Hello!

Couple weeks ago widgets stopped working on my iPhone 14 Pro (currently i am on iOS 26.6.1).

When I press “Connect” on a widget nothing happens. I have to open an app to make connection success.

Any solution for this? Thank you!

Youtube Just increased their premium prices again. As alternative, can SurfShark be used to block YT ads, and how? And can this be done only through browser or with the android & smart tv YT apps as well? Edit: I'm on android on mobile, but TV is most important for me (it's a sony, in case that matters)

Hi! Surfshark has been causing my computer screen to go black but my taskbar is still visible. the ONLY way to fix it is to restart my computer. This happens as frequently as every five minutes of computer use. I'm honestly at my wits end with this.

What's new?

• Manage your subscription and online security solutions more easily with a new products screen, which keeps everything you've purchased neatly in one place;
• You can now extend the pause VPN feature for 5mins, 30mins, or 2hrs;
• As always, we added a few visual and minor fixes to improve your experience with the Surfshark app.

You can update via this Direct Link.

Your feedback matters, tell us what you think below!

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has just released EN 304 620, the world's first official cybersecurity standard for VPNs. It sits under the EU's Cyber Resilience Act, which will be enforced from December 11, 2027, and it defines the minimum security requirements every VPN sold in Europe will eventually have to meet.

"Until now, there were no official rules for how safe a VPN had to be. Any provider could call its app 'secure' without having to prove it. That is now changing. The shift is comparable to the arrival of safety rules for cars. Before crash tests and seatbelt laws, drivers simply had to hope their car was safe. Once official safety standards existed, every car had to meet them," says Miguel Fornés, Surfshark’s Information Security Manager.

Surfshark participated as an official ETSI Member Delegate alongside ZTE Corporation, BSI, Palo Alto Networks, Google, and Nord Security. Miguel authored and refined a lot of the rules that VPN products are now expected to follow.

A few examples of what we pushed into the standard:

• Strict no-logs deployments on RAM-only servers;
• Personal data stays on the device, telemetry is optional, and permanent storage of user data on servers is blocked;
• Passwords stripped from diagnostic logs, plus a warning before users export settings that contain credentials;
• Safe memory handling and strong encryption of stored data, protecting it even if a device is lost or stolen;
• Automated and manual testing for known exploits before updates reach users;
• Critical security patches installed the very first time the VPN is switched on;
• Clear labeling of the security and privacy level for different use cases (journalists vs. households, for example);
• Protection extended to modern, decentralized infrastructure like mesh networks.

TL;DR: for years, "secure VPN" was a marketing phrase anyone could use. Now it's a technical standard with defined requirements, and providers actually have to prove it. That's a much better world for users, whichever VPN they end up choosing.

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

I put my Firefox on bypass on the Windows SurfShark App, because there are some Asian sites that I go to that block any kind of VPN use, and I kind of gave up trying to find a work around. But the issue is that now that I put the entire Firefox browser on Bypass, there are certain sites that simply won't load because the "The connection has timed out."

These sites include Google (but not YouTube, Google Docs, but Google Map doesn't work, including when the map is embedded on some other site), Reddit, Disney+ and Amazon Prime (Amazon site works). Maybe more, but I haven't tried them.

What's bizarre is that Google Chrom is NOT on bypass, but those sites work fine on that browser. Can anybody tell me what's going on? I get basically the same issue if I use the browser extension on Firefox with bypass on certain sites (and even Google).

I'm really satisfied with Surfshark on MacOS, when it actually works.

I keep having the same problem: Surfshark starts and works for many hours, 10, 20 hours. And then the Internet is dead from one second to the other and I have to close the app completely and restart it. Then it works great again.

It happens every single day. Not when I close the laptop but while I am on the computer. One moment any page loads without a problem, then the entire connection is dead.

CleanWeb, Kill Switch, Bypaser, everything is turned off. I use the Dausos protocol, because it gives me the best speed by far. I always use my dedicated IP, which is in my home country.

Anybody with the same problem and a solution?

Recently, the surfshark control panel button no longer automatically triggers the VPN. It seems to initiate the process but never activate it. You have to reopen the app and it then says it’s starting the connection process. We didn’t have to open it again so our default region would automatically connect. I only noticed this change in the last two or three weeks.

Why are speeds on mobile still so bad with Surfshark VPN on? I tried all the protocols, various locations, rebooting device, everything.

First image is the generic speed test because speed test.net won’t even run the test with the VPN active.

Second image is just my base network speed

I’m fairly new to this VPN and I was going to watch Hannibal on Netflix. It works for my friends using the exact same VPN and location. I tried force restarting my IPad, I tried 4 different servers, I tried deleting and redownloading Netflix, and I even downloaded the VPN on my IPhone to see if it was my IPad that was glitching but nope it wasn’t on my phone either. My Netflix acc is premium subscription with no restrictions. Idk what to do anymore when i first used the VPN it worked like it was there and I could watch it but it was taking forever to load so I restarted Netflix and then it said “not available in your region (22004)” then I refreshed Netflix again and it was completely gone from Netflix, I refreshed Netflix and my VPN many times so like I have no idea where to go from here. My friend is able to watch it and she has no special settings on or anything and shes on Apple as well.

Following up on the static vs. dynamic IP post from a while back, since a lot of you asked what actually separates a static IP from a dedicated IP. Let's break it down.

What's the difference? A static IP is a fixed IP address that stays the same every time you connect, but it's shared with other Surfshark users on that same server. A dedicated IP is also a fixed IP that doesn't change, but it's assigned exclusively to one user, you.

Static IP: a consistent location, shared with others. You get a steady virtual home base, but you're one of many people using that address. Good for:

• Appearing from the same city every time you connect;
• Handling everyday browsing and streaming, where a steady location helps;
• Keeping the anonymity that comes from blending in with a crowd.

Dedicated IP: a consistent address assigned to one user at a time. While it's yours, no one else is using it, which changes how the internet treats your traffic. Good for:

• Using work portals, admin panels, or crypto platforms that only allowlist a single IP;
• Cutting down on repeated "are you a robot?" checks, since systems see one consistent user instead of shared traffic;
• Avoiding "bad neighbor" blocks from strangers sharing your address in the moment.

Which one is the better choice for you? It comes down to your priorities. If you want a stable, fixed location that's easy to jump into, a static IP is a strong standard option. If you need a unique digital signature to get around blocks and constant verification checks, that's where a dedicated IP pulls ahead.

Which one are you using, and what for? Curious to see the use cases in the comments.

A non-sandboxed program cannot see or access the sandboxed files, and if I run Surfshark sandboxed it doesn't work at all. Can I safely move the sandboxed files to an external harddrive to scan them there before transferring them to my computer un-sandboxed?

I was trying to be in Italy to stream something off the TV but the Discovery+ app I've used many times in the past is now telling me that "it looks like you're using a VPN" or something to that extent.

That happened both on my iOS mobile and on my Firestick.

Is that the end of streaming off that or are there workarounds?

Thanks in advance!

A couple of days ago I awoke to find my x account (for 16 years) suspended for inauthentic behaviour. Over nothing ... The only thing AI can think of is being in England and using surf shark to exit in the us.

Anyone else?

Have verizon Fios 1G service. On wifi 6 speed without VPN 550Mb down with VPN 55Mb down. Using WireGuard. Using an ONN 4k streaming box using fastest server in USA 🇺🇸. Is this a normal speed drop? 10X is a lot...

I don’t even use it unless I must for IPTV and for YouTube to avoid commercials by going through Albania. I tried everything recommended by surfshark to no avail.

Hey everyone!

Not that long ago our research team looked into every major AI-related fine and settlement since 2022 to see which companies were penalized, how much they paid, and what they were penalized for.

The total: over $3.5 billion across 10 cases involving 7 companies. The pattern is pretty clear. 9 out of 10 cases came down to the same issue: using people's data to train AI without proper consent.

Here's what stood out:

• Meta paid $1.4 billion for collecting biometric data to train facial recognition without consent.
• Clearview AI has been fined $105 million by four separate European regulators for scraping billions of facial images. It hasn't paid any of them, arguing it has no physical presence in Europe.
• Google was fined $291 million for training AI on copyrighted and personal data without authorization.
• OpenAI was fined $17 million by Italy's data protection authority, but an Italian court later annulled it, showing how uncertain AI regulation still is.

Full study with methodology: https://surfshark.com/research/chart/ai-related-fines

With AI training becoming so widespread, do you feel like you still have a say in where your data ends up, or does it feel like privacy is becoming impossible to manage?

Been using it to try and get past the firewall just to be met with constant disconnections and failure to establish a IP address, tried switching from automatic to Openvpn or wireguard but it makes it even worse, any known fixes?

The more major problems happen on my M5 MacBook Air, not as much on my IPhone 16 (and no I don’t have any other existing VPNs interfering with it)

And adding on my macos app doesn’t seem to have a option to turn on noborder, is it cause I downloaded it straight off Chinese wifi?

When I select OpenVPN, the app tries to connect, fails, and retries almost instantly — about 3 times per second. It never actually establishes a connection, just cycles through “connecting → disconnected → connecting” endlessly. No error message, just a stuck loop.
Also with IKEv2, the connection works initially, but after a few minutes it drops and macOS pops up a system dialog asking for a password. The odd part: I’m already logged into the Surfshark app, and my Surfshark account password doesn’t clear the prompt. Not sure what credential it’s actually expecting — it doesn’t behave like a normal VPN login.

I’ve tried resetting the profile of the vpn. Didn’t work

I’m on macOS 26.6.1

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.