Frequently Asked Questions

Completely. Every tool on the site is free to use with no account, no trial period and no paid tier holding features back. We cover hosting costs with advertising, which is why you will see clearly labelled ad units beside the tools. There is nothing to buy and nothing to cancel.

No. SpinWave runs entirely in your browser. There is no sign-up, no app to install and no browser extension. That also means it works on locked-down school computers where you cannot install software, and on a phone without using storage space.

Yes. Every spin calls crypto.getRandomValues(), your browser’s cryptographically secure random number generator, and uses rejection sampling so that no segment is even slightly favoured. The winner is decided the moment you press spin; the animation simply shows you the result landing. Past spins have no effect on future ones, so a name can win twice in a row — that is genuine randomness, not a bug.

Paste your class list into the items box — one name per line, or comma separated — and project the page. Spin to pick who recites, presents or answers next. Use "Remove winner" after each pick so everyone gets a turn before anyone repeats. Many teachers save the wheel once and bookmark the link so the same list is ready every morning without retyping.

Yes. Press "Save & get link" and you get a short URL that rebuilds the wheel with the same names and colours. Bookmark it, paste it into your lesson plan, or send it to a colleague. Only the title, labels and colours are stored — nothing about who those people are.

Between 2 and 100. Text shrinks automatically as segments get thinner, and very long names are shortened on the wheel face while the full name still appears in the winner pop-up. For very large groups, teachers often use numbers on the wheel and keep the numbered list on paper.

Copy your entrant list — commenters, subscribers, ticket numbers — and paste it into the items box. Spin on camera or while screen-sharing so entrants watch the draw happen. Screenshot the winner pop-up for your announcement post. If you are drawing multiple prizes, use "Remove winner" between spins so nobody wins twice.

Yes, and fullscreen mode exists for exactly that. Press Fullscreen to fill the screen with just the wheel, then add it as a window or browser source in OBS or Streamlabs. Sound effects can be muted from the toolbar if they clash with your stream audio or trigger your alerts.

It does. The canvas resizes to fit the screen, the items list moves below the wheel on narrow displays, and you can spin by tapping the wheel itself as well as the Spin button. It works in any modern mobile browser without an app.

Every segment has its own colour picker, and the customise panel changes the wheel background, the label text colour and the pointer colour. Teachers commonly match school colours before projecting, and streamers match their channel palette before going live.

Because each spin is independent. With ten names, the chance of the same name winning twice in a row is one in a hundred — uncommon, but it will happen regularly across a school year. If you need everyone to get exactly one turn, use "Remove winner" after each spin so the name leaves the wheel.

Sounds are on by default: a ticking sound while the wheel turns and a short fanfare for the winner. Both are generated by the Web Audio API rather than downloaded files, so they add nothing to page load. Toggle them off from the sound button or the customise panel.

No, unless you deliberately save a wheel. Everything you type stays in your browser’s memory and disappears when you close the tab. Saving stores only the wheel title, labels and colours so the share link works later. We never ask who the people on your list are.

For informal draws — a class prize, a giveaway, an office raffle — yes, and that is a common use. For regulated gambling, licensed lotteries or anything with legal requirements around randomness, use a certified provider instead. Our Terms of Service explain this limitation in full.

First try a hard refresh, since an older cached version is the usual cause. Check that JavaScript is enabled, because the wheel is drawn in the browser and cannot work without it. Ad blockers do not break the tools. If it still fails, send us the browser and device you are using through the contact form and we will fix it.