How Does Surfshark VPN Work? – Surfshark VPN Review [2022]

There are many VPN providers available in the industry from which Surfshark is one of the most user-friendly VPN. To compare it with other VPN providers like ExpressVPN and NordVPN, it has a slightly lower coverage area but it makes it up with its never-ending features!

Being launched just in 2018, Surfshark has captured a wide area of the market with its reliability and scalability.

If you don’t know how VPNs work, it is a Virtual Private Network that creates a secure channel for the user to hide all network traffic and carry on internet activities with absolute anonymity.

You can even hide your online activities and browser traffic from internet service providers and government authorities with a VPN.

And a VPN service provider like Surfshark, which has unlimited simultaneous connections, can be a lifesaver to cover all your devices just with a single subscription plan.

It is fast, reliable, and it has all the latest protocols available. To enjoy the features to the fullest, one should know how does Surfshark VPN works, what features it has, and on which platforms it is available.

How Does Surfshark VPN Work?

You can easily use Surfshark on your device. First, you have to subscribe to a plan by paying upfront, Surfshark has 3 plans suitable for different kinds of users.

Download the Surfshark app and install it.

Log in with your account details and use the Connect button to connect to the fastest server.

You can choose between the fastest server and the nearest location to quick-connect. 

How Does Surfshark VPN Work On Android?

• Android mobile users can get Surfshark from the Google Play Store.
• Tap on the app to open it.
• You can try the free trial if you want, but if you are an existing user, tap login.
• Enter your username and password (You should have a subscription plan for Surfshark).
• You can connect to the fastest server or the nearest country and tap Connect.
• If you want to connect to another server (New York server or California server), tap on Locations and choose according to your preference.

How Does Surfshark VPN Work On iOS?

• Go to the App Store of your iOS device and search Surfshark.
• Install the Surfshark app on your device.
• Open the app and log in with your credentials (You should have a Surfshark subscription).
• Once logged in, you can connect to the fastest or the nearest servers available by tapping Connect.
• If you want to connect somewhere else manually, tap on Locations.

How Does Surfshark VPN Work On macOS?

• Head to the App Store of your Mac and search Surfshark.
• Install the Surfshark App.
• Open the app and log in with your username and password (You should be subscribed to a Surfshark plan).
• After logging in, connect to the fastest server by clicking on Connect.
• You can connect to different server locations manually by tapping on Locations.

How Does Surfshark VPN Work On Windows?

• Visit the Surfshark website and download the Surfshark windows app.
• Install the Surfshark App on your Windows Computer.
• Click on login to enter your username and password.
• You can connect to the nearest country or the fastest server by tapping Connect.
• If you want to connect manually to another server location, click on Locations.

How Does Surfshark VPN Work On Linux?

• Go to the Surfshark download page to download the Surfshark installer for Linux.
• Install it on your computer.
• Open your terminal (Shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+T).
• Type these commands in your terminal.
  • Type sudo apt-get update to update the list of repositories.
  • sudo apt-get install surfshark-vpn to install the app.
  • sudo surfshark vpn to run Surfshark.
• Enter your email and password to log in.
• You will see a list of Surfshark server locations, enter a number to connect to that location.

How Does Surfshark VPN Work On Firestick and FireTV?

• On your Amazon Firestick or FireTV home, press the Search icon.
• Search Surfshark.
• Install the app on your Firestick or FireTV.
• Launch the app by pressing on Open icon.
• Once the Surfshark App is opened, press on login.
• Type your Surfshark username and password to login into your account.
• You can choose to log in with your Android phone.
  • Go to the Surfshark App on your Android phone and head to Account.
  • Under Other Devices, press TV login.
  • Type in the Code visible to you on your Firestick or FireTV. Press Submit.
• You are now logged in.
• Press the Connect button and you will be connected to the best VPN server available at that moment.
• You can connect to another location by pressing the Locations option.

How Does Surfshark VPN Billing Work?

Surfshark has subscription plans designed for short-term and long-term periods. You can choose a subscription plan by creating an account. Surfshark has the compatibility to accept payments from Credit Cards, PayPal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and even Cryptocurrency.

There are three plans of Surfshark currently,

• A one-month plan costing $12.95 USD to be paid upfront on purchase.
• A six-month plan costing $6.49 USD each month, charging $38.94 USD upfront every 6 months.
• A two-year plan costing $2.49 USD each month, charging $59.76 USD up front on the purchase.

All the plans have a 100% 30-day money-back guarantee in case a user changes his/her mind.

How Do I Cancel My Surfshark Subscription?

There are no direct ways to cancel your subscription plan from your Surfshark Account. However, if you want to cancel your subscription,

• Go to the Surfshark website.
• Click on the Customer Support icon on the extreme right corner at the bottom.
• Request the customer representative to cancel your Surfshark subscription plan.

How Does Surfshark Block Ads?

Surfshark has a built-in AdBlocker available named as CleanWeb. It is available on their Chrome and Firefox extensions and also available on iOS, macOS, Android, Windows, Linux, and FireTV apps. The CleanWeb Ad Blocker takes care of blocking unnecessary and irrelevant ads on browsers and apps. CleanWeb makes sure that you eliminate the risk of getting attacked by Malware.

Ads and pop-ups require an extra piece of data when a page is loaded on your screen, CleanWeb saves that data by blocking the pop-ups that appear on your screen. You can easily avoid the phishing techniques as CleanWeb filters it out and saves you from falling into phishing scams.

How Does CleanWeb Works On Windows?

• Open the Surfshark program on your Windows Computer.
• On the left top corner, click on Features under Locations.
• Under VPN Features, find CleanWeb and toggle the button ON.

How Does CleanWeb Works On Mac?

• Go to the Surfshark app and locate Features.
• Click on Features at the left corner of the app, just above Settings.
• On the first place in VPN Features, toggle the button ON for CleanWeb.

How Does CleanWeb Works On Android?

• Tap on the Surfshark app and open it.
• At the bottom, find Features.
• Tap on Features and turn the CleanWeb toggle button to ON.

How Does CleanWeb Works On iOS?

• Navigate the Surfshark App on your iOS device.
• When opened, tap on Features at the bottom.
• In the section VPN Features, find CleanWeb and turn it ON.

How Many Devices Does Surfshark Cover?

While other VPN services have limits of 5 or 6 simultaneous connections with a single subscription plan. With Surfshark, you can connect unlimited devices, there is no limit.

Surfshark has the compatibility to work on Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, and macOS. You can connect as many devices as you want.

Other than that, there are browsers extensions for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Brave.

Having this unbelievable feature would surely make you think that it would affect the connection speeds if a maximum number of devices connect simultaneously to a single subscription. Well, as Surfshark does not have any bandwidth limitations, it does not affect the connection speed whether you connect 2 devices or 10 devices!

How Many VPN Servers Does Surfshark Have?

With Surfshark’s constantly growing MO, it currently has 3200+ servers spread over 65+ countries, including Australia, India, Argentina, Canada, the United States, Chile, Norway, Turkey, Singapore, Newzealand, and United Kingdom.

There is a wide range of servers one every location, resulting in having servers in specific cities. You can connect anywhere, anytime, by choosing from the list of servers Surfshark offers!

How Much Data Does Surfshark VPN Use?

VPN services can burn extra mobile data while downloading a file. To calculate that data usage would be explainable by this example.

Suppose, you download a movie that has a space of 3 GB (or 3,072 MB). When you download that movie without a VPN, it would take exactly 3,072 MB of data usage to fully download that file. But if you download the same file of 3,072 MB, and add the extra data usage of the VPN service to encrypt that file and provide anonymous browsing, it would take 10% of the total data usage to fully download that file.

So if the file you downloaded without a VPN service took an exact number of 3,072 MB of data. It would take approximately 3,380 MB of data if you download the same file with Surfshark. With this keeping in mind, a VPN service would take 1 – 2 GB of extra data usage if you download multiple files of the same size to provide you anonymous downloading by encrypting your incoming and outgoing traffic.

How Does Surfshark Free Trial Work?

If you want to make the most of Surfshark by using it free, you can go for the 30-day money-back guarantee offer and use Surfshark absolutely free for a period of 30 days.

• Go to the Surfshark website and click on Get Surfshark.
• Choose a plan. We recommend you choose a one-month plan if you want to try Surfshark for free because you will need to pay for the subscription up front.
• Set a payment method and create your account.
• Log in to your Surfshark Account with your username and password.
• Use Surfshark for free for a period of 30 days.
• Keep in mind that you have to cancel your subscription plan exactly before 30 days of subscribing to the plan so you can claim your refund.
• To get a refund, go to the Surfshark website and find the Customer Support icon on the bottom right corner.
• Ask the customer representative to cancel your subscription and refund your amount.
• You will be given the approximate time to get your money back to your account.

How Does Surfshark SmartDNS Work?

Surfshark SmartDNS can be used for streaming Netflix and other popular platforms. You can access US Netflix, and other streaming services like Hulu, Disney+, BBC IPlayer, or Amazon Prime Video.

Although Smart DNS does not encrypt your traffic, neither it changes your IP Address, it only changes your DNS Address from which you can easily stream and unblock US libraries for streaming geo-restricted content.

• First, go to the DNS Page of your Surfshark account.
• In Smart DNS, click Get Started.
• You will see your IP Address displayed.
• Click on Activate Smart DNS visible at the bottom.
• You will see two DNS Addresses.
• You can use these DNS Addresses to set up Smart DNS on your device.

How Does Surfshark SmartDNS Works On LG TV?

• Go to the DNS Page of your Surfshark Account.
• Head to Smart DNS and click on Get Started.
• Click on Activate Smart DNS and you will get two DNS Addresses.
• Go to the Network Settings of your LG TV.
• In Networks, select the network you are using (Wired Connection or Wi-Fi Connection).
• Choosing Wi-Fi, go to the Advanced Wi-Fi Settings.
• Press Edit.
• Uncheck the option Set Automatically and enter the two DNS Addresses which we generated earlier.
• Press Enter and then press Connect.
• You can now enjoy streaming geo-restricted libraries on your LG TV!

How Does Surfshark Smart DNS Works On Apple TV?

• Visit the DNS Page of your Surfshark Account.
• Go to Smart DNS and click on Get Started.
• Press Activate Smart DNS to generate your DNS Addresses.
• Now go to the Settings of your Apple TV.
• Head to Network.
• Choose the Network method you are using (Either Wi-Fi or Ethernet).
• Choosing the Wi-Fi Network, go to the Properties and press Configure DNS.
• Select Manual DNS Configuration.
• Enter the DNS Addresses which we generated earlier and press Done.
• For the changes to apply, restart your Apple TV by navigating to Settings>System>Restart.
• You can now stream your favorite content with Smart DNS enabled.

How Does Surfshark Smart DNS Works On Samsung TV?

• On the DNS Page of your Surfshark subscription account, go to Smart DNS.
• Click on Get Started.
• Activate Smart DNS to generate the DNS Addresses to use in your device.
• Now head to the Network of your Samsung Smart TV.
• Go to Network Status and head to IP Address Settings.
• Pressing DNS Settings, select Enter Manually.
• Enter the two DNS Addresses and click OK.
• Enjoy streaming the geo-blocked content on your Samsung Smart TV!

Does Surfshark Log User Activity?

One of the most important policies of a VPN provider is whether they keep track of user activities or not.

Surfshark does not log any online activities of the users. It doesn’t collect any data like IP addresses, session activities, or the browsing history of the customer.

How Does Surfshark Kill-Switch Work?

Surfshark makes sure your data doesn’t get leaked with this feature.

When you are using the internet with your VPN enabled and suddenly the VPN connection drops, creating a possible outcome of leaking your traffic to the internet and exposing your real IP Address, Kill-Switch comes into action by temporarily suspending your internet connection until you are reconnected to your VPN connection again.

Surfshark Kill-Switch feature is available in Windows, iOS, macOS, and Android.

How Does Surfshark Kill-Switch Works in Windows?

• Open your Surfshark program and go to Settings.
• Click on Connectivity, under the General tab.
• Find the Kill Switch feature and toggle the button to ON.

How Does Surfshark Kill-Switch Works in macOS?

• Open the Surfshark app and click on Surfshark at the top left corner just beside Edit.
• Go to Preferences.
• In the General tab, you will find the Kill Switch option, check or uncheck it according to your need.

How Does Surfshark Kill-Switch Works in Android?

• On the Surfshark Android app, tap on Settings on the bottom right corner.
• Tap on Connectivity.
• Find the VPN Kill Switch option under the Kill Connection tab.
• Toggle the button to ON.

How Does Surfshark Kill-Switch Works on iOS?

• Open the Surfshark app and go to Settings.
• Under the Kill Connection tab, find the Kill Switch feature.
• Toggle the button ON.

How Does Surfshark MultiHop Feature Work?

Surfshark has a lot of creative features. One of the advanced features Surfshark offers is MultiHop.

MultiHop can route your traffic through two VPN servers with minimum server load enhancing the security and anonymity.

The MultiHop feature works in Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux.

How Does Surfshark MultiHop Feature Works in Windows?

• Open Surfshark and click on Locations.
• In the Locations tab, click on MultiHop.
• Connect to one of the locations and you’re all set.

How Does Surfshark MultiHop Feature Works in macOS?

• Open the Surfshark app and go to Locations.
• Click on MultiHop.
• Select a server and click on Connect.

How Does Surfshark MultiHop Feature Works in Android?

• Launch the Surfshark app.
• Tap on Locations.
• On the right top corner, tap on MultiHop.
• Select and location to connect.

How Does Surfshark MultiHop Feature Works on iOS?

• Launch the Surfshark app and go to Locations.
• In the Locations tab, tap on MultiHop placed on the top right corner.
• Select a server and connect to it.

How Does Surfshark MultiHop Feature Works in Linux?

• In your Linux OS, open the terminal.
• Type the following command,
  • sudo surfshark-vpn multi
• You will be displayed a list of locations, select your location by entering that number.

How Do I Install Surfshark On My Router?

With Surfshark directly installed on your router, you can protect all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi that do not support VPN.

You can have uninterrupted privacy and anonymity all the time. Long story short, anything which has a Wi-Fi connection connected to your router will be protected.

It is to be kept in mind that in order to have VPN installed on your router, you should have a router that supports VPN functionality.

You can easily set up a VPN server by this method,

• Go to the Configuration Page of your router by simply typing 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1.
• Enter your username and password.
• It is important that your router should be having compatibility with VPN or any third–party firmware.
• Go to the VPN section of your router’s configuration page and configure the Surfshark settings by following the instructions.
• Enjoy uninterrupted VPN access without any hassles!

What Protocols Does Surfshark VPN Use?

VPN protocols are a set of rules that determine how your VPN connections work from point A to point B.

Surfshark has a number of protocols and it selects by default if you connect to a server. The Surfshark app selects a protocol for you depending on your location and internet speed, choosing the best one to give you the best VPN experience. Surfshark uses,

• IKEv2, the Internet Key Exchange Version 2 protocol is best for everyday use. It is the universal option if you switch a lot between your network connections. It is also recommended when you are connecting to a server that is near to your location.
• OpenVPN, commonly known for the security it offers. It uses an AES–256–GCM encrypting method. It is not the best VPN protocol if you want to achieve high speed, but it sure offers maximum security and anonymity.
• Shadowsocks is for critical camouflaging from internet service providers or government bodies. It can be a good option if you are connecting to a restrictive network.
• WireGuard, having the best compatibility to run on mobile phones. It is fast, reliable, and it’s best for your device’s battery life.

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs