iMessage Link Preview Checker

What iMessage needs

Messages uses og:title and og:image (or og:video); without an image it shows the site icon (apple-touch-icon) next to the title.
Apple advises images at least 900 px wide and files no larger than 10 MB.
Apple advises against text in the preview image: Messages shows it at different sizes on different devices.
The preview is fetched on the sender's device when the link is pasted.

	Minimum	Aspect ratio	Max file size	Formats
iMessage	900 px	Not documented	10 MB	Not documented

Values from the platform's own documentation, checked 2026-11-02 (all platforms: OG image size). Sources: · Apple TN3156: Create rich previews for Messages

Tags iMessage reads

iMessage link preview not showing or not updating?

No big image? Check og:image is absolute, at least 900 px wide and under 10 MB.
Small icon only? That is the no-image layout — add og:image, and an apple-touch-icon for the icon.
Messages documents no refresh; a changed page shows the new preview when the link is pasted again in a new message.

A preview image for every page, on iMessage and everywhere else

Most broken previews have no image at all. Shareglint renders one for every page from its title — one meta tag, no code — at a size that passes every documented limit (the sizes). 100 images a month free.

Start free — 100 images a month OG images without code

Questions

What image size does iMessage use for link previews?

Apple's technote asks for images at least 900 px wide and no larger than 10 MB. 1200×630 works.

Why does iMessage show a small icon instead of an image?

The page has no og:image Messages can use, so it falls back to the site icon. Add og:image (and an apple-touch-icon for the icon itself).

Should I put text in the image?

Apple advises against it: the image is shown at different sizes on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Large, short headlines survive; small text does not.