How to send an HTML page in Google Messages so it opens in one tap

You made a page with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini: a quiz, a birthday invite, a price list, a small game. Your friend has an Android phone, and you text in Google Messages. You want them to tap once and see the page.

Google Messages can attach the file. Google's help doesn't say what the other phone does with it. This guide shows what Google does say, and how to send a link that opens as the page instead. Every Google fact here comes from Google's Messages help, read on November 6, 2026.

Can you send an HTML file in Google Messages?

Google's help says yes for files, over RCS chats. Google's RCS chats FAQ says RCS chats “share files and high-resolution photos.” Google's help doesn't name .html files or list the file types Messages takes.

Google's help attaches a file from the + Drawer in the conversation:

1. Open the conversation in Google Messages.
2. At the bottom left of the text field, tap the + Drawer button.
3. Tap Files and pick the .html file.
4. Tap the Send button.

Google's + Drawer help lists “Files: Attach documents and other files from your device,” and adds: “The exact set of features can vary based on your device, region, and app version.” Its page on photos and videos gives a second way, under “Send photos, videos, files, or GIFs”: tap the Image button on the right of the text field, then “Select a file or take a picture.” The same page says: “To send or receive files, grant permission to Google Messages.” Google's Messages help gives no size limit for a file sent over RCS.

A friend without RCS chats

“RCS chats will be turned on only when all the participants in a conversation have RCS,” Google's FAQ says. Otherwise, Google says, messages can be sent by SMS or MMS. Google's RCS overview describes SMS as “Text messages only” and MMS as supporting “photos, audio, and video sharing but subject to file size limits and compression.” Neither names files. The Send button shows which way a message goes: Google's RCS settings page lists “Send by Wi-Fi or mobile data,” “Send by SMS,” and “Send by MMS.”

If a message doesn't send over Wi-Fi or mobile data, Google's help lets you choose how Messages resends it. Google warns: “If you choose the option to send as ‘SMS with a link,’ your media could be accessible by a public link not controlled by Google.”

A friend with an iPhone

Google's FAQ says that over RCS with an iPhone you can “Send high-resolution photos and videos.” That list doesn't name files. Apple's own list for RCS names “texts, high resolution photos and videos, links, and more,” and no documents. A link is on Apple's lists for RCS and for SMS/MMS. How to send an HTML page in Messages on iPhone covers the other direction.

What the other person sees when they tap the file

Google's Messages help doesn't say how Messages opens an .html attachment. Here is what Google does say, and what our own tests showed.

• Google's Messages help. Its page on managing conversations says to touch and hold a message, then “Save an attachment, like a photo or sticker: Tap Save.” Its example names photos and stickers, not other files. It doesn't say where a saved file goes, or which app opens it. Google's newer touch-and-hold page, which covers files, lists no Save.
• Android's own apps. In our Android 16 emulator test on October 21 and 22, 2026, tapping a saved .html file in the Files app offered Chrome and HTML Viewer. HTML Viewer ran no JavaScript and loaded nothing from the web, so the test page's button did nothing. Chrome ran the whole page.
• Files the page loads by name stay behind. If the page keeps its styles in style.css or its pictures in photo.png, only the .html file travels. In our Chromium test on October 13, 2026, a page copied alone lost its separate CSS, image, and script. Only the CSS written inside the .html file still applied.

We didn't test Google Messages itself, on a phone, on the web, or to an iPhone. A quiz, a game, or a page with tabs can look finished in a viewer that runs no scripts and do nothing when tapped.

File or link: what the other person gets

Send an HTML page in Google Messages as a link in 4 steps

The upload box at the top of this page turns your file into a link. To compare it with Netlify Drop, GitHub Pages, and other hosts, read How to share an HTML file as a link.

1. Put the page in one file

Convika accepts one .html or .htm file up to 2 MB, or code pasted into the box. If the page uses a separate CSS file or pictures from your computer, ask the AI that wrote it: “Give me the whole page as one HTML file, with the CSS inline and full https:// links for images.”

2. Drop the file or paste the code

Drag your file into the box at the top of this page or tap Choose a file and pick it on your phone, or select Paste code and paste the code. On a phone, copy everything from the chat with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, from the first line to the closing </html>. Click Get my preview link. You don't need an account or an email address. If the code still points to files on your computer, the box lists them so you can fix those first.

3. Check the preview on your own phone

When you see “Your preview is ready,” click Copy link and open it on your Android phone. Check the layout, the text size, and the images. The preview works for 3 minutes, search engines are told not to index it, and its scripts and forms are off, so buttons and quizzes don't respond yet. Don't send this link to your friend.

4. Keep the page, publish it, and paste the address into Google Messages

Click Keep this page — free, no card and sign up. The page moves into your account as you uploaded it, with its scripts running, and the preview link stops working. Click Publish page, choose Public under Who can open this page?, and click Next. The first time, click Publish free. The page goes live at an address that stays the same until you click Unpublish, with the small Convika bar at the bottom. Copy that address. In Google Messages, open the conversation, tap the message box, paste the link, and tap the Send button, as Google's help on sending messages describes. Your friend taps it and the page opens in their browser, without a Convika account.

Who can open the link

One link works for everyone in a group conversation, and for anyone they forward it to.

When you publish, the free choice is Public: anyone with the link can open the page, and it may show up in search results and in Convika's gallery. To keep it out of both, choose Private link (Pro) under Who can open this page? when you publish. Anyone with a private link can still open it, without a password or account.

• Leave out personal details. Don't put names, phone numbers, or home addresses on a page you share as a link.
• A password needs Pro. Choose Only people with the password when you publish. Visitors see a password screen first, and Convika sends the page only after they enter the right password. A page password comes with Pro ($12 a month). Send the password in a separate message. See How to password protect an HTML page.
• Fix the page without a new link. Upload the new file on the page's own screen in the dashboard (Update from an HTML file) and publish it. The link already in the conversation opens the new version.
• See how many opened it, not who. Once the page is published, the dashboard counts page views and shows each visitor's country and device over the last 90 days. It records no names and no phone numbers. To collect answers or RSVPs, click Add a form to my page.

Free includes 10,000 page views a month across your pages. Pricing says what happens past that.

When to send the file itself

Send the file when the other person needs the code: a developer who will change it, or a teacher who marks your HTML. They'll open it on a computer. Anyone who only needs to look at the page should get a link.

If someone sent you an HTML file in Google Messages

Ask the sender for a link. Don't open an .html file you weren't expecting; check with the sender first. If it's a file you were expecting, save it to your phone. Google's conversations help says to touch and hold the message and tap Save, naming photos and stickers. Its newer touch-and-hold help, which covers files, lists no Save, so if you don't see it, ask the sender for a link. Then open our free HTML viewer in Chrome and tap Choose an .html file. If you're unsure about the file, turn off Run scripts before you choose it. The page runs in your browser, loads its scripts and web images, and your file isn't uploaded. Styles and pictures the sender kept in separate files still won't show.

Google's help doesn't say where Messages saves the file. How to open an HTML file on Android has the steps from the Files app to Chrome. Google Messages comes preloaded on select Samsung devices and is the default messaging app on some, per Google's Samsung page. On a Galaxy, read How to open an HTML file on a Samsung phone or tablet.

Frequently asked questions

Can you send an HTML file in Google Messages?

Google's help says yes for files, over RCS chats, though it doesn't name .html files. RCS chats share files, and the + Drawer has Files, which attaches “documents and other files from your device.” The other person gets the file, not a live page, and Google's help doesn't say how their phone opens it. Send a link if they only need to see the page.

What happens when someone opens an HTML file from Google Messages?

Google's Messages help doesn't say. Saved to an Android phone and tapped in the Files app, an .html file offered Chrome and HTML Viewer in our Android 16 emulator test. HTML Viewer ran no JavaScript and loaded no images from the web. Chrome ran the page. Buttons, quizzes, and games need a browser.

How do I send an HTML page in Google Messages so it opens as a website?

Put the page at a web address and paste the link into the conversation. Drop the file in the box on this page and click Get my preview link to check it. Then keep the page with a free account, publish it, and paste the published address into Google Messages. When your friend taps it, the page opens with its scripts running.

Can I send an HTML file from Google Messages to an iPhone?

Google's help doesn't say you can. Over RCS with an iPhone, Google lists sending “high-resolution photos and videos,” not files. Apple's RCS list names texts, photos and videos, links, and more, but not documents. Without RCS, Google describes SMS as text only and MMS as photos, audio, and video. A link works on all of them, so send the page's address.

How do I open an HTML file someone sent me in Google Messages?

Ask the sender for a link first. If you saved the file, open the free HTML viewer in Chrome and tap Choose an .html file. It runs the page in your browser without uploading it. If you weren't expecting the file, ask the sender before you open it, and turn off Run scripts first.

Is there a file size limit in Google Messages?

Google's Messages help gives no size limit for a file sent over RCS. For MMS, it says photo, audio, and video sharing is “subject to file size limits and compression,” and that “Carriers compress MMS messages.” Convika takes one HTML file up to 2 MB. Pictures written into the code make a file large fast, so use images at https:// addresses.

Does Google Messages show a preview of the link?

It can. Google's help on automatic previews says preview cards appear “for links, places, and other types of content,” and that you can turn automatic previews on or off in Settings. We didn't test what the card shows for a Convika address. The link opens the page either way.

Sources

• RCS chats by Google FAQ (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Use the + Drawer (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Send photos, videos, or voice messages in Google Messages (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Learn about Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Turn on RCS chats in Google Messages (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Archive, delete & read conversations in Google Messages (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Touch and hold to access quick actions in Google Messages (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Send & read text & voice messages in Google Messages (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Your chats stay private with automatic previews (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• Google Messages on Samsung devices (Google Messages Help) (checked November 6, 2026)
• What is the difference between iMessage, RCS, and SMS/MMS? (Apple Support) (checked November 6, 2026)