Frequently asked questions

Your device or browser is probably set to reduce motion. Big Spinning Wheel follows that setting for live spins and practice spins.

When reduced motion is on, the wheel skips the full spinning animation. You may see the wheel jump to a resting position, show a countdown, and then reveal the live or practice result when the spin time ends.

Browsers expose this setting as prefers-reduced-motion. It comes from your device, browser, or a managed school or work setting. It is not tied to your account, public link, or sign-in state.

Turn animations back on for your device or browser, then refresh the wheel. The setting name depends on your platform:

• Windows 11: Start menu > Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects > turn Animation effects on.
• Windows 10: Settings > Ease of Access > Display > turn Show animations in Windows on.
• macOS: Apple menu > System Settings > Accessibility > Motion > turn Reduce motion off. On older macOS versions, check Accessibility > Display.
• iPhone or iPad: Settings > Accessibility > Motion > turn Reduce Motion off.
• Android: Settings > Accessibility > Color and motion > turn Remove animations off. Some devices place this under Display, Text and display, or Visibility enhancements.
• Chromebook: Settings > Accessibility > Display and magnification > turn Reduced animations off.

Some school, work, or shared devices manage this setting for you. If reduced motion is locked, the wheel will keep using the reduced-motion view on that device or browser.

Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, and most mobile browsers usually follow the device setting. Firefox and managed browsers may also have browser-level accessibility or site settings. Check the device setting first. If only one browser is affected, check that browser's settings too.

No. Reduced motion only changes how the spin is shown. It does not change which enabled segments can win, chance settings, saved results, stats, or whether a live spin is accepted.

Yes. Reduced-motion spins skip the normal spin playback, so Music and Pointer ticks may not play during that spin.

Browsers may also block sound until you click or tap the page. If sound still does not play, check the wheel's Sound panel and the browser's site sound setting.

Include your device, browser, whether the issue happens on live spins, practice spins, or both, and whether reduced motion is turned on or managed by your school or workplace. A screenshot of the countdown or skipped animation is helpful too.

The page lost its live connection. This can happen when Wi-Fi drops, a phone switches to cellular service, a device locks, an app moves to the background, or the signal is weak.

Big Spinning Wheel tries to reconnect and catch up automatically. If the page still looks behind after your connection returns, refresh it once.

No, as long as the spin was accepted. Accepted live spins are saved, and viewers usually catch up when their connection returns.

Refreshing loads the current or latest result. If you are not sure whether a tap went through, refresh before tapping Spin again.

A short wait protects the live wheel from repeated taps, rapid reconnects, or many people joining at once. Wait a moment, then try again or refresh.

No. Saved wheels, public links, imports, exports, and live spins need internet access in the browser and installed app. If an offline page appears, reconnect and try again or refresh.

Turn on the Music or Pointer ticks switch in the Sound panel, then click or tap the page once. Browsers often block sound until there has been a user action. Also check whether the browser allows sound for the site.

Reduced-motion spins may skip Music and Pointer ticks because normal spin playback is skipped.

To identify a built-in track, preview the available wheel music. Built-in wheel music is pre-cleared for playback and previews on Big Spinning Wheel, but that does not give you permission to extract, download, or reuse tracks outside the site.

Public visitors can only do what the owner allows. If the owner enables a public link, anyone with that public page address can open it without an account.

• Spin the live wheel: Visitors can spin the shared live wheel, and everyone watching sees the same result.
• Use a practice wheel: Visitors can try the wheel without changing live results, stats, or recent spins. If a live spin starts, the page switches back to the live wheel.
• View only: Visitors can watch live updates and results, but they cannot spin from the public page.

If there is no spin button, the public page may be View only, the wheel may have no enabled segments, or you may be on an owner or collaborator page without spin access.

If you see Spin practice wheel instead of Spin anonymously, the owner allowed practice spins only.

Ask the owner to confirm that the public link is enabled and that Visitor spin mode is set the way they intended.

For anonymous visitors, use the Share link from the Public links workspace. Owner and collaborator pages are separate, so a link that works while you are signed in may not work for visitors.

When a signed-in owner or collaborator opens the public share link, Big Spinning Wheel may prompt them to open the signed-in wheel page instead. That page has the fullest controls their account can use.

Invite codes are separate. They give a signed-in person view-only, spin, or edit access and expire after 36 hours unless revoked sooner.

An embedded wheel is a public Big Spinning Wheel that the owner allows people to place inside another page or tool, such as a website, event page, community page, presentation, whiteboard, recording, or stream scene.

Open the wheel editor, go to Public links, enable the public link, then turn on Enable embedding.

After embedding is enabled, copy the embed link when a tool asks for a URL, or copy the embed code when a page, whiteboard, or website asks for embed code. Embedding only works while the public link is active and the wheel remains public.

A public share link opens the regular public wheel page on Big Spinning Wheel.

An embed link opens a compact version of the same public wheel with a transparent background and a small BSW mark. Use the public share link to send people to Big Spinning Wheel, and use the embed link to place the wheel inside another page or tool.

Yes. Embedded wheels follow the same public access mode the owner chose for the public link: live spin, practice-only, or view-only.

No. A wheel must have an active public link and embedding must be enabled by the owner. Private wheels, deleted wheels, disabled public links, and disabled embeds do not load in embed mode.

A transparent background makes the wheel easier to place over website layouts, slides, videos, recordings, and live stream scenes without covering the whole view.

The embed link stops working. Places where the wheel was added should no longer be able to load the embedded wheel.

Yes. Enable the public link, enable embedding, copy the embed link, then add a new Browser Source in OBS and paste the embed link as the URL. You do not need the embed code. The OBS setup options in Public links can also start a spin when a scene becomes active.

• Start with a square browser-source size such as 800 by 800 or 1000 by 1000.
• Turn on transparent background support in OBS if your scene needs it.
• Use wheel-only view in Public links when you want a cleaner stream scene with just the wheel and result.
• Position and scale the source over gameplay, camera, or scene layouts.
• Test wheel interaction before going live so you know the public mode and controls behave as expected.
• Disable embedding after a stream or event if you no longer want the wheel available outside Big Spinning Wheel.

For URL options and deeper setup notes, see the embed dev docs. OBS is a third-party tool. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Big Spinning Wheel, and embed support or compatibility can change. Big Spinning Wheel embeds do not automate chat, channel points, donations, giveaways, prize handling, or compliance workflows.

Yes, when your Zoom Whiteboard account and app support embedded content. Copy the embed code from Public links, open a whiteboard, choose More Tools, choose Embed Content, paste the code, and click Embed.

Zoom controls Whiteboard embed availability and canvas behavior. Zoom is a third-party tool. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Big Spinning Wheel, and embed support or compatibility can change. The embed dev docs include setup notes and a link to Zoom's current embed documentation.

The owner may have disabled the public link, disabled embedding, deleted the wheel, changed sharing, removed a collaborator, or let an invite code expire. If sharing changes while you are watching, refresh the page.

Disabling a public link expires current links, resets its code, and removes public-only favorites from other users' Wheels pages. Owner and collaborator favorites remain.

Ask the owner for a fresh public link or invite code if you need access again.

Hide the recent spin recap from visitors only affects the public Recent spin recap. Public wheel pages may still show or reflect the current or latest spin result.

A wheel can have up to 1,024 segments. Wheel names can use up to 120 characters, and each segment label can use up to 80 characters.

Use the Basics workspace to add and rename segments.

To reorder segments, shuffle the list, enter Arrange mode and drag, or use the move buttons. Save the new order when it looks right.

Disabling a segment keeps it on the wheel for editing and organization, but it cannot win until you enable it again.

Only enabled segments can win. Disabled segments stay available for editing and organization, but Big Spinning Wheel leaves them out when it picks the winner.

A live spin or pending edits can temporarily block changes. This can affect imports, arranging, shuffling, probability, sound, colors, and advanced settings.

If a save button stays disabled, check for validation messages, unsaved edits, or an active live spin.

No. Wheel entries use text labels with configurable colors and palettes. Uploaded graphics, image-based slices, custom background images, and logo overlays are not supported.

A palette gives the wheel a default color system. New segments use the active palette, and applying or reapplying a palette recolors the current segments.

You can still fine-tune individual segment colors after choosing a palette.

Set all colors applies the same fill, border, and font colors to every segment. Use it when you want one uniform wheel style.

You can still customize individual segment colors afterward.

Applying a palette intentionally replaces current segment colors.

Imported segments with explicit colors keep those colors. Imported segments without explicit colors receive generated colors from the imported or existing wheel palette.

The default palette can also use label-aware color hints for common labels.

In Probability, you can enter chances as Relative, Percent, or Degrees.

Relative is usually easiest: a segment with 2 points is twice as likely to win as a segment with 1 point. Percent values must total 100%, and degree values must total 360 degrees.

A small number of spins can still look uneven. Use Stats to compare actual wins against expected chance over time.

This advanced spin option controls what happens to the landed segment after a live result.

• Disabled: Keeps the landed segment enabled.
• Optional: Lets eligible spinners choose whether to disable it.
• Forced: Disables it automatically after eligible live spins.

Public link and collaborator settings can block this behavior for those visitors.

Spin duration can be 5 to 60 seconds. This controls how long the spin runs before the result appears.

Spin result display is separate. The winner popup can hide the result, stay open until dismissed, or show for up to 300 seconds.

The wheel can still show Current segment or the latest landed segment separately from that popup.

The owner may have turned on Misdirection in Advanced settings. Misdirection adds decoy slowdowns before the real result reveal, with up to 3 decoys when the spin duration allows it.

Setting Misdirection to 0 turns that behavior off. Misdirection changes motion only, not odds or results.

With reduced motion on, the decoy animation may be skipped.

No. Big Spinning Wheel is for entertainment and low-stakes use only. It is not a certified random-number generator, fairness tool, gambling system, raffle system, or compliance-grade selection tool.

Big Spinning Wheel supports native wheel files, CSV segment files, and plain text segment lists.

Use the native wheel file when you want to move wheel settings and segment details together. CSV and plain text files are best for segment-list workflows.

For schema, column, MIME type, validation, and export details, see the import and export dev docs.

Import and replace wheel replaces the current wheel setup according to the chosen file format. It does not replace spin history.

Imports are limited to supported files up to 1 MB. Imports are also blocked during a live spin because the wheel cannot change until the spin finishes.

Owners and edit-capable collaborators can export a wheel definition.

Owners can import all supported wheel fields. Edit-capable collaborators can replace editable wheel content and settings, but owner-only fields such as wheel name and public-link landed-disable settings stay unchanged.

Export downloads the wheel definition, not the whole account or full wheel activity record.

Sharing, collaboration, history, stats, favorites, account identity, and sound asset data stay outside file exports.

If the download does not appear, check the browser's downloads area and confirm downloads are allowed for the site.

Signed-in wheels are saved to your account and can be opened from Wheels.

Public visitors using a shared link do not create their own saved copy unless they sign in and create or import a wheel separately.

Clearing browser data can sign you out or reset local sound choices, but it does not delete wheels saved to your account.

After signing in, open Profile settings. The Account security section links to passkeys, password, MFA, and recovery codes.

Before changing sign-in or recovery settings, Big Spinning Wheel may ask you to sign in again or complete another check, especially if it has been a while since you signed in.

Choose an available option, such as a passkey, authenticator app, or email code, then continue with the change.

A passkey lets a supported device, browser, password manager, or security key confirm sign-in without typing your password.

Common prompts include Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello, Android screen lock, and hardware security keys.

Passkeys need support from your device and browser. If your browser does not show a passkey prompt, use another available sign-in option such as your password, then try adding or re-saving a passkey later.

Try another saved or synced passkey first. If your account also has a password, use password sign-in or reset the password from the sign-in page.

If your account only has passkeys and your email is confirmed, reset your password to establish password sign-in, then add a new passkey from Profile settings.

If you no longer have a usable passkey, password, or confirmed email recovery path, contact support. Recovery codes do not replace a lost passkey.

MFA adds a second step after password sign-in.

An authenticator app is the recommended option. Email codes can be used as a backup when email delivery is available.

You can choose the default MFA method from Profile settings.

Recovery codes are one-time backup codes for MFA. Use one when you signed in with your password and cannot use your authenticator app or email code for the second step.

Turn on MFA before generating recovery codes. Save new codes before leaving the recovery-code page because generating a new set replaces older saved codes.

Recovery codes recover the second factor for a password sign-in. They do not sign in by themselves, and they are not shown on the main login page.

With edit access, a collaborator can edit wheel content and settings, view stats, import and replace editable content, and export a wheel definition.

Rename, delete, collaborator management, public links, and ownership transfer stay owner-only. Wheel viewers identify only the current owner.

The current owner opens Transfer from Advanced and chooses a collaborator who has already joined.

The collaborator must accept while signed in before ownership changes. After acceptance, the previous owner keeps edit and spin access as a collaborator, and standard viewer surfaces identify only the current owner.

Favorites help signed-in users keep track of wheels as private account preferences. Public-only favorites can appear in your Wheels workspace while the public link remains active.

Disabling or revoking the public link removes public-only favorites. Owner and collaborator favorites remain governed by authenticated access.

Favorites do not preserve access if the owner disables sharing or deletes the wheel.

Your Wheels workspace shows favorited wheels first, then wheels you own and wheels shared with you. Featured wheels stay on the homepage.

Stats are reload-based: refresh after a live spin completes to see updated stats. Practice wheel spins do not update live wheel history or stats.

No camera, microphone, location, or notification access is needed.

Share opens an app dialog with copy options. When supported, the dialog also offers Share using Your Device. Copy may use clipboard access; if Share or Copy is blocked, select the link and copy it manually.