URL Cleaner: Sanitize Links

Richard Banasiak

About this app

Every link you share drags a tail behind it: utm_source, fbclid, igshid, gclid, si, ref. Those query parameters tell the destination site — and whoever handed you the link — where you found it, who sent it, and which campaign you clicked. Sanitize URL lets you cut them off before you hit send.

HOW IT WORKS

Share a link into the app from the Android share sheet, or open the app and paste any text containing a URL. The link is broken into its query parameters and shown as a checklist. Uncheck whatever you don't want to pass along, then copy the clean URL, open it, or share it onward to the app you were headed to anyway.

The app remembers what you unchecked, per site. The next link from that same site arrives with your choices already applied, so cleaning a YouTube, Amazon or news link is a single tap after the first time.

Which parameters are the tracking ones? You decide. This app is simple, remember? It shows you exactly what is in the link and gets out of the way — nothing is removed behind your back, and nothing you actually need gets stripped by a rule someone else wrote.

EXPAND SHORT LINKS FIRST

Got a shortened link that hides where it actually goes? Tap the cloud icon and the app follows the redirect, then hands you the query parameters of the real destination. See where a short link was going to take you — and clean it — before you send it to anyone.

FEATURES

• Remove tracking parameters from any URL — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, fbclid, gclid, igshid, si, ref and anything else a site tacks on
• Works from the Android share sheet, in any app that can share a link
• Or paste a URL — or any text containing one — straight into the app
• Per-site memory: your choices are saved and reapplied automatically
• Short link expander: follow redirects to reveal the real destination
• Upgrades http:// links to https:// automatically
• Copy, open, or share the cleaned link
• Material You design, light and dark themes
• Handles links with repeated parameters correctly, one checkbox each

PRIVATE BY DEFAULT

• No ads
• No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting
• No account, no sign-in
• No data collected, ever
• One permission: internet access, used only when you ask the app to expand a short link
• Everything else happens on your device

OPEN SOURCE

The source code is released into the public domain. Read it, build it, fork it, sell it — no strings:
https://github.com/banasiak/SimpleShare

Available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Requires Android 7.0 or later.

If you have been looking for a URL cleaner, link cleaner, tracker remover, utm stripper, or short link expander that does one job without an account, a subscription, or a privacy policy that needs a lawyer — this is it.

Ratings and reviews

Pretty much perfect, great stuff!! I hate how many apps have normalised ignoring privacy and causing private profiles to be doxxed.

This is incredible. I'm always sharing Instagram links and others with friends and it contains all kinds of tracking nonsense. Well not anymore!

Very handy for sharing links without tracking. I use it every day.