An Instagram link shortener for bio and stories
Give each of your bio link slots and story stickers its own crl.bio link — with per-click analytics, automatic affiliate tagging, and deep links that open the Instagram app.
How it works
Paste your destination
A product page, your shop, a video, your newsletter. If it's a domain you've configured — like Amazon with your Associates tag — the affiliate parameters are injected automatically.
Get one crl.bio link per placement
One for each bio slot, one for the story sticker, one for the DM auto-reply. Links take seconds to create and each carries its own click counter.
Read the analytics
Country, device and referrer per click, per link. Now 'which bio slot works' and 'do stories outperform the bio' are questions with answers.
Five bio slots, zero attribution
Instagram now allows up to five external links in a bio — and tells you nothing about any of them. No click counts, no breakdown, no way to know whether slot one is carrying the other four. If those are affiliate links, you are running a business on a dashboard that doesn’t exist.
The fix is one crl.bio link per slot. Each link gets its own click count with country, device and referrer, so the bio stops being a black box: you see which slot earns its place and which one is dead weight. Stories get the same treatment — a link sticker lives for 24 hours, but a short link inside it keeps its history, so you can compare story campaigns week over week. The full strategy, including disclosure rules for affiliate links, is in Instagram bio affiliate links.
Open profiles and posts in the app
Deep linking works in both directions. When you promote your Instagram from outside — a YouTube description, a business card QR code, an email signature — a plain instagram.com URL sends mobile visitors to the logged-out web page, where following you means dismissing sign-up prompts first.
A crl.bio link pointed at Instagram does better: on mobile it opens the app directly via the instagram:// scheme. Your profile becomes instagram://user?username=yourname; a post or reel becomes an instagram://media?id=... deep link. The visitor lands in the app they are already signed into — one tap from following. No app installed? The redirect falls back to the web page after a short timeout. The mechanics are explained in deep links: open the app instead of the browser.
Affiliate links that survive the in-app browser
Clicks on your bio and story links open in Instagram’s in-app browser, where the visitor has no saved sessions — logged out of Amazon, logged out of everything. For affiliate traffic that is friction at the worst possible moment.
CreatorLink helps twice. First, tagging: if your bio link leads to Amazon, your Associates tag is injected automatically when the link is created, so the slot can never quietly ship untagged (see the Amazon affiliate link shortener). Second, app opening: for supported destinations the redirect attempts the native app — Amazon’s app via com.amazon.mobile.shopping.web://, where the buyer is signed in with a saved cart — and falls back to the web when the in-app browser blocks the launch. The link works everywhere; where the environment allows it, it works better.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know which of my bio link slots gets the clicks?
Instagram lets you add up to five external links to your bio but reports nothing about which one people tap. Give each slot its own crl.bio short link — even if two of them lead to the same destination — and the per-link click counts answer the question directly.
Does the deep link work for both profiles and posts?
Yes. When a crl.bio link points to Instagram content, the redirect uses the instagram:// scheme on both iOS and Android: profile URLs become instagram://user?username=yourname, and posts, reels and IGTV URLs become instagram://media?id=.... If the app is not installed, the click falls back to the web page.
Can I change where my bio link points without editing my bio?
Yes — that is the point of putting a short link in the slot. The crl.bio link stays in your bio; you change its destination from the dashboard, free of charge, and the click history stays attached to the link so you can compare campaigns over time.
What does it cost?
One credit per link created, 10 free credits to start, no card required. Clicks, analytics, QR codes and destination changes are free, and credits never expire. There is no subscription.
Other platform tools
Amazon Affiliate Link Shortener
Shorten Amazon links without losing your Associates tag — auto-tagging, click analytics, and app deep links.
YouTube Link Shortener
Short links that open videos directly in the YouTube app on mobile, with per-link click analytics.
TikTok Link Shortener
Send viewers to TikTok content through the native app instead of the in-app browser, and track every click.
Spotify Link Shortener
Share tracks, playlists and podcasts with links that open the Spotify app directly, with click analytics.
Also free, no signup: UTM Builder and Link Inspector and Affiliate Link Checker.
Five bio slots, five answers
Stop guessing which link earns its place in your bio. Track every slot and story separately with links that take seconds to make.