I made an Apple Shortcut that cleans URLs–removes query parameters (the stuff after the ? in the URL, as well as converting Google AMP URLs to basic ones.
This lets you both clean single or mutliple URLs before sharing, as well as before opening them yourself. Here’s more info. Happy to accept feedback here or on RoutineHub, where it’s published.
RoutineHub Link - this link will always have the latest link to the Shorcut link on iCloud
iCloud Link - may be outdated if I forget to update here
More info:
Clean URLs
About
This shortcut cleans URLs by:
- removing querystring (tracking) parameters (the extra characters at the end of the URL begining with “?”
- converting Google AMP links to regular links
Note: URLs that have been shortened by link shorteners like is.gd or bit.ly are currently not expanded before processing. This is because such links may themselves be tracked.
Usage
Share individual URLs or text containing one or multiple URLs to the Shortcut.
Alternatively, run the Shortcut with text containing URLs in your clipboard.
If this Shortcut receives multiple URLs, it offers a menu to select which URLs to clean and then output.
Once the URLs are cleaned, choose your action:
- Copy: Copy the cleaned URL(s) to the clipboard
- Open: open the cleaned URL(s) in the browser
- View/Share: View a text list of the cleaned URL(s). Individual or all URLs can be copied from here. To share the output, click/tap the share button.
Updating This Shortcut
You can check for updates to this Shortcut manually or automatically.
Checking RoutineHub
You can check this Shortcut’s RoutineHub page to see if updates are available.
Using Swing Updater
To enable the Swing Updater shortcut to check for updates, change the Number field labeled with a comment to the number 1.
(Due to a bug in Apple Shortcuts, you have to do this manually right now, rather than using the Shortcuts import questions, which would have been more convenient). This also means that each time you update, you need to update the Number field to 1 again to re-enable updating, since the default is 0.
If enabled:
- Be sure you’ve installed Swing Updater, or this Shortcut will throw an error.
- This Shortcut will ask permission to save information about itself (its name, version number, RoutineHub ID) to a file on your iCloud drive, so Swing Updater can check whether updates are available
- No info from what you share to this Shortcut is shared with anyone or anything else