August 25, 2026, 11:12 am | Read time: 3 minutes
When sending a link via WhatsApp, a small preview was automatically included. However, this feature can be turned off by enabling a setting. TECHBOOK explains why you should definitely do this.
Instead of a plain, bare snippet of text that redirects to a website, WhatsApp often automatically displays a small link preview in message windows along with sent links. It looks nicer, but more importantly, it allows the recipient to get a small preview of what to expect when they visit the page. The link preview includes an image, the headline of the sent content, and a short introductory text. This feature has hardly bothered anyone so far. However, there is actually a compelling reason for concern.
Why you should disable link previews on WhatsApp
When sending links via WhatsApp with a link preview, you unknowingly reveal something else: your IP address. The portal “WABetaInfo” pointed this out. This leak allows third parties to track the paths the user takes on the internet.
You’ve heard of this before…
In fact, this issue is not entirely new—at least with iMessage. In 2016, Ross McKillop first reported on his blog that sending links with a link preview can lead to an unintended data leak. The developer warned at the time about the exposure of not only the IP address but also the device type and operating system version. The reason is that iMessage executes the link requests directly from the device—not just the currently used one, but also from devices linked to it.
This is different with messaging services such as Slack or Facebook, which use a proxy, a mediator between the smartphone or computer and the respective internet service. According to McKillop, this is a goldmine for criminals who can easily find out which of the user’s devices are linked with iMessage by sending links.
At that time, you couldn’t turn off the link preview. The expert had a somewhat unorthodox solution: manually extracting the metadata that the messenger automatically retrieves beforehand, then sending it along with the link. Yes, it sounds complicated—you can ignore it, there’s a much simpler way.
Disabling link previews on WhatsApp—here’s how!
The editors of “WABetaInfo” found a way in the WhatsApp settings to solve the problem easily and once and for all: by enabling a specific setting. This, in turn, leads to the deactivation of the link preview on WhatsApp.
Here’s how: In the app, go to “Privacy” and access the advanced settings. Here, you’ll find an option to “Disable link preview,” located directly under “Protect IP address in calls.”