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We built pleaseopen.me — a free fix for App Store links blocked on TikTok and Instagram

eighteen1 launched pleaseopen.me: a free bio-link tool that gets App Store and Play Store links past TikTok and Instagram blocks — as a simple redirect, a multi-button social page, or on your own custom domain.

At eighteen1 we build small products when we hit a real wall. pleaseopen.me started that way: App Store and Google Play links that look fine in Safari, but fail when someone opens them from a TikTok or Instagram bio. This is also discussed a lot on Reddit and creator forums — usually after install campaigns underperform for no obvious reason.

The problem

TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook don't open links in the phone's normal browser. They use an in-app browser. Regular websites mostly work. Direct App Store / Play Store URLs often don't.

  • On TikTok, people may see “Action could not be completed” — with no clear next step.
  • On Instagram (and Facebook), store links are increasingly blocked; visitors never reach the listing.
  • The same failure hits Linktree, Beacons, and your own website if that page was opened from a bio. Swapping bio-link tools doesn't fix it — the block is in the in-app browser.

From the marketer's side it just looks like “low conversion.”

What we shipped

pleaseopen.me is more than a one-shot redirect. At the core it still solves the store-link problem — but it can also be your full bio / social page.

  • Instagram / Facebook — try to escape the in-app browser automatically, then send people to the right store. No tutorial on the happy path.
  • TikTok— show a short open-in-browser tutorial (auto-escape isn't reliable there), then redirect once they're in a real browser.
  • Normal browsers — go straight to the correct App Store or Play Store for the device.

Not only a redirect

You can drop a pleaseopen.me link into Linktree or Beacons in place of a broken store button — that works. You can also skip the extra layer entirely and run pleaseopen.me as your own multi-button social page: store buttons, socials, website, and whatever else you need on one branded page.

  • Multi-button pages — Linktree-style layouts with per-button destinations (including store routing that still respects TikTok / Instagram blocks).
  • Custom domains — point your own domain at your page so visitors never have to land on pleaseopen.me at all.
  • Themes, branding, analytics, and translations so the page feels like yours, not a generic bio tool.

Simple setup either way: create a slug, add your store URLs (and optional buttons), then share the link in your bio — or connect a custom domain and make it the homepage for your app installs.

Why it's on eighteen1.com

pleaseopen.me is a product from eighteen1 — our company site is for projects and legal/context; the product domain owns the how-to guides and the tool itself.

If you want the deep dives (errors, Instagram vs TikTok, FAQ):

Try it

Create a free link at pleaseopen.me. If you use it in production, feedback is welcome — we're iterating from real TikTok / Instagram install traffic.