I have used VPNs for over a decade, and as I have sampled each offering, I have always been struck by how different each offering can be.
After all, you would expect a VPN to be quite simple: move data through another server, anonymize it and improve security.
How much more could they add? It turns out to be quite a lot.
I’ve found that Surfshark has really excelled itself in this regard lately, offering not only a solid VPN but also some special features that really make it stand out from the crowd.
Here are six of my favorite Surfshark features.
MultiHop servers
What’s better than one VPN? Two! Well, two VPN servers, to be precise.
When you use a VPN, your traffic is sent through a VPN server, making it harder to track your location and steal your data.
This is a solid way to keep yourself safe online, but Surfshark has doubled that down by doubling the number of VPN servers you use as part of their MultiHop feature.
It’s a simple feature: instead of sending your data through one VPN server, it goes through two, making it even harder to keep track of your data and making you even more secure.
This will increase the lag you get because your data is now running through two servers instead of one. So just save this for when you are more vulnerable than normal, for example when you are connected to a public network.
GPS bridging
A VPN’s ability to change where you appear to be is one of the most crucial elements of any VPN. It is one of the most used parts of any VPN and we all know what it is usually used for.
But there are many legitimate uses of IP spoofing. For example, Imgur was recently blocked in Britain because of new laws, which can be very annoying. Fortunately, VPNs help you get around this by pretending to be somewhere else by spoofing your IP and GPS position.
There is a downside to that. If you want to use Uber or any other app that uses your live GPS location, that’s a problem if you appear to be in Kuala Lumpur.
Fortunately, Surfshark has thought of this and introduced a GPS override. Again, this is a fairly simple function. It just means your GPS location won’t change for certain apps, which is useful if you need to call an Uber while staying protected on public WiFi.
Whitelist split tunneling
Similar to the feature above, split tunneling lets you choose whether an app uses the VPN at all.
So if you have a trusted app like a secure messaging app like Signal, you can disable your VPN for that app only, while keeping it enabled for others.
This keeps the traffic to the trusted app nice and fast, while preserving the bandwidth of your VPN for the apps you need it for.
A static IP address, so websites know it’s you
One of the problems with VPNs is that they use a different IP address each time.
That means you activate the unknown location protection for every secure app or website you visit. That means your banking app will have to ask you questions or send you a text or email to confirm it’s you.
That is very safe, and we approve of that. Yet it is also extremely annoying to have to do it every time if you are still on the same phone or browser.
By choosing Surfshark’s static IP address you can connect to the same server every time, meaning it will look the same every time, eliminating those annoying extra hurdles.
Bypassing censorship
Certain countries, such as China, have strict censorship of the internet, meaning the internet you see in China may not be the same as elsewhere.
Surfshark’s NoBorders mode puts an end to that. When enabled, censorship barriers melt away, opening up access to the Internet as intended: wild and free.
This feature has been removed in macOS, which could mean it will disappear soon – and that would be a huge shame.
Built-in search function
If you value your privacy, you’re probably not keen on it how much data Google Search arises from your use.
Surfshark has its own built-in search engine, based on Bing’s API. Surfshark Search, formerly known as BlindSearch, (come on people, “Searchshark” was right there) removes the trackers you hate, and throws away ads for good measure.
Surfshark is more than just a VPN
Surfshark is a good VPN – a very good VPN actually. But it’s not just a VPN. It is an ad blocker, a search engine and also a comprehensive privacy shield. And honestly, I didn’t really expect it to be as strong as it was.
That said, you’ll need to be on the higher two tiers to access most of these features, and costs for that start from $18 per month. If your privacy is worth protecting, it’s worth paying for it.
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