Surf Shack: Laid-Back Living by the Water

Product Information

A Static IP list lets you connect to locations in Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, UK, and the US, to receive a fixed IP from each one (that is, your IP will be from the country you choose, but it'll be the same every time you connect). Lovely atmosphere and friendly staff. There is not a single thing I can comment on that needed improving. What a hidden... gem

Bryan (The older guy!) is your paddleboarding guru with years of experience. He's the guy you want to chat with when you have questions or need advice. With 3200+ servers in 100 countries, you’re sure to find a server nearby. With thousands of servers available at any point, they’re unlikely to be crowded, which ensures a lightning-fast connection. Surfshark's iOS app also shares a similar look and feel to its desktop counterpart (Image credit: Surfshark)Our more extreme kill switch testing did, unfortunately, cause serious problems for the Surfshark app (Image credit: Surfshark) MacOS and Mac apps Free VPNs will collect and sell your personal data for money and bombard you with ads while providing a mediocre connection. Why? Because every VPN service needs to maintain its staff and service, and it’s either your data and ads or a simple subscription. It's great to see a provider put itself through this level of scrutiny. Surfshark clearly understands the transparency value of audits, and that gives me hope there will be more on the way. Windows apps The app even has a handy feature that isn’t available on Windows—the ability to auto-connect to the VPN whenever you access untrusted networks.

My tests didn't stop there, though. Ramping them up, I found that, in the worst-case scenario where Surfshark's Windows service closed, the app prompted me to restart the service (and gave me a button to do just that.) However, the app didn't seem to notice that the VPN had dropped and continued to display a ‘Protected’ message. This isn't ideal—you could carry on using your device for hours and think you were safe, when in fact the VPN had failed and you weren’t protected at all. Problem: With Wi-Fi devices like phones, PCs, Roombas, smart TVs, and fridges, you’re easily exposed to cyberthreats. Just saying that you’re secure doesn’t mean much unless you can prove it. And we don’t like empty talk, so we have had some of the best independent auditors test our services . Updates since our last review include the results of a no-logging audit by Deloitte, which confirmed Surfshark is living up to its promises (more detail below.)

A VPN app for Windows is VPN software on Microsoft’s operating system. This means all online data transmitted from the Windows device is encrypted. Surfshark's Windows app looks a little more complex than most—sporting tabs, icons, lists, and more—but it works much like any other VPN. There's a Connect button to access your nearest server, a location list showing other servers, plus a Settings icon which leads to some useful extras.

I measured Surfshark's performance from a US location and a UK data center with a 1 Gbps connection, giving me plenty of scope to see just what the service could do. The Nook St Ivesis perfectly located so you are close to the heart of St Ives. Just a few seconds walk and you are right on the front and soaking up the atmosphere.Surfshark One also gives you an Avira-powered antivirus, but it's a basic affair (Image credit: Surfshark) There's real depth here. Android apps can see through most VPNs by requesting your physical location, but not Surfshark—a GPS Spoofing feature enables it to return the coordinates of your chosen VPN server. Taking a worst-case example of going from the UK to Australia, then San Francisco, saw speeds average only 70 Mbps. This is the user interface of Surfshark's Android app (Image credit: Surfshark) Surfshark mobile apps Excellent food and great place to meet up for lunch and also great ice cream and lots of flavours to choose from.

Whether you're on vacation or one of our locals, we've got ya covered. With the best in surf shop tees, sweats, hats, swimwear and the hottest in surf inspired apparel & beach house items. Hit the waves with one of our boards. More of a landlubber? We carry skate boards! We'd love to see you ... You're using OpenVPN: unfortunately, Surfshark's OpenVPN speeds were less than impressive. You'll still be able to browse the web and watch content, but not for activities that are more resource-intensive. Mobile VPN apps can be far more basic than their desktop cousins, but Surfshark's Android version is surprisingly similar. Sure, it rearranges the interface a little to work better on smaller screens, but otherwise, it has the same protocol support, kill switch, static IP, Multi-Hop, and other features that we saw on the desktop.The service is excellent on the technical essentials, including strong AES-256-GCM encryption, WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 support, an audited no-logs policy, and a kill switch that'll protect you if the VPN connection drops. Virtual locations won't work for everyone, though. If your VPN says it supports Hong Kong, but it's a virtual location and the servers are actually based in New York, then that's inevitably going to impact your speeds. Surfer or not, you’ve probably found yourself enchanted at one time or another by the thought of a life lived near the water. The ocean—and the free-spirited, wind-blown existence of days spent near its shore—calls to us all. It’s universal, human nature, almost like some sort of ancestral instinct. It’s why so many of us daydream about beach vacations or sailing trips or long weekends lazed away on sun-kissed coasts. There are plenty of configuration options, and they all worked well for us, plus it's great to see a VPN provider deliver this level of split tunneling support on the desktop. (Many VPNs have split tunneling-type systems on Windows—ExpressVPN, Hotspot Shield, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, ProtonVPN—but several reserve the feature for their mobile apps). Surfshark passed the audit, with Deloitte concluding that its server setup and management "is properly prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with Surfshark’s description of its no-logs policy."