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Question

Prototype Only Link without access to working file

  • July 6, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 16 views
Louisaa

Hello,

For my master thesis, I am conducting a survey in which participants interact with a prototype on their phones.

I created a prototype link in Figma Make that opens directly in fullscreen mode. When participants open the link on a phone, they only see the prototype, which is exactly what I want. Or at least it looks like that it is just opening this.

However, when the same link is opened on a laptop, users can switch to the Make Editor, which gives them access to the entire conversation behind the prototype.

Is there a way to prevent this and ensure that the shared link only allows users to view and interact with the prototype, without being able to access the Make Editor or the underlying conversation?

Thank you in advance for your help!

1 reply

Gayani_S
Figmate
  • Gayani_S
  • Community Support
  • July 6, 2026

Hey ​@Louisaa, thanks for reaching out! 

Right now, it sounds like you're sharing the file (or a preview link to it). Either way, that follows the same permissions as any other Figma file. So anyone with access can open the file itself and see the full chat history in the AI chat behind the prototype. That's what's happening on laptop.

What you'll want instead is to publish your functional prototype. A published app gets its own separate URL and only shows the app itself, viewers never see the chat history or the underlying file, on any device.

Here's how to switch to that:

  1. Open your Figma Make file.
  2. In the upper-right corner, click Publish.
  3. Set a title and publish.
  4. Share the new published URL (something like yourapp.figma.site) with your survey participants instead of the file link.

A couple of extras that might help for your thesis survey specifically:

  • Since you're on the Professional plan, you can add password protection to the published version. Participants would need to enter the password to view it, which is a nice extra layer if you only want your survey participants accessing it.
  • If you unpublish later, Figma will reuse the same URL when you republish, so it's safe to set this up now even before your survey goes live.

You can find more detail in Publish, update, or unpublish a Figma Make file.

Hope this helps! 

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