Help center

unlock.best gives you short links that don't go straight to the final website. Visitors complete steps you configure (such as waits, checkpoints, or social tasks), then unlock the destination you chose.

1. Sign up — Create an account.
2. Open your Dashboard and create a locked link.
3. Share the unlock link (looks like unlock.best/l/your-link) anywhere you promote content.

You'll see estimated earnings in the dashboard. Those numbers simulate what you could earn per unlock unless you attach a real monetization partner — see Earning & integrations below.

• They land on your branded unlock page — title, description, colors, and background presets you picked.
• If you added social tasks, they follow each task in order (see below).
• Progress through tasks is tracked on our servers — visitors can't reliably cheat the flow by refreshing or tweaking the page in their browser alone.
• If you connected LootLabs, Linkvertise, Work.ink, or another monetization preset (or similar), they only reach your partner's monetized link after they finish unlock.best — so your tasks and steps always come first.
• When everything is completed, they are sent to your real destination (through your partner's link if you use one).

In the dashboard, use Create a locked link. The form has three tabs:

• Basics — Paste the URL people should unlock, add an optional headline, optionally choose a short custom address, and an optional monetization profile (or none) if you want partner ads after unlock (see Monetization).
• Tasks — Optional social checkpoints (Subscribe, Follow, Join, …). You can add several; each gets its own link and timing rules.
• Appearance — Description shown on the unlock page, accent color, wording on the big unlock button, and background style (plain, gradients, grids, …).

You don't manually tune an "ad round" count — in-app monetization placeholders are off; the product still aligns unlock steps with your tasks and integrations automatically.

Use the pencil icon on a link in your list to edit it later (you can change destination, tasks, and appearance; some basics like which integration profile was used are fixed after creation to avoid breaking live links).

Social tasks require people to take a real action on another site (YouTube, Discord, Instagram, X, TikTok, Telegram, Reddit, Twitch, Facebook, LinkedIn, a generic website, or custom text you define).

For each task you choose:

• Action — e.g. subscribe, follow, join, like, like & comment, comment, visit, or custom wording via the optional label override.
• Link — where they should go to perform the action (opens in a new tab).
• How we verify — we record when visitors open each task URL and require a minimum stay on that outbound tab before the step counts as done (no scraping of their page HTML).
• Minimum wait — how long visitors must stay on the task tab after it opens (timing starts when the tab goes to your URL, not while they only sit on unlock.best).
• Optional thumbnail — optional wide image teaser per row on the unlock page.
• Custom label (optional) — overrides the default button text.

What visitors do: They tap Open task; unlock.best opens the task in another tab and starts timers. They must switch away from this unlock tab — it needs to stay in the background at least 3 seconds (using the task tab) — plus meet the outbound wait in the unlock session. Confirmation runs automatically — there is no separate Verify button. If pop-ups fail, they open the URL themselves and use the longer manual timer.

Make the unlock page feel like your brand: write a short description, pick an accent color and background preset, rename the final button, optionally add a wide thumbnail image and an HTTPS video link (YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, TikTok…) — video replaces the thumbnail when set.

When creating a link, you can optionally pick a monetization integration (or leave None). Under Dashboard → Integrations, add a profile for LootLabs, Linkvertise, Work.ink, publisher shorteners (ShrtFly, ShrinkEarn, Short Jambo, Cuty.io, Rinku, SafelinkU, AdFly), or a custom URL template. If you select one when creating the link, we mint the partner "monetized" URL upfront. Visitors finish your tasks and steps on unlock.best first; with a partner profile they are routed through ads/offers afterward — with None they go to your destination only after unlocking here (you still get the normal in-app unlock flow).

What each option is for, in plain terms:

• LootLabs — Content-locker style links. You can turn on Anti-Bypass so the real destination is wrapped in an extra layer that hides it from anyone trying to read the link at a glance (uses LootLabs' encryptor with your API key).
• Linkvertise — Enter your numeric publisher user ID only; we build link-to.net style wrapper URLs locally (no optional API settings on this screen).
• Work.ink — Popular for gaming and download traffic; uses an API token from their dashboard.
• Publisher shorteners — ShrtFly, ShrinkEarn, Short Jambo, Cuty.io, Rinku, and SafelinkU share the common JSON API pattern (API key + destination). SafelinkU and niche hosts may need an API origin override from your dashboard if the default host differs.
• AdFly — Classic interstitial API (api.php); needs API key and numeric user ID.
• Custom URL template — Paste a pattern from another provider (including bespoke lockers like Lockr) that supports URL placeholders — handy if unlock.best doesn't have a preset yet.

Your integration passwords and tokens are stored encrypted in our database. Use the Test button on a profile after saving to verify it connects before relying on it in production links.

• Charts and stats — Impressions (opens), completions (finished unlocks), and unlock rate over the period you select.
• Country breakdown — Helps you see where traffic comes from when your host passes location hints.
• License keys — Issue un_… product keys with optional HWID binding and Discord checks. Full API notes: License keys for scripts. Manage them under Dashboard → License keys.
• API key — Open Dashboard → API key to copy or regenerate your secret; use it as Authorization: Bearer … in scripts — details under API & automation.

Separately from your account REST API key (lu_…), you can mint license keys (un_…) for loaders and executables — similar in spirit to Luarmor's user-key model (HWID / Discord, notes, blacklist + unban links). We do not offer Luarmor's IP-whitelisted HTTP API, Roblox project scope, or script hosting; this is unlock.best's own multi-tenant keys tied to your account. Create and manage them in Dashboard → License keys.

• Verify endpoint — POST /api/v1/keys/verify with JSON { "key", "hwid"?, "identifier"?, "discord_user_id"? } (identifier is an alias for hwid). Rate-limited; returns valid: true or an error code (expired, banned, hwid_limit, etc.).
• Blacklist & unban — Owners can set banned: true on PATCH /api/v1/keys/:id with optional ban_reason and ban_expires_at. Each blacklist issues an unban token; share GET /api/v1/keys/unban?token=… (e.g. with support) to lift the ban without logging in.
• Creator API — With Authorization: Bearer <your lu_… key>, use GET/POST /api/v1/keys (body may include note), POST /api/v1/keys/batch, PATCH/DELETE /api/v1/keys/:id, and POST /api/v1/keys/:id/reset-hwid. See the README for the full table.

• Progress through steps and tasks is tracked on our servers, not just in the browser — so visitors can't fake progress by reloading or editing pages.
• We apply rate limiting on public unlock endpoints to reduce spam and scripted abuse.
• For analytics we don't keep raw visitor IP addresses stored as-is; they're hashed for privacy.

If someone shares a suspicious link pretending to be unlock.best, use your judgment and avoid sensitive logins until you're sure you trust the creator.

Developers and operators who want to provision links via scripts should use their API key from Dashboard → API key with Authorization: Bearer … on our REST endpoints. Exact paths, payloads, error codes, and self-host setup are documented in the open-source project's README — useful if you're integrating unlock.best into another system or hosting your own instance.

Repository: see the README linked from your fork or deployment for the developer reference — everything in this Help center is aimed at everyday users on unlock.best.