---
title: Sending payment links | API Docs
description: Deliver the checkout URL as a rich card, and how Apple Pay App Clips vs web checkout work.
---

Every payment request returns a `checkout_url`. How you deliver it decides how well it converts.

## Send it as a link part

Deliver the `checkout_url` over iMessage as a **`link` message part** — not as plain text. A `link` part renders a rich card showing your display name, the amount, and your brand image, which converts far better than a bare URL.

Post it to an existing chat with `POST /v3/chats/{chatId}/messages`:

```
{
  "message": {
    "parts": [
      { "type": "link", "value": "https://zero.linqapp.com/pay/acme?session=tok_..." }
    ]
  }
}
```

A `link` part must be the **only** part in the message — it can’t be combined with text or media. See [Rich Link Previews](/guides/messaging/rich-link-previews/index.md) for the full behavior.

:::note When you **start** a new chat with `POST /v3/chats`, the first message can’t contain a link. Send a short intro message to open the chat, then send the payment link as a follow-up with the returned chat id. :::

## Apple Pay App Clip vs web checkout

The `checkout_url` works everywhere, and picks the best experience for the recipient automatically:

- **Supported iPhone** → the link opens an **Apple Pay App Clip**: a native, no-install checkout sheet the recipient can pay in a couple of taps.
- **Everywhere else** (Android, desktop, iPhones where the App Clip isn’t available yet) → the same URL opens the **web checkout**.

You don’t choose or configure this — send the one `checkout_url` and the recipient gets the right one.

### App Clip experiences and timing

Linq registers the Apple App Clip experience for your payment links automatically, and **refreshes it whenever you update your payments branding** (display name or brand image). Two timing details worth knowing:

- A **newly registered** experience can take **up to \~24 hours** to activate on Apple’s side. During that window your links open the **web checkout** — nothing is broken, and payments still go through.
- After you change your branding, Apple similarly takes time to propagate the refreshed card. The link keeps working throughout.

Because the web checkout is always available as the fallback, you never have to wait on Apple to start collecting — the App Clip simply upgrades the experience as it becomes available.

## Expiry and cancellation

- A request is payable until its `expires_at`. After that it moves to `expired` and the link no longer accepts payment — create a new request if you need to.
- To retract a request before it’s paid, call `POST /v3/payment_requests/{paymentRequestId}/cancel`. Cancelling a request that’s already `succeeded` or otherwise terminal returns `409`.

## Related

- [Agent Pay overview](/guides/payments/index.md)
- [Connected accounts](/guides/payments/connected-accounts/index.md) — one-time Stripe setup.
- [Payment webhooks](/guides/payments/webhooks/index.md)