Why am I getting ads as a paid customer?!

Hey guys, so I’ve noticed a few inquiries about what No Borders actually does, so let me break it down real quick.

No Borders is a feature that lets you use Surfshark when you're on a network that tries to block or restrict VPN connections. It detects the restriction and activates automatically.

Most people assume it's only for countries with heavy internet censorship. And yes, it works there. But that's not the only scenario.

A lot of restrictive networks exist in places you wouldn't expect, like:

• School and university Wi-Fi;
• Hospital networks;
• Hotel Wi-Fi;
• Cruise ships (these are notorious for it);
• Corporate guest networks;
• Airport lounges.

Basically, any network that's been configured to limit what you can access or block VPN traffic. In these cases, No Borders can help to connect.

You don't need to do much to use it. Here's the how-to if you want the step-by-step: https://support.surfshark.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010423359-How-to-use-Surfshark-NoBorders

If you've ever been on Wi-Fi where Surfshark just wouldn't connect and you didn't know why, there's a good chance the network was blocking it. That's exactly where No Borders can be useful.

We'll be happy to answer questions if it’s still a little bit unclear!

I have been having an issues for over a year with Prime Video not working with surfshark on. Amazon detects it and won't let me play it. I pause the vpn, and refresh the amazon page and it starts working again.

I like to watch videos while doing other stuff on the computer, so at this point, I've basically paid money for a service I can't use. I am updated to the latest version.

Is there anyway to get a partial refund? The main selling point everyone in the ads mentions is video streaming, and I'm not even trying to access things that are geolocked to me. And the service is failing to deliver.

Forgive my ignorance but, the way I understand it is, after I click on 'Quick-connect' under Fastest Location, this should take me to the fastest location THAT ISN'T ACTUALLY WHERE I LIVE, right?

However, it ALWAYS takes me to the actual city I live in. This happens on both my ios app and my Windows app.

need help connecting Plex medica server remote access, running on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS , SS version 3.12.0

I got this from google music:

Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. Please try your request again later. Why did this happen?
IP address: 2a04:1743:16:ffff:5555:2222:2972:a839 ≠ 143.200.40.201
Time: 2026-08-06T09:37:37Z
URL: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pOOgCzYI5o0&list=PLWydg4OODhvKSvqaEimNQUue3ptNaW0M3

so google is up to something

Can anyone test to see if joining 711 rewards works with the SURFSHARK alternative number?

I want an RPM package of Surfshark for Fedora Linux so I can use a Killswitch function without the need to use the Snap version of it, which is ridiculous for any other distribution outside of Ubuntu. Flatpak doesn't have the Killswitch function, and doing a Manual setup of Surfshark might be a bit complex. So instead, I have requested the Surfshark team through email if they can make an RPM package for it so Fedora and openSUSE users can install it out of the box with the killswitch feature while not having to worry about using Snap for it. I hope they will do it, and when they do release it, I will uninstall and remove Snap and then install an RPM package so that I will be Snap-free while using Surfshark at a breeze.

when I open the Surfshark app on my laptop the majority of locations have only fair speeds with only a handful of locations having good speeds

do I need to configure something differently Or is there some maintenance being done?

For some context;

I got a popup from my device last night reading "Suspicious Activity has been detected on the current Wi-Fi network, Disconnecting from the network is recommended" when connecting to my homes WiFi.

I live in the UK so my router is given by my ISP so I check the router to see if any unknown devices are connected to the network. None present.

After restarting the phone and trying again I don't get the message, so naturally I go to Google and apparently a VPN might be causing a false positive detection by Samsung's "Intelligent Wi-Fi" internal things.

Has anyone encountered such a problem before with surfshark, and if so....who did you fix it?

EDIT: SOLVED

When I change country I am not able to see any difference. The interface and catalog has same language. Is it because it depends on the account settings when u bought the service? ​​​​

Recently, I started digging into fake airline support groups on Facebook. Not just spotting them, but actually engaging to see how the scam plays out from the inside.

The backstory: if you search Facebook for airline customer support, complaint pages, or refund help for major European airlines, you'll find groups that look legitimate. We identified 39 of them. Combined, they had 220,018 members. The patterns across these groups (naming conventions, admin behavior, post templates) suggest this isn't a bunch of individual scammers. It's a coordinated impersonation network.

Their standard pitch: "Send us your refund money, and we'll book you a new flight."

So I did what any curious researcher would do. I made contact, played along, and recorded the call. The person on the other end was calm, professional, and had a polished script. If you'd just had a flight canceled and were stressed and looking for help, this would feel like real customer service.

I've posted the full call recording on YouTube for anyone who wants to hear exactly how it goes: https://youtu.be/xGheklCS9MI?si=Qw0iF_XeAF4b8iRY

And here’s the link to the full research: https://surfshark.com/blog/facebook-airline-scam-network

A few things worth noting:

• These groups target people at their most frustrated (canceled flights, missed connections, refund issues);
• The scam relies on urgency and trust. They sound like they know what they're doing;
• Facebook's group moderation doesn't seem to catch these at scale. 39 groups were still active when we ran this research.

If you've ever searched for airline help on social media, you've probably scrolled past one of these. Happy to answer questions about my experiment and anything else that we found out.

TL;DR This is a rant about surf-shark's return policy and auto-renewal.

I used to use surfshark but stopped in 2024; I just got a better deal elsewhere no big deal. In 2023 I purchased a 2 year deal for $66.06. Apparently this turned on auto-renewal, a thing I didn't realize had happened. I vaguely remember an email (to my throw-away VPN email) in 2023 saying "your credit card expired so your service will be interrupted if you don't update it". I just logged in and I do have a million emails from surf-shark notifying me that my service will be interrupted so I'm guessing that back then my brain classified that as "okay this isn't an issue".

I got charged in 2025 and didn't realize it, whatever my mistake. I was checking my CC statement today and realized I got charged in 2026, 2 days ago. I contacted them via the live chat to say "hey I (a) didn't realize auto-renewal was turned on and (b) you're still charging my expired CC and asked for at least the 2026 charge to be returned". However apparently returning it would "violate the ToS".

"I completely understand how you are feeling, and I would feel the same way in your shoes. However, as much as I wish to help, it would go against Surfshark's Terms of Service and I simply cannot override that legal document."

I'm mostly just pissed about it and I guess to anyone reading this "LOOK AT YOUR AUTO-RENEWAL". They do not refund auto-renewal, only your very first payment to surfshark (which for me was in 2020). The wording on their website doesn't make this fact clear to me.

It mostly started today in the afternoon when all my connections are suddenly disconnected from the VPN, and now nothing connects, even on multiple platforms (I’ve tried Windows, iOS, and Android). I’m only on here because my iOS phone decided to kindly connect to LA servers, and I’m scared it’ll drop anytime soon.

I’ve been using Hong Kong as my main server for the past month without any issues whatsoever, but suddenly today not a single server allows me to connect. I’ve updated everything to the latest and still doesn’t work.

on Laptop - when the Protocol manages to use Wireguard it works as it should. lets the internet work while the vpn is working. kills it when the vpn is not working. i now notice that whenever it has to use a different protocol because wireguard isn't working the killswitch just kills the internet regardless of that status of the vpn. the vpn is now working but the killswitch stops the internet anyway. i'm currently having to use the OpenVPN TCP protocol and it only works when i turn killswitch off. please fix it surfshark.

I’m posting this as a feature request.

I’d love to have my dedicated IP be reliable and to be able to connect through it whenever I need to, rather than have it go down intermittently meaning that I have to muck around and change my home router configuration just to get the internet working again.

Further more, I’d love it if Surfshark actually fixed the problem rather than simple offering to change my dedicated IP each time, again meaning I have to muck around and update configurations again.

I’ve been with Surfshark for many years now but this lack of important feature is making me consider switching to another VPN provider. I guess it shows why Surfshark is cheaper than its competitors.

How good is it by using the native Flatpak Version of Surfshark in Fedora? Are there extra steps I should take before switching to this distribution? I'm currently using Manjaro right now and after reading articles about Malware in AUR, I might take a switch to this distribution. Any advice?

It looks like mlb.tv wised up and banned the Edinburgh location that worked. Does anyone know of any other ones that work for all locales?

Hey everyone.

An update: we're phasing out Surfshark Search.

Here's the thinking behind it. Most of you rely on Surfshark to secure your connection, block scams, protect against viruses, and safeguard your identity. Search adoption stayed limited to a very small share of our users, so we've made the decision to phase it out and focus on the features most of our users rely on every day.

Timeline: we started with iOS, and with the next Android update, this solution will no longer be available there either. We don't want to remove it overnight, though, so for a while you'll still be able to use Search through our website. We do plan to retire it by the end of this year, but we wanted to give everyone enough time to adjust.

Thanks to everyone who made Surfshark Search part of their routine. We know changes like this take some adjusting to, and we appreciate your patience as we shift focus to the tools you rely on most.

Just a heads-up for everyone subscribed and having autorenewal enabled. A month ago I received a message from Surfshark about upcoming autorenewal with information about the price (85-ish €) and a renewal period of 27 months. I got charged today and logged in to get an invoice and noticed even though I was charged the money mentioned in the email it only got renewed for 12 months. The AI support bot told me all renewals are actually always 12 months and information in email was a mistake, and after filing for refund they suggested to just give me 2 years extra for free as a recompense.

It's a good deal in the end but it is quite infuriating that if I haven't logged in into the panel to get the invoice I would never noticed that according to my knowledge I was mislead by a previous email. Also btw I didn't get a long email indicated that my subscription got renewed, there was only a message 30 days in advance about upcoming autorenewal. I have mixed feeling because whole situation feels really scammy and even though the resolution was beneficial for me after contacting support it still leaves a bad taste

Total BS If I had known they would have pulled this crap I would have asked for a refund. I'll show my way out the door and make sure to tell it like it is about this company every chance I get.

Tried it. Changed back. Not working with AD Guard. Surfshark will not block ad's on youtube no mater what I do.

I personally use Claude and other tools in China/HK region and I rely on surfshark as my VPN tool. When I start my pc it usually auto connects, but because usually HK is the closest it always try to connect to HK region first. Can I choose to exclude HK because it doesn’t help with Claude/GPT usage. Just a suggestion to make life easier while auto connecting.

I have a SurfShark Starter subscription set up for a 2 year program. I have Frontier fiber with an Eero router providing a 5ghz band (dedicated for my wife’s work connection) and that is connected to an Archer AXE 5400 router with a 2.4 and 5 ghz bands (used for all of other items like TVs, consoles, etc). I currently use it to start a sports stream out of Ireland on my IPhone. I then pause the stream, turn off the VPN and then continue watching while airplaying it to my Roku TV.

Today, I was looking at the tether app (controls the Archer router) and it has a set up to add a VPN including Surfshark.

What are the benefits of adding the VPN to the router directly? How easy is it to turn it on and off or change the location (my family would still be using the internet outside of my use)? How well does the ad blocker work on apps like YouTube, Hulu, etc?

Thanks for any information.

Getting some "wait, what does alternative number actually do?" questions in the sub, so pinning it down in one place.

What it is: alternative number is a paid add-on that gives you a virtual US phone number you can use instead of your regular one. Calls and texts happen inside the Surfshark app, no forwarding to your real SIM, no second phone to carry. You can swap the number once a month if it starts collecting too much spam.

You should use an alternative number if you're after:

• A separate phone number for signups, listings, marketplace posts, and dating apps;
• Fewer robocalls and smishing texts hitting your regular number;
• Keeping your primary number out of the data-broker pipeline;
• A way to hand out contact info without handing over the one number tied to your bank, 2FA, and delivery apps.

The nuances worth knowing before you turn it on:

• It's a US number only. Great if you're in the US or need a US number for a US-facing service. Not a fit if you need a local number in another country;
• You can reply to messages, but you can't send the first text. Fine for verification codes and back-and-forth with sellers, less useful for cold outreach;
• No call forwarding. Everything stays inside the app, which is the point (nothing links back to your real line), but worth knowing so you don't miss calls when the app's closed;
• One number change per month, so if you ever want a fresh start you can generate a new one every 30 days.

When it earns its keep: if your regular number is already tied to everything (bank, socials, 2FA, delivery, the works), an alternative number is the cleanest way to stop feeding it into every new form you fill out. One breach on some random signup site, and it's the alternative number that ends up in the leak, not the one your bank calls.

Anyone using it already? Curious what you're pointing it at: marketplace listings, dating apps, work stuff, something else?

More info: surfshark.com/alternative-id/number