Last updated: October 9, 2026
Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy

The Summary

0 Ads on PRO pages
0 Data sold

What Data We Collect

We collect standard web traffic data through the ads and analytics described below, and, if you buy PRO, the email address and payment reference needed to give you the thing you paid for. If you create an account or use the iPhone app, we keep more; it is listed under Accounts, payments & analytics and The NameWheel iPhone and iPad app below.

No account is required to use NameWheel.

Standard web server logs may record basic technical information like your IP address and the pages you requested. This is normal behavior for any web server on the internet. We do not actively use these logs to track individuals, and they are not stored long-term or shared with third parties. Your ISP knows more about your browsing habits than we do. Your neighbor probably knows more about your browsing habits than we do.

We don't use fingerprinting techniques. We don't check your screen resolution, browser plugins, time zone, or installed fonts to build a profile. We don't do cohort analysis. We don't do any of the clever tricks that companies use to track you without technically using cookies.

How Your Names Are Processed (Locally, In Your Browser)

This is the part most people care about, so let's be extremely detailed and clear.

When you type names into the NameWheel input field, those names live in your browser's memory. The JavaScript running on your page reads the text from the input element, splits it into individual entries, and creates a visual representation on an HTML5 Canvas element. All of this happens locally, on your device, using your CPU.

The wheel spins using your processor, not ours.

Here's exactly what happens when you spin the wheel, step by step:

Step 1: You type names into the text input. These are stored in a JavaScript variable in your browser's memory.

Step 2: When you click "Spin," the JavaScript generates a random target angle using crypto.getRandomValues(). This random number is generated by your browser's pseudorandom number generator, not by our server.

Step 3: The spin animation begins. Each frame, the JavaScript calculates the wheel's current position using a physics-based easing function and redraws the Canvas element. This is purely a visual animation running in your browser.

Step 4: The wheel decelerates and stops at the predetermined random position. The winning name is read from the local array and displayed on screen.

If you want to save your name list for next time, you can bookmark the URL with the #names= hash parameter, which stores everything in the URL itself. That URL lives in your browser history, not on our servers.

If you use the embed feature to put the wheel on another website, the same rules apply. The names are processed in the visitor's browser on that site.

Cookies

We set none of our own. No first-party analytics cookie, no preference cookie, no tracking cookie from us. If you sign in to an account, your browser holds a session token so you stay signed in.

Google does set cookies, because the free pages carry Google ads. AdSense and its advertising partners may store and read identifiers on your device to choose and measure the ads you see. That is why a consent dialog appears on your first visit: it is Google's, it lists every partner, and whatever you choose there is what happens. You can reopen it any time from the Privacy & cookie settings link at the bottom of any page that shows ads, and change your mind as often as you like.

What no cookie of any kind ever contains: the names on your wheel. That part of this policy has always been true and has not changed.

We use local storage to remember your own settings, such as your theme and your saved wheels, so the site behaves the way you left it.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to see how many people visit, which pages they land on, and roughly where in the world they are. It tells us that a guide is worth writing or a page is broken. It is aggregate: we do not build profiles, and we do not follow individuals between sessions on purpose.

We do not use Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, FullStory or any other session-recording or heatmap tool. Nobody is watching a replay of your mouse.

If you would rather not be counted, the consent dialog covers this, and any tracker blocker will stop it outright. The wheel works exactly the same either way, and we will never gate a feature on being measured.

Third Parties

Here is the honest list. These are the external domains your browser contacts on a free NameWheel page, measured with a real browser rather than remembered from when the site was smaller:

namewheel.org — the site itself. Fonts, scripts, images and the wheel all come from here; Space Grotesk and Inter are self-hosted, so no font CDN ever sees you.
pagead2.googlesyndication.com — Google AdSense, which pays for the free wheel.
fundingchoicesmessages.google.com — Google's consent dialog, which asks your permission for the above and loads its own styling from Google's font servers.
googletagmanager.com and google-analytics.com — aggregate traffic measurement.

That is the whole list. No affiliate tracking. No social media widgets. No customer support chat tools. No A/B testing platforms. No session recording software. No data brokers.

Buying PRO adds a payment processor, and only then. See Accounts, payments & analytics below for who they are and what they receive.

Data Storage and Retention

If you contact us by email, we will have your email address and the contents of your message. We use that only to respond to you. We don't add you to a mailing list. We don't store your message in a CRM. We don't share it with anyone. We reply, and that's the end of it.

For accounts, certified draws and the app, see How long we keep things.

Children's Privacy

NameWheel is a general-purpose tool that teachers frequently use with students of all ages, including children under 13. We take children's privacy seriously.

You must be at least 13 to create an account or buy anything. Children under 13 can use the free wheel without an account. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, email info@namewheel.org and we will delete it.

You're welcome to share this page with your IT department.

Technical Architecture (For the Nerds)

The wheel is built using the HTML5 Canvas API. When you type names, JavaScript creates an array of strings in memory. When you spin, a random angle is generated using crypto.getRandomValues(), and the Canvas is redrawn at ~60 frames per second using requestAnimationFrame() until the animation completes. The entire computation happens in the browser's JavaScript runtime.

The #names= URL hash parameter (used for bookmarking name lists) is also purely client-side. Hash fragments in URLs are never sent to the server per the HTTP specification. Your browser processes them locally. So the bookmark feature keeps your data off our servers by design.

Your Rights

Under various privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, and others), you have rights regarding your personal data. Here's how those rights apply to NameWheel:

Right to access your data: In your dashboard, open Settings and choose Download my data: it gives you your wheels, winner history, certified draws and payments as one file. For anything else we hold about you, email info@namewheel.org.

Right to delete your data: See Deleting your account.

Right to data portability: The download above is a JSON file, a common format other services can read.

Right to opt out of data sales: We don't sell data. We don't have buyers. There's nothing to opt out of.

Right to correct your data: Change your display name in your dashboard, under Settings. For anything else, email info@namewheel.org.

If you feel that your privacy rights have been violated by our use of the site, you can contact us through our contact page or file a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Do Not Track Signals

NameWheel's own code does not read Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signals. To turn off personalized ads and traffic measurement, use the consent dialog; you can reopen it from the Privacy & cookie settings link at the bottom of any page that shows ads.

Changes to This Policy

If we change this privacy policy in a meaningful way, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

Privacy FAQ

What happens to names if I use the bookmark feature?

The bookmark feature stores names in the URL hash (the part after the # symbol). Per the HTTP specification, hash fragments are never sent to the server. They're processed entirely by your browser. The names live in your browser's address bar and bookmark, not on our servers.

Contact

NameWheel, the website and the iPhone and iPad app, is run by Outline Technologies LLC, 30 N Gould St, Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States, which decides how your data is used. You can write to us at info@namewheel.org.

Questions about this policy, or anything else? You can also reach us through the contact page at namewheel.org/contact.

We are a small team and we read every message. If you have a concern about privacy, we will take it seriously and get back to you promptly. If you have a compliment about our privacy practices, we will also take that seriously and probably frame it.

Accounts, payments & analytics (updated September 2026)

Accounts. If you create an account (with Google, with Apple in the iPhone app, or with a code sent to your email), authentication is handled by Supabase. We store your email address, your name if Google or Apple shares it when you sign in, your display name if you set one, how you signed in, the link and page that brought you to NameWheel, when you last used it, and your IP address when you signed up, with the approximate location (country, region and city), network provider and device type worked out from it using ipinfo.io. We also store the wheels you choose to save and, while you are signed in, the winner of each spin (your winner history in the dashboard). If you share a saved wheel, it becomes public: anyone with its link can open it and see its title and names. Your other wheels stay private. If you post a review, write to support or use AI Fill, we keep that too, and we keep a record of the emails we send you. We use these details to run your account and give you what you paid for, to stop abuse (for example, many accounts from one address), and to see where our signups come from.

Payments. PRO purchases on the website are processed by Stripe (card, acting as merchant of record), with Freemius (which also accepts PayPal) as the alternative; PayPal handled some earlier subscriptions directly. Purchases in the iPhone app go through Apple, and purchases in the Android app go through Google Play (see Purchases in the app). The processor you use receives your email address and billing details directly; we never see or store card numbers. We store your plan, the payment provider, the amount paid and the payment references needed to run your subscription.

Usage analytics. When any wheel is spun we record a counter event: a timestamp, the picker mode, how many names were on the wheel and, if you are signed in, your account. The counter never includes the names. We also count a few steps toward buying PRO, such as viewing the PRO page, linked to your account when you are signed in. To keep the site fast, when you leave a page your browser sends us how quickly it loaded and responded, with the page address and whether it was a phone or a computer; this never includes your account or IP address.

Who else handles your data. Supabase (sign in and our database), Hetzner (our server), Cloudflare (delivers the site and stores certified spin videos), Resend (the emails we send you), Sentry (crash reports from the apps), ipinfo.io (the signup location lookup above), Google (sign in with Google, Gemini for AI Fill, and AdSense and Analytics on the free pages), Google Play (app purchases on Android), Stripe, Freemius, PayPal and Apple (payments), and Telegram, which carries the private notices we send ourselves when someone signs up or buys, including their email address. We only work with providers that protect your data at least as well as this policy does.

Deletion. See Deleting your account below.

The NameWheel apps for iPhone, iPad and Android (updated October 2026)

The NameWheel app for iPhone and iPad and the NameWheel app for Android are made by Outline Technologies LLC, the same company that runs this site, and this policy covers both. They work the same way, and everything below applies to both unless it names one of them. You can spin without an account, and wheels you make without signing in stay on your device. When you sign in, the app saves the winner of each spin (the name, the mode and the time) to your winner history, and with PRO your wheels are saved to your account so they also appear on the website. With PRO, Share a link makes that one wheel public: anyone with the link (namewheel.org/?w= followed by the wheel's code) can open it and see its title and names. Your other wheels stay private. The app also keeps its own list of winners on your device for the winners export; it stays on your device unless you export it. Photos you add next to names and your logo stay on your device too; they are never uploaded. The sections below say what happens when you use each feature, and what a crash report holds.

Signing in

On iPhone and iPad you can sign in with Apple, with Google, or with a 6 digit code sent to your email. On Android you can sign in with Google or with a 6 digit code sent to your email. Authentication is handled by Supabase. We receive your email address (with Sign in with Apple this can be Apple's private relay address), your name if you let Apple or Google share it, and which sign in method you used. When you sign in with Apple, we also keep a token Apple gives us for one purpose only: to tell Apple to disconnect NameWheel from your Apple Account when you delete your NameWheel account.

Purchases in the app

On iPhone and iPad, purchases in the app (PRO and the Full version) are made through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment and your billing details; we never see your card or Apple payment details. Apple sends us a signed record of the purchase: the product, the transaction number, its dates and price, and the account it belongs to. We keep that to give you what you paid for, and for our accounts. Subscriptions bought in the iPhone or iPad app are managed and cancelled in your iPhone or iPad settings under your Apple Account, Subscriptions.

On Android, purchases in the app are made through Google Play. Google handles the payment and your billing details; we never see your card or Google payment details. The app gives our server the purchase token Google issued, and our server checks it directly with Google, which tells us the product, the order number, its dates and price, whether it is a test purchase, and the NameWheel account the purchase was made for. We keep that to give you what you paid for, and for our accounts. Google also tells our server when a subscription renews, is cancelled, is refunded or ends. Subscriptions bought in the Android app are managed and cancelled in Google Play, under Payments and subscriptions.

AI Fill

AI Fill writes entries for a wheel from a short description you type, for example "fruits" or "board games". That description is sent to Google's Gemini service to generate the entries. Only the description is sent: AI Fill never sends the names already on your wheel, to Google or to us. We record that you used AI Fill, and when, so we can apply the usage limit; we do not keep the description. Before your first AI Fill, the app asks your permission and tells you this. You can turn it off at any time in the app under Account, AI Fill data sharing.

Under every AI Fill result there is a "Report this list" button, for entries that are wrong or offensive. A report sends us the description you typed and the entries AI Fill wrote, together with your account's email address, so we can look into it and reply. It reaches us as a support message and is kept like one.

Crash reports

If the app crashes or hits an error, it sends a crash report to Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.), which stores it in its EU region. A report holds the error, the app version, the device model and the iOS or Android version. It holds no account id, no email address, no names from your wheels, no screenshots and no screen recordings, and Sentry is set not to store IP addresses. The iPhone and Android apps follow the same rules. Only the versions of the app released through the App Store, TestFlight and Google Play send reports. Sentry keeps them for up to 90 days, then deletes them.

Certified draws

A certified draw is a spin you choose to make provable. For it we store the draw's title, its entries, the winner, the date and the cryptographic record that proves the result, and we publish them on the draw's public verification page at namewheel.org/v/ followed by its code. If you record the spin, the video is uploaded and shown on that page too. Please only enter names you are happy to publish there.

Recordings waiting on payment

When a recording needs payment before it can be hosted, we hold the uploaded video on our server for 3 days so you do not lose it while you pay. If it is not paid for within 3 days, the held copy is deleted automatically.

AI assistants (the NameWheel MCP server)

The NameWheel MCP server at mcp.namewheel.org lets AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor use NameWheel. Your assistant's provider handles your conversation under its own privacy policy; we only receive what the assistant sends to a NameWheel tool. Spins, teams and wheel links: the names are used to work out the answer and are not stored. Certified draws and frozen lists: stored and published on their public pages, exactly as described under Certified draws above. Request logs: the tool used, the number of entries, the app's name, the IP address and the outcome, kept for 30 days and then deleted, never the names. Connecting your account: you paste an API key you made in your dashboard. Our database keeps only a SHA-256 fingerprint of each key; the MCP server keeps the key itself on our server while an assistant stays connected, so it can act for you. Deleting the key in your dashboard under Settings disconnects every assistant that used it. A key can only run certified draws, freeze entry lists, read your plan and list your own draws.

How long we keep things

Your account and saved wheels are kept until you delete them or your account. Certified draws are permanent public records. Deleting your account takes their pages and videos offline (unless you choose to leave them public), but the record of each draw, with its title, entries, winner and proof, stays in our database. To have a draw's page taken down sooner, email info@namewheel.org. Payment and purchase records are kept after an account is deleted, because we need them for our accounts and taxes. Spin counts, AI Fill use records and the steps toward buying PRO are kept without your account attached. Our web server keeps its logs, which include IP addresses, for 14 days.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself: in the app (iPhone, iPad or Android), open Account and choose Delete account; on the web, open your dashboard at namewheel.org/dashboard, then Settings. You can also email info@namewheel.org from your account address. The steps, and what goes and what stays, are also on their own page: namewheel.org/delete-account. Deleting removes your sign in, profile, saved wheels, winner history and reviews straight away, takes your certified draw pages and their videos offline (on the web you may choose to leave them public instead), and, if you signed in with Apple, tells Apple to disconnect NameWheel from your Apple Account. The records of your certified draws are kept, as explained under How long we keep things. Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription bought in an app: cancel one bought on iPhone or iPad in your iPhone or iPad settings, because only Apple can, and one bought on Android in Google Play, under Payments and subscriptions, because only Google can.