Uninstalling Alva Digital Downloads removes the app, but it cannot remove the short links it created on your domain. Those are Shopify URL redirects, and once the app is gone it no longer has permission to delete them — so every short link you made keeps redirecting buyers to a page that no longer exists. Clear them first. It takes one click while the app is still installed.
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Remove all link redirects
Open Checkout links in Alva Digital Downloads and choose Remove all redirects this app created. This deletes every URL redirect the app created on your domain, leaving your storefront exactly as it was before. That includes your link-in-bio page's short path, if you gave it one. Your links and their statistics stay in the app until you uninstall.
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Delete any per-link discount codes
If you let the app create a discount code for a link, delete it in Shopify under Discounts. A code left behind stays redeemable by anyone who saw it, long after the link is gone.
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Check for anything left over
In Shopify go to Online Store → Navigation → URL redirects and search for
/apps/alvadd/. Anything still listed is a leftover: delete it. This is also the manual route if you have already uninstalled.
What a leftover redirect does
A leftover redirect is a permanent redirect on your own domain pointing at an app that is no longer installed. Buyers who follow an old post, an old email or a printed QR code land on your 404 page. Search engines and browsers cache permanent redirects, so the old path can keep sending people there for a long time even after the redirect is deleted.
Printed codes cannot be recalled
A QR code on a card, a poster or a package encodes one address forever. Before uninstalling, decide what should happen to anyone who scans it: either leave a redirect in place pointing somewhere useful on your store, or accept that it will dead-end. Alva Digital Downloads cannot make that decision for you, and after uninstall it cannot act on your domain at all.
If you reinstall later
Reinstalling restores the app, but not your checkout links: uninstalling deletes them, so they need recreating, and each new link gets a new long address. If you left redirects behind, Alva Digital Downloads warns you about them on the Checkout links page so you can remove them.
Frequently asked questions
No. Short links are Shopify URL redirects that live on your own domain, and uninstalling revokes the permission the app needs to delete them. Use Remove all redirects this app created before you uninstall, or delete them by hand afterwards.
In Shopify, go to Online Store, then Navigation, then URL redirects. Search for apps slash alvadd and delete each result.
Download links stop working when the app is uninstalled, because the app serves them. Tell customers before you uninstall, and give anyone with an unused download another way to get their files.
No. A QR code encodes one address permanently and cannot be changed after printing. Once the app is uninstalled, anyone scanning it reaches your 404 page unless you leave a redirect pointing somewhere useful.