How to send an HTML file on Instagram or Messenger so it opens

You made a game, a quiz, or a birthday card with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and the people you want to play it are on Instagram or Messenger. You try to attach the .html file and there's nowhere to put it. Or it goes through, and your friend gets a file their phone can't open as a page. The fix is the same in both apps: send a link, not the file.

What happens when you send an .html file in a DM

• Instagram. Instagram's help page on the types of messages you can send in chats says: "These messages can include text and photos or videos you take or upload from your library." It also lists posts you see in feed, disappearing photos and videos, and Instagram profiles. It names no documents or other files. We didn't test the app with 2 accounts.
• Messenger. Messenger's Android help lists "multi-format files" under More options next to the text box. Its page on file types says: "Most types of file formats are supported by Messenger, except certain ones that can install and run software." It doesn't say whether an .html file goes through, and we didn't test it with 2 accounts.
• On the other phone. If a file does arrive, it's still a file, and the phone picks the app that opens it. In our Android 16 emulator test, the emulator's HTML Viewer ran none of a page's JavaScript, while Chrome ran all of it (how to open an HTML file on Android). In our iOS 26.3 simulator test, the iPhone Files preview ran no scripts (how to open an HTML file on iPhone). A game or quiz needs its scripts.

A link avoids all 3. It's text, so you can paste it into any chat, and when your friend taps it, the page opens in a browser with its buttons working.

Send a link instead in 5 steps

Convika's upload box is one way to turn the file into a link. How to share an HTML file as a link compares it with Netlify Drop, GitHub Pages, and other hosts.

1. Upload the file or paste the code

Drag your .html file into the box at the top of this page, or choose Paste code and paste the whole page, from the first line to </html>. On a phone, copy the code from your chat with the AI. Click Get my preview link. You need no account. If an image or sound tag points to a file on your computer, such as player.png, the box lists it, so you can ask the AI to embed it or use an https:// link.

2. Check it, then keep the page

Open the preview on your own phone to check the layout. It's a static view with scripts and forms off, and the link works for 3 minutes, so don't send it to anyone. Click Keep this page — free, no card and sign up. The page moves into your account, and its scripts run in the dashboard preview, so you can play it there first.

3. Publish

Click Publish. The first time, Convika asks 2 things. Under Who can open this page?, choose Public, the free choice, and click Next. Then pick a plan: to stay free, pick Free ($0, with a small Convika bar at the bottom of the page), then Publish free. Pro monthly ($12 a month, after a free 7-day trial with a card) and the Pro 1-year pass ($29, no renewal) remove the bar, and a paid pick goes live once it's paid.

4. Copy the address

On the page's screen, copy the Live URL, an address such as yourpage.convika.page.

5. Paste it in the DM

Open the chat in Instagram or Messenger, paste the address, and send it. Your friend taps it, and the page opens in their phone's browser. They don't need a Convika account or any app. To send it to a group, paste it in the group chat the same way.

Does the link open for everyone?

Yes, on any phone or computer with a browser. The page is an ordinary website, so it doesn't matter whether your friend uses Android or an iPhone. We didn't test whether Instagram and Messenger open links in their own built-in browser or hand them to Chrome or Safari.

• Who can open it. On Free, the page is published as Public: anyone with the link can open it, and it may show up in search results and in Convika's gallery. That suits a game you'd like strangers to find. Private link (Pro or pass) keeps it out of both, though anyone your friends forward it to can still open it. A password is a Pro feature.
• Someone who doesn't follow you on Instagram. Instagram's help says a message to someone who doesn't follow you "is sent as a message request and can only contain text", and photos, videos, and voice notes wait until they accept.
• Who opened it. The dashboard counts how many people opened the page and from where. It never shows who.

The Free plan gives you 1 published page and 10,000 page views a month across your pages. Once your pages reach that in a month, editing and analytics pause, and 7 days later the pages stop until the month ends or you upgrade. Publishing a second page, such as your next game, asks you to choose: Pro ($12 a month, after a free 7-day trial with a card), or Swap it in for the live page (free), which turns the live page back into a draft whose link stops opening. Nothing is deleted. Both rules apply to workspaces created on or after October 23, 2026, Japan time. In older workspaces, the page-view stop starts on November 1, 2026, and the number of live pages stays as it was when they signed up.

A game or quiz that friends can send their score back from

A link also lets the game travel back. On a published Convika page, a game can call window.convika?.shareResult({ text, score }) at the end of a round to share the player's result as a link. On a phone, that opens the phone's own share sheet, so the player can pick Instagram, Messenger, or any other app. On a computer, it shows Post on X, Send on LINE, and Copy link.

The link is your page's address with the result added, and its preview card shows the result line, such as "I scored 120". The line uses only words that appear on your page, plus numbers, up to 40 characters. Tell the AI that made the game: "At the end of each round, call window.convika?.shareResult({ text: 'I scored {score}', score }) if it exists, and keep your own share button for when it doesn't." We didn't test how Instagram and Messenger show the preview card.

If the game came from Claude and saves scores with Claude's storage, see what keeps working outside Claude. How to publish a game you made with ChatGPT compares other hosts for games.

Other apps, same answer

For LINE, our Japanese guide, HTML ファイルを LINE で送る方法, gives the same answer.

Send the file itself only when the other person needs the code, such as a teacher marking your HTML or a developer who'll change it.

When the link doesn't open or the page looks wrong

• You sent the preview link. It stops working after 3 minutes. Send the published address instead.
• Images or sounds are missing. Files that sat next to the .html file on your computer, such as player.png, didn't come along. Ask the AI to embed them or to use full https:// links. The page has to fit in 2 MB, embedded images included.
• Part of the game needs another website. A script on a Convika page can fetch only from the page's own address, so a game that loads its questions or scores from another site leaves that part empty.
• Your friend's network blocks it. A school or office network can block sites it doesn't know. We can't check theirs: try the link on mobile data.

Frequently asked questions

How do I send an HTML file on Instagram?

Send a link to the page instead. Instagram's help lists text, photos, videos, posts, and profiles as what a chat can carry, and no files. Put the page online, for example by uploading it to Convika and publishing it, then paste the address into the chat. Your friend taps it, and the page opens in their phone's browser.

Can you send an HTML file in Messenger?

Messenger's help lists files among what you can send, and says it supports most file types except some that can install and run software. It doesn't say whether .html is one of them, and we didn't test it. If the file does arrive, the other phone picks the app that opens it, which may not run its scripts. A link opens as a page.

Why does my HTML file open as text when someone sends it?

The app that opened it read it as plain text instead of running it as a web page. Only a browser turns HTML into a page. In our Android 16 emulator test, opening the file with Chrome worked; the emulator's HTML Viewer showed the page without running its scripts. The simplest fix is for the sender to send a link instead of the file.

How do I share a game I made with ChatGPT in a DM?

Ask ChatGPT for the whole game as one HTML file, then upload it to a host and paste the link into the DM. With Convika, the upload box gives you a preview link without an account. Keep the page on the Free plan and publish it, and the published address opens in your friends' phone browsers with the game running.

Sources

• Types of messages you can send in chats on Instagram (Instagram Help Center) (checked October 22, 2026)
• Send a message to someone on Instagram (Instagram Help Center) (checked October 22, 2026)
• Send photos, stickers and files on Messenger (Messenger Help Center) (checked October 22, 2026)
• Unacceptable file types on Messenger (Messenger Help Center) (checked October 22, 2026)
• How to send media, contacts, or location, Android (WhatsApp Help Center) (checked October 22, 2026)