Adding TinyURL to iOS

Posted on March 19th, 2011 by Dana

While there are some pros to iOS being an extremely locked down operating system, there are plenty of annoyances. One such annoyance is the inability to add URL-shortening widgets to Safari. The way around this is to create a bookmarklet.

There are several sites showing how to add these, but apparently tinyurl.com has changed their API since these sites published their directions. So, the current way to install a tinyURL shortcut on an iPhone or iPad is:

  1. Add this page to your bookmarks.
  2. Edit the bookmark.
  3. Tap the address portion to edit the bookmark’s address.
  4. Delete the entire url that is currently in the text field and enter the following: JavaScript:window.location.href=’http://tinyurl.com/create.php?url=http’+window.location.href
  5. Change the name of the bookmark to “Shorten with TinyURL”

While TinyURL is not in vogue, it is the one shortener with which I could get a bookmarklet to work. The current instructions for bit.ly out there only send the browser to a blank bit.ly page.

Tags: Lifehacking, Tech // Comments Off on Adding TinyURL to iOS

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