Frequently Asked Questions

WheelSpinner is a free, high-performance digital random picker wheel. It uses cryptographically seeded browser physics to choose fair, unbiased outcomes. People use it across several main areas: classroom participation (picking students without cold-call anxiety), livestream giveaways and raffles on Twitch and YouTube, remote sprint standups (determining speaker order or retros), daily personal decisions (choosing dinner, movie night picks, or workout routines), and family party games like Truth or Dare.

To start completely fresh, click the ✨ 'New' button in the top navigation toolbar. This will reset the wheel back to its clean default state. If you have custom names on your current wheel that you want to keep for later, make sure to click 💾 'Save' first to store it in your browser before starting a new one.

Yes, 100% free with zero paywalls, no trial periods, and no forced user registration. You can create as many wheels as you want, spin unlimited times, and customize themes without ever being asked for a credit card or email address.

Look at the 'Entries' tab on the right side of the screen (or below the wheel on mobile). Simply click into the text box and type or paste your items. You can enter them one per line or separated by commas. As soon as you type, the canvas updates immediately in real-time, recalculating equal geometric angles for every slice.

Yes! There are two easy ways: (1) Copy any column directly from Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel (Ctrl+C / Cmd+C) and paste it straight into the Entries text area. (2) Click the 'CSV' button above the entries box to open your device file picker and upload any .csv or text roster file. Our parser automatically cleans hidden carriage returns and trims trailing whitespace.

WheelSpinner easily handles anywhere from 2 up to 500+ entries. Our Canvas rendering engine dynamically measures slice text widths and adjusts font sizes proportionally using sub-pixel rendering. For rosters over 100 people, we recommend viewing in Fullscreen mode so segment labels remain crisp and readable.

Right above the Entries text area, you will find two quick-action buttons: 🔀 'Shuffle' instantly randomizes the rotational order of your slices around the wheel, and ⬇️ 'Sort' organizes all entries alphabetically from A to Z.

Click the 🎨 'Customize' button in the top toolbar. You can select from curated high-contrast palettes (such as Classic Arcade, Neon Cyber, Pastel Dream, Sunset Glow, and Emerald Mint) or enter your own custom Hex color codes. Our engine automatically checks color contrast and switches segment text between crisp white and pure black to guarantee readability.

Yes. Inside the Customize dialog, use the Spin Duration slider to configure the rotation time from 1 second (instant quick draw) up to 30 or 60 seconds (high-suspense competition mode). The wheel applies an authentic cubic ease-out deceleration curve modeled after physical friction.

WheelSpinner uses the browser's Web Audio API to synthesize mechanical clicks on the fly whenever a divider pin deflects the pointer. Because sound is generated dynamically rather than played from a looping audio file, the tick frequency naturally matches the wheel's deceleration in real time. You can toggle audio or adjust volume directly in the Customize menu.

Yes! When the wheel lands on a winner, an animated celebration modal triggers with colorful 3D confetti particles. You can customize the celebration header text, sound fanfare, and choose whether to eliminate the winning name immediately.

Yes. Unlike generic wheels that rely on predictable Math.random() scripts, WheelSpinner generates every angle using window.crypto.getRandomValues(). This connects directly to your device operating system's hardware entropy pool (thermal variations, CPU jitter, and memory bus timings). Every single segment has an exact, mathematically equal probability down to fraction-of-a-degree precision.

Whenever the winner modal appears, you have two buttons: 'Keep' (retains the winner for subsequent rounds) and 'Remove' (instantly eliminates the winner and redraws the wheel with the remaining entries). This is essential for multi-prize raffles and classroom turns where nobody should win twice.

Completely. All roster entries, custom themes, and wheel configurations stay strictly on your local device inside your browser's private localStorage. We do not upload your student rosters, customer names, or company data to external servers or marketing databases.

Click 💾 'Save' in the toolbar to store your current list and color scheme in your local browser library under a custom title. When you return later, click 📂 'Open' to view your saved wheels and reload any roster with a single click.

Yes! Click 🔗 'Share' in the header toolbar. You can copy a clean direct URL with your options encoded or share straight to social apps. Anyone who opens your link will see your exact custom wheel ready to spin.

Click the </> 'Embed' button in the toolbar. This generates a responsive, lightweight <iframe> snippet that you can paste into WordPress, Webflow, Notion, Canvas LMS, or any HTML webpage.

Yes! WheelSpinner has a dedicated OBS Studio mode. Visit our OBS Wheel page to generate a transparent background overlay that drops directly into OBS, Streamlabs, or vMix without unsightly page borders.

Press F11 on your keyboard or click the ⛶ 'Fullscreen' button in the top right floating sidebar. Fullscreen expands the wheel canvas to take up your entire display, hiding browser address bars and side toolbars for an immersive presentation experience.

Yes. WheelSpinner is built as a Progressive Web App (PWA). On Android (Chrome), tap the menu dots and choose 'Install app' or 'Add to Home Screen'. On iPhone (Safari), tap the Share icon and select 'Add to Home Screen'. On Desktop, look for the install icon in your browser address bar. The PWA works offline and launches instantly.

We love hearing feedback from teachers, streamers, and organizers! Visit our Contact page to send a message directly to our engineering team (Sara and Dave), and we will gladly review your suggestion.