How to send an HTML page on WhatsApp so it opens in one tap

Q: Can I send an HTML file on WhatsApp?

Use the Document option: tap the attach icon, then Document, and pick the file. WhatsApp's help gives 2 GB as the largest document and doesn't list which file types it takes. The other person gets the file, not the page, so if they only need to look at it, send a link.

Q: Why does my HTML file open without its CSS on a phone?

If the page keeps its CSS in a separate file, such as style.css, that file stayed on your computer: WhatsApp sends only the file you pick. Ask the AI that made the page for one HTML file with the CSS inline, then share it as a link.

Updated 2026-10-13

Short answer

To share an HTML page on WhatsApp so it opens as a web page, send a link instead of the file. WhatsApp sends files through its Document option, up to 2 GB, but the other person gets a file their phone has to open, and anything the page loads from separate files, such as a style.css or a photo.png, stays on your computer. A link opens in their phone's browser when they tap it. The upload box on this page turns the file into a private link in seconds, with no signup. The link works for 7 days, search engines are told not to index it, and the page's scripts and forms stay off. Keep the page on Convika's Free plan to publish it for good, with its scripts running.

Get a link to send on WhatsApp

Free plan: no credit card, 10 pages, 50 form entries a month.

You made a page with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini: a college project, a portfolio, a timetable for your tuition class, or a price list for your shop. Now someone has to see it, and they'll open it from WhatsApp on their phone.

Can you send an HTML file on WhatsApp?

WhatsApp sends files through its Document option. Its help pages give the steps and a size limit, and they don't list which file types it takes:

Android. Open the chat, tap the attach icon (a paper clip), then Document, and pick the file. WhatsApp's Android help says you can “select a document of up to 2 GB from your phone.”
iPhone. Tap the attach icon (a plus sign), then Document, and pick the file from iCloud Drive or another source, such as your Google Account or Dropbox (iPhone help).
WhatsApp Web. Click the plus sign, then Document, or drag the file into the text field (WhatsApp Web help).

The help for Android, iPhone, and WhatsApp Web says the same about size: “For documents, the maximum file size allowed is 2 GB.”

What arrives is a document, not a page. WhatsApp's help doesn't say how a phone opens an .html document. For PDFs, its help on files that won't open says: “Without a PDF reader, you won't be able to open a downloaded PDF file.”

Why the file doesn't open as a page on their phone

An HTML file is a set of instructions for a browser, not a picture of the page. Sent on its own, it can lose part of what the page needs:

Files the page loads by name stay on your computer. Pages often keep their styles in a style.css file, their pictures in files like photo.png, and their code in a .js file, next to the .html file. WhatsApp sends only the file you pick. On October 13, 2026, we opened a test page in Chromium twice. From its own folder, its separate CSS, image, and script all loaded. As a lone copy, the way a single file arrives from a chat, none of the 3 loaded: the text lost its styles, the image showed as broken, and the script didn't run. Only the CSS written inside the .html file still applied.
A phone's file preview isn't a browser. On an iPhone, tapping a saved .html file in the Files app opens a preview. In a test on iOS 26.3 in Apple's iPhone Simulator, that preview ran none of the page's JavaScript and loaded nothing from the web: no images from https:// links, no Google Fonts, and no Tailwind from a CDN, so a Tailwind page showed up unstyled.

A link avoids the second: the page lives at a web address, the other phone opens it in a browser, and the browser loads what the page needs from the web. Step 1 below fixes the first, by putting the page in one file.

When to send the file itself

Send the file when the other person needs the code, not the page: a teacher who marks your HTML, or a developer who will change it. They'll open it on a computer, where a browser shows it. Everyone who only has to look at the page needs a link.

Send an HTML page on WhatsApp as a link in 4 steps

Convika's upload box is one way to get a link. How to share an HTML file as a link compares it with Netlify Drop, Tiiny Host, GitHub Pages, and other hosts, and covers email, Slack, and Teams.

1. Put the page in one file

Convika takes one .html or .htm file, up to 2 MB, or the same code pasted in. If the page keeps its CSS in a separate file or its images on your computer, ask the AI that made it: “Give me the whole page as one HTML file, with the CSS inline and full https:// links for images.” Images need full https:// links, such as ones from your own site or an image host.

2. Drop the file or paste the code

Drop the file in the box above, or switch to Paste code and paste it. On a phone, copy the code from your chat with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, from the first line to the closing </html>, and paste it there. Click Get my preview link. You don't need an account or an email address, and each network can make 10 previews a day. If the page still points to files on your computer, the box lists them so you can fix those links first.

3. Open the link on your own phone

When you see “Your preview is ready,” click Copy link and open the link on your phone before you send it. A bar at the top says someone uploaded the page to Convika's free tool and that its scripts and forms are off, and a small “Powered by Convika” bar sits at the bottom. Check that the layout holds and the images load. Buttons, menus, and quizzes that rely on scripts won't respond in this preview; they run once you keep the page, as the next section explains.

4. Paste the link into the WhatsApp chat

WhatsApp's help gives the steps: copy the link, open the chat, paste the link, and tap send. The other person taps the link, and the page opens in their phone's browser, with no app to install and no Convika account. Anyone with the link can view it for 7 days, and search engines are told not to index it. After that, the page is deleted unless you keep it.

The preview is enough for a quick look within a week. For a project your teacher may open next month, a class page you'll send to every new student, or a shop page that takes orders, keep the page:

Keep it on the Free plan. Click Keep this page — free, no card under the preview link. You sign up, and the page moves into your account as you uploaded it, with its scripts running. Click Publish, and it goes live at an address like yourpage.convika.com, where it stays until you click Unpublish. The preview link stops working, so send the new address. The Free plan needs no credit card. It covers 10 pages, 50 form entries a month, and 1 custom subdomain, such as www.yourname.com, and shows the small “Powered by Convika” bar.
Take enquiries and count visits. Click Add a form to my page to keep the enquiries or signups people send. Once the page is published, the dashboard counts its visits by day, with each visitor's country and device, for the last 90 days. It doesn't show names or phone numbers. How to see who visits your page explains the numbers.
Show it only to the people you choose. Anyone with a link can open it, and WhatsApp lets people forward links to other chats. To keep a page to the people you choose, add a password under Page password in the page's Site settings. Visitors see a password screen first, and Convika sends the page only after they enter the right password. Passwords are part of Pro, at $12 a month, and Pro is free for 7 days from your first publish, no card needed. If it's your first published page, add the password before you click Publish, and the password screen is up from the first visit. Send the password in a separate message, or say it on a call. How to password protect an HTML page shows what visitors see.

Open an HTML file someone sent you on WhatsApp

If you're the one who got the file, ask the sender for a link. If the file is saved on your phone, you can also open the free HTML viewer in Chrome or Safari, tap Choose an .html file, and pick it. The viewer runs in the browser, so the page gets its scripts and its images from the web, and the file isn't uploaded. Styles and pictures the sender kept in separate files still won't show; only a link from the sender brings those along.

Frequently asked questions

Can I send an HTML file on WhatsApp?

Use the Document option: tap the attach icon, then Document, and pick the file. WhatsApp's help gives 2 GB as the largest document and doesn't list which file types it takes. The other person gets the file, not the page, so if they only need to look at it, send a link.

Upload the file to a host, then paste the link into the chat. With the upload box on this page, drop the .html file or paste the code and click Get my preview link. You get a private link in seconds, with no signup, that works for 7 days. When the other person taps it, the page opens in their phone's browser.

How do I open an HTML file I got on WhatsApp?

Ask the sender for a link, which opens in your phone's browser. If the file is saved on your phone, open the free HTML viewer in Chrome or Safari and tap Choose an .html file. It shows the page with its scripts, without uploading the file. The iPhone's Files app shows a preview instead, which ran no scripts and loaded no images from the web in a test on iOS 26.3 in Apple's simulator.

Why does my HTML file open without its CSS on a phone?

If the page keeps its CSS in a separate file, such as style.css, that file stayed on your computer: WhatsApp sends only the file you pick. Ask the AI that made the page for one HTML file with the CSS inline, then share it as a link.

Put it in one file, then send a link. Ask the AI that made it: “Give me the whole page as one HTML file, with the CSS inline and full https:// links for images.” Upload that file with the box on this page and paste the link into the chat. Convika hosts one page per file, so a project with several pages has to be combined into one first, or go to a host that takes a folder, such as Netlify Drop. If someone needs the code itself, send the files as documents as well.

How do I send a link on WhatsApp?

Copy the link, open the chat, paste the link, and tap send, as WhatsApp's help describes. A message with just one link shows a preview of it. To see the full address of a link someone sent you, tap the short link before you tap Open Link.