Questions, problems, or a request to delete your account. We reply by email, usually within two business days. A site blocked by mistake gets an answer within one business day.
Or email support@winnerswin.app directly.
Common questions · Fixes for common problems
Thanks, we got it. We'll reply to the email you gave.
Gambling websites (sportsbooks, online casinos, poker, sweepstakes casinos, daily fantasy and pick'em, prediction markets, lottery and offshore sites, about 340,000 in all), plus the VPN, proxy and private DNS services people use to get around a block. On iPhone, Screen Time also shields the betting apps you pick so they can't open.
No blocker is complete. Winner's Win adds friction, and people who notice.
No. You can turn on the site block and shield your betting apps tonight, on your own, and invite people later from the Circle tab. Until someone you trust sets a Screen Time code on your phone, you can still switch things off yourself.
Only during the lock, with your helper. Apple's Screen Time can only shield apps that are on the phone, so your helper installs each one without opening it and shields it straight away. If you're on your own, skip that step. Home keeps it for later.
In the latest iPhone version, the checklist shows the apps listed for your state: the nationwide apps plus your state's own. It tells you how many apps from other states are hidden. Those aren't shielded unless you pick them, but their websites are blocked everywhere. If you live near a state line, travel, or already have one of those apps, turn on Include other states.
No. Help services always stay open, including 1-800-GAMBLER, the National Council on Problem Gambling, Gamblers Anonymous, Gam-Anon, 988 and findtreatment.gov. If one ever doesn't load, please tell us right away.
In the Circle tab, tap "Ask your circle to unlock something". Everyone in your circle has to approve. An hour after the last yes, those websites open for 30 minutes, then close on their own. One "no" locks that category for 24 hours. A request nobody answers ends after 36 hours, with nothing held against you.
Unlocks open websites only. Shielded apps stay shut. Releasing an app from its shield is a separate request, and it's permanent.
Your first name, whether protection is on, days protected and money kept, requests and the reason you wrote, notes you choose to send, how many times the block screen came up in each category this week (never which site), missed check-ins, devices you link, and a casino's name if you turned casino alerts on.
Never your browsing history, the sites you visited or were blocked from, the apps you picked, a map of where you are, or your phone number. Full details are in the privacy policy.
Until a helper sets a Screen Time code, yes. Your circle finds out when your phone stops checking in, which can take a day or more. Once a helper has set the code and turned off Deleting Apps, the app can't be deleted without them. That's the lock working.
In the Circle tab, swipe their name and tap "Ask to remove". Everyone approves, including them, and it happens an hour later. If someone has stopped responding altogether, email us.
On your circle page, use "Leave this circle" near the bottom. In the app, open the menu at the top right. The person and the rest of the circle are told. If you set their Screen Time code, it stays on their phone, so talk to them first.
If you were invited by email and haven't joined, we send up to two short reminders, about a day and about three days after the invite, never overnight. Then they stop, and the invite closes by itself after 7 days. If you don't know the person, you can ignore it.
A note that sounds like the person may be in danger goes straight through as urgent, and asks you to call them now. Texts never include what they wrote. If you're worried about their safety, call or text 988, or call 911 if they're in danger right now. The conversation guide can help with what to say.
Never. Helpers don't need an account, just the link or the app.
Winner's Win is becoming a paid app for the person it protects. From a date we'll post here, no sooner than a week after the app update with the free trial comes out, Winner's Win needs an active free trial or subscription to block. If it ends after that, blocking stops on your iPhone and Mac, and your circle is told. Until that date, blocks stay on for everyone, so there's time to update the app and start the free trial. Helpers never pay. Billing and refunds are handled by Apple: cancel in Settings, your name, Subscriptions, and ask for a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com.
In the app: Settings, Delete account. With a circle, they're told and it's deleted 72 hours later; you can cancel in Settings until then, and nobody else can stop it. With no circle, it's deleted right away.
The blocks stay on the phone until the app is removed.
Yes, for now. Your account and circle are set up in Winner's Win on iPhone (version 1.0.1 or later). On the iPhone, Settings, Link a Mac shows a 12-character code that works once, for 10 minutes. Type it on the Mac. See Winner's Win for your computer.
iPhone makes you choose the site block yourself, once:
If DNS shows another app or a VPN, switch that one off first. iPhone uses one at a time. iCloud Private Relay can also take over: Settings, your name, iCloud, Private Relay. After an iPhone update or reinstalling the app, you may need to choose the setting again.
If Home says "Checking whether the site block is on", wait a minute and pull down to refresh. It's usually a slow connection.
In the latest iPhone version, tap Try it on the site block step to check it really works. It looks up a few addresses through your phone's DNS; nothing opens in a browser. Stuck? Tap "Stuck? Get help with this step".
Unlock your phone and go back to Winner's Win; it tries again by itself. If it still fails, tap "Sign in with a text code instead". We text a code to the same number and you keep the same account. Never share that code with anyone, including us.
If it's a betting app rather than a website, pick it in the Blocked tab so Screen Time shields it. The site block can't stop an app that's already signed in.
Sometimes a normal site has a word in its name that reads as gambling. Send us the address with the form above (choose "A normal site is blocked by mistake") or email support@winnerswin.app. We check it within one business day and fix it for everyone if it's a mistake.
If it's a site you added yourself, it's under "Your extra blocks" in the Blocked tab: swipe it and tap "Request removal", and your circle approves.
Everything is always listed on your circle page, even if a notification doesn't arrive. Ordinary notices come at most once a day on purpose. Urgent ones come straight away.
It means their phone reported that blocking was off. Sometimes that's innocent: a phone update, reinstalling the app, or a setting tapped by mistake. Sometimes it's a hard moment. Either way, one calm text works best, like "Got the alert. Everything ok?" The conversation guide can help.
"Couldn't reach your Winner's Win account right now" means the Mac will try again in a few minutes. Blocking keeps working meanwhile. If the Mac says its link stopped working after you signed in again on your iPhone, get a new code from the iPhone (Settings, Link a Mac) and click Link This Mac Again.
The Winner's Win subscription on your iPhone account has ended, so the Mac has stopped blocking. Nothing is broken. Renew on your iPhone, or tap Restore if you already pay, and the Mac starts blocking again on its next check-in. Billing and refunds are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.
If blocking was switched off on your Mac, the app tells your circle once it's back on, with the time it went off. That's expected. Updates, sleep and logging out don't count. A short "That was me, it's back on" to your circle is plenty.
Until the date posted above, your blocks stay on whatever the subscription status. After that, blocking needs an active free trial or subscription; restoring one turns it back on. On iPhone, also pick Winner's Win once more in Settings, General, VPN & Device Management, DNS.