn.to, then the 302, and still shows no page.
Routing by country or device, A/B testing and rotation, click limits with a fallback address, forwarded query parameters and conversion tracking change where that redirect goes or what it carries. None of them adds a page, apart from the Mac check in the table below.
On the Free plan you can choose the words after the slash (a custom slug) and change a link's destination as often as you like, and the link stays a plain redirect. The settings in the next section that add a page for web links all need a paid plan, so in an ordinary browser a web link you create in a Free account is a plain redirect.
Pages a link's owner can switch on
Some features cannot work through a bare redirect, because a redirect cannot ask for a password or run a script. Each of these comes from a setting on the individual link, or from its destination, so a page appears only on links where the owner chose it.
| Setting on the link | What a visitor sees | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Password | A Flyn password form, then the destination | Pro, Lifetime and Team, or the free password-protected link generator |
| Deep link | In a mobile browser, for a destination whose app Flyn knows how to open, a short page that tries to open the app and falls back to the website. Inside Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and similar apps on iPhone and iPad, an Open button and, if the app does not open, the menu path to the browser instead | Pro, Lifetime and Team |
| Cloaking | Your destination inside a full-window frame, so the short link stays in the address bar. When Flyn cannot confirm the destination allows framing, visitors get a normal redirect instead, or the pixel page if the link has pixels | Pro, Lifetime and Team |
| Retargeting pixels | A brief "Taking you there" page that fires the pixels, then moves on after about 0.8 seconds | Pro, Lifetime and Team |
| A Mac destination in device routing | A browser that could be either a Mac or an iPad, such as Safari on a Mac, first gets a blank page that tells the two apart, then continues | Pro, Lifetime and Team |
| An email, phone or SMS destination | An instant hand-off page, because browsers do not reliably follow a redirect to mailto, tel or sms addresses | Every plan |
Flyn adds no ads to any of these pages. Apart from its own forwarding script, a pixel page runs only the pixels and tags the link's owner attached, which let the owner measure the visit or reach that visitor with their own ads elsewhere later. A cloaked link's frame shows the destination page itself, with nothing from Flyn around it.
If an account moves back to Free
Links keep the password, cloaking, deep link and routing settings they already had, so those pages keep appearing. Retargeting pixels are the exception: a daily check pauses them once the account that pays for them is no longer on a paid plan, and the pixel page stops appearing. Links on a custom domain show the paused notice instead, once the domain's 14-day grace period ends (see the notices below).
Pages for link-preview bots and crawlers
Link-preview bots and search crawlers are answered differently so that previews work. On a web link with a custom preview they get a page carrying that preview, which forwards at once, and on a password-protected link they get a short notice that the link is protected instead of the form. Both apply only while the link can be opened and has not reached a click limit. They never get the pixel, deep link or device check pages. Flyn recognises them by their user agent, so a real visitor whose browser happens to identify itself like a crawler is answered the same way. How does Flyn count clicks and filter bots? explains that check.
Flyn's own name on Flyn's pages
Flyn adds no advertising for anyone else to any page it serves for a short link. Some pages Flyn hosts do carry Flyn's own name:
- The password form is a Flyn page on
www.flyn.to, even for a link on your own domain, with Flyn's logo and a Get Started button that opens Flyn's sign-in page. The expired, archived, not-found and circular redirect notices below are Flyn pages onwww.flyn.totoo, and like them, the form can also show Flyn's cookie notice and a Google prompt to sign in to Flyn. - When the person who made a deep link has no paid plan of their own and the link is not in a team workspace whose owner pays (for example, after an account moves back to Free), the open-in-app page shown inside social apps on iPhone and iPad carries a small Powered by Flyn link.
- In link previews, a password-protected link and a web link with a custom preview can name Flyn as the site. When one of them, or a cloaked link, has no preview image of its own, the card can show a Flyn image. Adding your own image replaces it, see How do I change the title and image my link shows when shared?
- The instant hand-off page for email, phone and SMS links has Flyn in its title, so a preview of such a link can read Redirecting, Flyn.
- The notices below link to Flyn's own pages, such as sign-up, reporting a link or reactivating a domain, and the expired and not-found notices also invite the visitor to create a free Flyn account.
Notices when a link cannot be opened
When a link cannot be opened, Flyn shows its own notice in place of the destination. A notice replaces the redirect; it never comes in front of a link that works.
- This link has expired: its expiry time passed, or it reached its click limit and has no fallback address. Links made on Flyn's homepage without an account expire after 24 hours unless you sign up or sign in from the same browser first, and a daily cleanup later deletes expired ones, after which they show Link not found (see Why did my free short link expire?).
- Link archived: its owner archived it, or the account that created it is being deleted.
- This link has been disabled: Flyn turned it off for breaking the Acceptable Use Policy.
- This link is paused: it is on a custom domain whose paying account is no longer on a paid plan, after a 14-day grace period. Nothing is deleted, and the page has a button for the owner to reactivate the domain.
- Circular redirect detected: its destination leads back to it through other short links.
- Link not found: no link exists at that address, or Flyn could not open the one there. My short link says "link not found" covers the usual causes.
Free URL shorteners without ads or interstitial pages compares how ten shorteners handle ads.
If a Flyn link shows a page you did not expect, email [email protected] with the exact short link so we can look up which setting caused it.
Common questions
Do free Flyn links show ads?
No. Links on the Free plan show no ads and no ad page, and neither do links made on Flyn's homepage without an account. A plain Flyn link redirects to its destination with no page in between. No paid plan removes ads, because no plan has any.
Does Flyn show an interstitial or preview page before the redirect?
Not on a plain link. A page comes before the destination only when the link has a setting that needs one: a password, a deep link, cloaking, retargeting pixels, a Mac destination in device routing, or an email, phone or SMS destination. Bots that build link previews, and the rare browser that identifies itself like one, can get a preview page instead when a web link has a custom preview. Flyn adds no ads to any of these pages.
Do I have to pay to remove ads from Flyn links?
No. Flyn has no ads to remove on any plan. Paid plans add features such as custom domains, routing and deep links, and on every Flyn plan, Free included, a plain link redirects with no page in between.
Does Flyn put its own branding on my links?
A plain link shows nothing at all, because the visitor goes straight to your destination. Some pages Flyn hosts carry Flyn's name and link to Flyn, such as the password form and the notices shown when a link cannot be opened; the password form and most of those notices are pages on www.flyn.to, even for a link on your own domain. On a deep link whose creator has no paid plan and which is not in a paying team's workspace, the open-in-app page inside social apps on iPhone and iPad carries a small Powered by Flyn link. In link previews, a password-protected link and a web link with a custom preview can name Flyn as the site, an email, phone or SMS link can read Redirecting, Flyn, and when a password-protected, cloaked or custom-preview link has no preview image of its own, the card can show a Flyn image.
Why did my Flyn link show a page instead of my destination?
Either the link has a setting that needs a page, such as a password, a deep link, cloaking or retargeting pixels, or the link cannot be opened right now, for example because it expired, was archived or disabled, ran out of clicks or is on a paused custom domain, and Flyn shows a notice instead. If neither fits, email [email protected] with the exact short link.
Related articles
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Try it yourself
Create a branded, trackable short link free and follow along with this guide.