What the link-in-bio page is
The link-in-bio page is a single page Alva Digital Downloads hosts on your own
store domain, at yourstore.com/apps/alvadd/bio. You can also give
it a short path of its own, such as yourstore.com/links. Each store
has exactly one page, and you edit it under Link in bio in the
app.
Every product on the page is backed by one of your checkout links, so a tap on Buy now takes the buyer straight to checkout without leaving your domain. Clicks and orders from the page are counted on that link, the same as anywhere else you share it.
Before you start
- Link in bio is on paid plans, the same as checkout links.
- A product can only go on the page once it has a checkout link. Create the links for the products you want to feature first.
- A short path on your domain needs the app's permission to create URL redirects on your store. Without it, the page still works at its long address.
Create your page
Open Alva Digital Downloads and click Link in bio in the side navigation. The first time, you see Create your link-in-bio page and a count of the products that will be added. Click Create my page.
The starter page takes your store name as its title, your download page colours (adjusted where needed so they stay readable) and logo, and a Shop my downloads heading followed by a product block for up to six of your products. Only products with an active checkout link and files attached are added, so the page never offers something that cannot be delivered.
Add and arrange blocks
The page is a list of blocks. Click Add block, choose a Block type, fill in its fields and click Save. Block changes save straight away; you don't need the page's Save button for them. A page holds up to 50 blocks.
| Block type | What it shows | What you fill in |
|---|---|---|
| Product | A card with the product's image, title, price and a Buy now button. | A Checkout link. Label is optional — leave it empty to use the product's own title. Description is one short line under the title. |
| Link | A button to any other page — your YouTube channel, a free sample, a booking page. | A Label and a Link URL starting with http:// or https:// (a mailto: email link also works). Spaces and quotes aren't allowed in the address. |
| Heading | A section title, such as "New this month". | A Label. |
| Text | A short paragraph. | A Description. |
Drag blocks to reorder them, or use Move up and Move down. Hide from page takes a block off the live page without deleting it — it stays in your editor marked Hidden until you click Show on page. The preview beside the editor shows your changes as you make them.
How product blocks stay up to date
A product block does not store its own price or picture. Each time the page loads, Alva Digital Downloads reads the product's current price, image and stock from your store, so a price change or a new product image appears on the page without you touching it. When the product is out of stock, the card shows Sold out instead of a Buy now button. This live lookup covers up to 20 different products per page; cards past that show the price, image and stock last saved on the checkout link, which can lag behind your store.
The Checkout link list in the block editor marks any link that is paused, scheduled, expired or still a draft, so you can see it before you pick it. Any discount, quantity or expiry you set on that link applies to buyers who come from the page too — see Discounts, expiry and usage limits on checkout links.
Add your header and social links
In the Header card, set the Page title (your name or your store's name), a one- or two-line Bio, and a logo or profile picture. Under Social links, click Add social link to add up to eight profiles — Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X, Pinterest, Threads, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, a website or an email address. They appear under your bio.
The Sharing and search card controls how the page looks when someone shares it: a title and description for search and link previews, a Preview image (1200 × 630 pixels works everywhere, and it must be an https:// address) and a Favicon. Header, theme, colour and sharing changes are kept when you click Save in the save bar that appears once you edit them.
Pick a theme and colours
Under Theme, pick one of twelve themes — Classic, Mono, Midnight, Ink, Sand, Forest, Ocean, Rose, Grape, Sunset, Slate or Mint — to set every colour at once. You can then change any single colour in the Colours card: page background, title, body text, button and button text, plus Button corner rounding. Your own colours always win over the theme's.
Publish and choose your address
Your page is always reachable at yourstore.com/apps/alvadd/bio. That
address never changes, so it's the one to use on a printed QR code. For a bio,
a shorter address reads better: under Short link on your domain,
enter a Short path — lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, 2 to
60 characters — and click Save short path.
If something on your store already uses that path, the app tells you and shows whether it points at a working page or a dead one, often left over from an app you've removed. Alva Digital Downloads never deletes a redirect it didn't create: pick a different path, or remove the old redirect yourself in Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects.
When you're happy with the preview, click Publish page in the Visibility card. The card then shows your page's address, and View page at the top of the screen opens it. Unpublish page takes it offline again at any time.
Put the address in your Instagram or TikTok bio
Copy the address shown in the Visibility card — your short path if you set one — and paste it into the link or website field when you edit your Instagram or TikTok profile. Because the page is on your own domain, the link buyers see in your bio is your store's name, and every tap from the page to checkout stays on your domain.
For a single product you're promoting in a post or story, share that product's checkout link directly instead. See Checkout links in Instagram and TikTok for how the two fit together.
When a product's checkout link stops selling
The page never sends a buyer to a checkout link that would refuse them. What they see depends on what happened to the link, and the block in your editor always shows the reason.
| The checkout link is… | On your live page | In your editor |
|---|---|---|
| Paused | The card stays, with Sold out instead of Buy now. | A badge with the reason, such as "Paused: product not published" or "Paused: sold out". |
| Scheduled to start later | The card stays with no button at all, so it doesn't look sold out. Put the launch date in the block's Description. | A Scheduled badge. |
| Past its end date, or its usage limit is used up | The card shows Sold out, and is removed once the link is marked Expired. | An Expired badge once the link has expired. |
| Expired or set to draft | The card is left off the page. | An Expired or Draft badge. |
| Deleted | The card is left off the page. | A Checkout link deleted badge. Edit the block to pick another link, or delete it. |
A paused link names its cause, and many causes are fixed in Shopify rather than in the app. Once you've fixed it, open the checkout link yourself: a visit that passes the check clears the pause, and the Buy now button returns on your page. A pause for an unpublished or sold-out product is the exception: a product you re-publish or restock in Shopify is usually picked up within half an hour, or straight away if you open the checkout link in the app and choose Check again; a buyer opening the link before then doesn't clear it. Why isn't my checkout link working? walks through every reason.
If you change plan or uninstall
If your store moves to the Free plan, a published page stays live and buyers can keep using it. You can't edit it until you upgrade, but you can still publish or unpublish it. If you plan to uninstall, remove the short path first — see Before you uninstall.
Frequently asked questions
The page only shows a product card while its checkout link is active. If the link was deleted, expired or set to draft, the card is left off the live page, and the block in your editor shows the link's status so you can pick another link or delete the block.
The card shows Sold out instead of a Buy now button when the product is out of stock, when its checkout link is paused, when the link's end date has passed, or when its usage limit is used up. Fix the cause shown on the block in your editor and the button comes back.
Alva Digital Downloads refuses colour pairs that are too hard to read. Body text and button text need a contrast of at least 4.5:1 and the title at least 3:1. The editor names the failing pair and its contrast; make one colour darker or the other lighter, or pick a theme.
A published page stays live and buyers can keep using it. You can no longer edit it until you upgrade, but you can still publish or unpublish it.
Yes, but every post, story or message that uses the old path stops working, and it cannot be brought back. The long address ending in /apps/alvadd/bio never changes, so any QR code that uses it keeps working.