Spinner Privacy Guide: Keeping Your Lists Safe

Why privacy matters for a simple tool

A wheel spinner looks harmless, and it usually is. But the lists people put on wheels are often personal: names of students in a class, employees in a team, customers who entered a giveaway, family members' chores. Some lists carry more: surnames, usernames, email addresses or notes about who did what. Teachers, managers and businesses have obligations to look after that information, and everyone deserves to know where their data goes. This guide explains how this spinner handles data and how to use it safely.

Where your wheel lives

This spinner runs entirely in your browser. Entries, weights, colours, images, settings and the history of results are saved in local storage, a small store tied to this site on your device. They aren't sent to our servers. There's no account to break into and no database of everyone's lists to leak, because no such database exists.

The page itself, its code and images, is delivered from our server like any website, and advertising partners may load their own content, but the contents of your wheel stay on your device unless you choose to share them.

What local storage means in practice

Because data stays on your device, it's tied to that browser and profile. Open the site on another computer and your wheel won't be there unless you use a share link. Clear your browser data and the wheel resets. Private browsing windows usually discard data when they close.

The flip side is that anyone who uses the same browser profile can see your saved wheels. On shared computers, such as classroom PCs, library machines or a family laptop, clear your wheel when you finish, or use a private window.

Share links contain your entries

When you click Share, the wheel's entries and settings are encoded into the link itself, after the # symbol. That's what makes sharing work without a server, but it means anyone who has the link can read the list. Links can be forwarded, saved in chat histories and indexed if posted publicly.

Before sharing, ask: would I be comfortable if this list were seen by anyone who might get the link? For a list of prize options, the answer is yes. For a class list with full names, probably not. Share student wheels only with colleagues who need them, through private channels such as school email.

Good data habits

Use the minimum information needed. A wheel only needs enough to tell entries apart. First names, or first names with an initial, are usually enough in a classroom. Usernames work for giveaways. Never put addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, grades, health information or other sensitive details on a wheel.

Remove what you don't need. When a project or term ends, clear the wheel and its history. Old lists sitting in a browser serve no purpose and can only cause problems.

Export carefully. History exports and receipts are files on your computer. Store them in a secure location, such as a password-protected school or work drive, and delete them when they're no longer needed.

Screenshots, recordings and projectors

Data can leak through what's on screen. A projected wheel is visible to everyone in the room, and a recorded giveaway draw is visible to everyone who watches. Before projecting or recording, check the entries panel shows only what's appropriate. For giveaway recordings, show usernames rather than real names. If a list includes something sensitive, blur it in the video or hide the entries panel. Downloaded winner images can also contain names, so check them before posting.

Students and children

Schools often have policies on using online tools with student data. Because this spinner doesn't upload entries, it's lower risk than many tools, but your school's rules still apply. Using first names only is a simple safeguard. If parents ask, you can explain that the list stays on the classroom device and isn't sent anywhere. Never ask children to enter their own personal details into a wheel.

Giveaways and customers

For giveaways, collect only what you need to run the draw and contact the winner. Put usernames on the wheel, not email addresses. Contact winners privately through the platform. Keep your entry export and receipt for as long as your rules or local law require, then delete them. Mention in your giveaway terms how you'll use entrants' information.

Ads and cookies

The site is free because it shows advertising. Advertising partners may use cookies and similar technologies, subject to your consent choices where the law requires them. Those cookies are separate from your wheel data. Ad partners don't receive the contents of your wheel. You can manage cookie choices through the consent banner and your browser settings. The cookie and privacy policies give the full details.

Clearing your data

To remove a wheel's entries, use Clear in the entry tools. To clear results, clear the history. To remove everything the site stores on a browser, delete the site data in your browser's settings. Because we don't hold a copy of your wheels, there's nothing for us to delete on our side; the data rights page explains how to contact us about any other information, such as messages sent through the contact form.

Security basics

Keep your browser up to date, because security fixes protect local storage along with everything else. Lock your computer when you step away, especially in a classroom. Be cautious with browser extensions, which can sometimes read page content. And beware of imitation sites: always check you're on the right address before entering a list.

Workplace lists

At work, wheels often hold colleagues' names for meeting roles, task rotations or office draws. That's normally fine, but think about context. A wheel that hints at performance, such as "who has the most overdue tickets", or that records sensitive decisions shouldn't be shared outside the team. If your organisation has rules about approved software, check them; a tool that stores nothing on a server is usually easy to approve, but the decision belongs to your IT or data protection team. When someone leaves the team, remove them from saved wheels so old lists don't linger.

A privacy checklist

Use first names, initials or usernames only. Leave out sensitive details. Clear wheels on shared computers. Share links privately and only with people who need them. Check what's visible before projecting, recording or posting. Store exports securely and delete them when finished. Review your cookie choices. A minute of care keeps a fun tool from becoming a privacy problem.

Try it now

Put these ideas into practice with the Privacy Policy, Data Rights and Deletion, Save, Share and Export, or open the main spin the wheel tool.