SSL & HTTPS
HTTPS — the padlock — is on by default everywhere. Your free LinkMe address ships with a valid certificate; a custom domain gets its certificate issued automatically the moment DNS verification completes. There is nothing to buy, nothing to renew, nothing to configure.
What is covered
| Address | HTTPS |
|---|---|
| Free LinkMe address | Automatic, always |
| Verified custom domain | Issued automatically after DNS verifies |
| Subdomain custom domains | Same — each verified address is covered |
Certificates renew themselves silently. You will never see a "your certificate expires in N days" email from LinkMe because there is no such day.
The mixed-content trap
A page served over HTTPS that loads parts over plain HTTP gets the "not fully secure" warning — the padlock with the scar. On LinkMe the site itself is fine; the risk is in YOUR content: an image or link pointing at an http:// URL you pasted years ago.
The fix is mechanical: prefer https:// URLs everywhere you paste destinations — post images, external links, embed sources. Modern sites almost all offer HTTPS; if a destination exists ONLY as http://, think twice before embedding it at all.
Tip
After connecting a custom domain, open the site once in a private window and check the padlock on the home page AND one page with images. Ninety-nine percent of the time it is perfect; the one percent is an old http:// image in a post from 2019.
What HTTPS does and does not do
It DOES: encrypt traffic between visitors and the site, prevent tampering on shared networks, and satisfy the browser padlock — table stakes for trust and for search engines (see Site visibility & SEO).
It DOES NOT: mean the site is "safe" in any deeper sense — that comes from content hygiene (the platform sanitizes user content), account security (see Account & security), and you not pasting sketchy embeds.
Troubleshooting the padlock
| Symptom | Meaning | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No padlock at all, DNS just verified | Certificate still issuing | Wait a few minutes; reload |
| "Not fully secure" | Mixed content in the page | Find the http:// resource; re-link as https |
| Certificate warning naming another site | DNS pointing somewhere else | Re-check the DNS records at your registrar |
| Works everywhere but one network | Local cache/ISP oddity | Confirm on phone data; ignore if fine |
Note
SSL is not a settings page you manage — it is a property of a verified address. If a warning persists on a VERIFIED domain after an honest wait, that is a support ticket: include the domain and the exact warning text (see Contacting support).