01 · Operator
Who operates FlipboardProxy
- Company
- Type
- Social preview bot
- Official docs
- about.flipboard.com
02 · Behavior
What FlipboardProxy does
It fetches, validates and prepares elements of web pages for the Flipboard app. When a user requests a social media feed, it builds a processed feed in real time. Requests come in closely timed groups from Amazon EC2.
03 · Impact
Why FlipboardProxy matters for your site
If you allow it
- Your content can appear in Flipboard
- Fetches are triggered by app usage
- Brings readers from the app
If you block it
- No IP list to verify requests
- robots.txt handling is not documented
04 · Allow
How to allow FlipboardProxy
robots.txt
User-agent: FlipboardProxy
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "FlipboardProxy")
Action: Skip › All Super Bot Fight Mode rules
# Also check Security › Bots: "Block AI bots" can block it regardless of robots.txt.WordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: FlipboardProxy
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "FlipboardProxy") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} FlipboardProxy [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block FlipboardProxy
Start with robots.txt. If FlipboardProxy keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.
robots.txt
User-agent: FlipboardProxy
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "FlipboardProxy")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: FlipboardProxy
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "FlipboardProxy") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} FlipboardProxy [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for FlipboardProxy
The operator does not publish a full user agent string. Requests contain the token “FlipboardProxy”.
07 · Verification
Is it really FlipboardProxy?
FlipboardProxy’s operator publishes no IP ranges or hostnames, so requests cannot be verified. Treat the user agent as a claim, and watch your logs for unusual request rates.
FAQ
Questions about FlipboardProxy
What is FlipboardProxy?
It is Flipboard's proxy service that fetches and prepares parts of web pages so they display in the Flipboard app.
Where do FlipboardProxy requests come from?
Flipboard says its proxy requests currently all originate from the Amazon EC2 cluster. It does not publish specific IP ranges.
Why do FlipboardProxy requests arrive in bursts?
Flipboard says administrators may see a group of fairly closely timed requests when the proxy prepares a page.
Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026