In short
When an owner protects a touchpoint, your browser is never given the real address of the content. It is handed a short-lived pass instead, and the content is delivered through that pass. For a page, a document or an image the pass lasts a few minutes; for video and audio it lasts long enough that a full playback is not interrupted.
This is why a protected link you saved yesterday may not work today. It has not broken — the pass expired, which is the whole point of it.
The pass also stays with the browser that opened it. Copied to another computer, phone or browser, it shows This view has ended. The touchpoint itself, the Mark or the short link, still works for anyone, anywhere.
On this page
How an ordinary link works, and why that is a problem
A normal web link hands your browser the address of the thing you want. That address is then visible in the address bar, saved in your history, copyable, and shareable. For public content that is exactly right.
For anything private it is a problem, because the address is the permission. Once it exists on someone's screen it can be forwarded, posted, or found later, and it usually keeps working indefinitely.
How protected delivery works instead
The view applies to every kind of content. A web page arrives with everything on it re-addressed, so nothing you can find in the page, its source or your browser’s network activity points back at where it really lives. Video and audio stream through the same view; in the Linxy App they play in the App’s own player rather than a web page, which is why a tap on a marked poster can be playing within a couple of seconds. In the Linxy App every kind of content opens inside the App — it is never handed to your phone’s browser.
Two exceptions are worth knowing so they do not look like faults. A page that refuses to be delivered this way, or one too large to fetch, opens directly at its own address instead — the owner is told this in advance and chose to leave the link live. And a page that is really an application — a sign-in form, an interactive tool — may not behave normally inside a protected view, because it is being shown to you rather than visited by you. Neither is something you can fix from your side; both are for the owner.
The four things you may be asked for
Which of these appears depends entirely on how the owner set the item up. You will only ever see one or two.
| What appears | What it is checking | What leaves your device |
|---|---|---|
| A password box | That you were given the item deliberately | The password, to be checked |
| A location request | That you are physically in the right place | Whether you are inside the area — not a location history |
| A Connection request | That you accept an ongoing channel with the owner | Nothing until you accept, and never your contact details |
| Face ID or fingerprint | That it is you holding this device | Nothing. Your biometrics never leave the phone; the device simply confirms it recognized you |
Why saved links stop working
This is the single most common confusion with protected content, so it is worth being blunt: the expiry is a feature, not a fault.
If a protected view lasted forever, it would be exactly as copyable and forwardable as an ordinary link, and the protection would be decorative. So the pass is issued for a short window and then it is gone.
- To open the content again, go back to the touchpoint and scan or tap it again
- Bookmarking the page you land on will usually not work later
- Sending that address to a friend will usually not work for them at all
- If you need lasting access, ask the owner — they can grant it properly
Only in the browser that opened it
When a browser opens a protected touchpoint, Linxy leaves a small private marker in that browser and ties the viewing pass to it. The pass, and every video, song or picture streamed through it, works only for that browser.
| What you do | What happens |
|---|---|
| Reload the page in the same browser | It keeps working until the pass runs out |
| Paste the address into another computer, phone or browser | This view has ended |
| Open the address in a private or incognito window | This view has ended. A private window counts as a different browser |
| Open the Mark or short link again, anywhere | A new view, for that browser. The owner sees it as a new scan |
A Mark that holds several items shows them as a list in the browser. With protection on, that page also moves from the short link to a temporary viewer address and lasts up to six hours. The player has no download option.
If your browser refuses all cookies, protected touchpoints cannot open in it. Allow cookies for the site, or use the Linxy App. In the Linxy App every protected touchpoint opens in the App itself, and none of this applies.
What this actually protects against
| Protects against | Does not protect against |
|---|---|
| A link being forwarded and working for strangers | Someone screenshotting content you can legitimately see |
| Content being found in browser history or logs | Someone standing next to you reading your screen |
| Old links continuing to work after access should have ended | You choosing to share what you were shown |
| Content being reached without meeting the owner's conditions | Loss of the physical item itself |
| A viewing pass being passed to another device or browser | Someone recording the screen or the sound while it plays |
It is worth being clear about that right-hand column. Protected delivery controls reach, not what a person does once they have legitimately been shown something.