Surfshark user reviews across platforms and countries: the complaints and the praise

Trustpilot reviewers are largely satisfied (smoothed 3.98 vs the all-VPN 3.66), Google Play sits below its baseline (3.50 vs 3.90), and written App Store reviews are the weakest (3.06 vs 3.54). Failed connections top the complaints nearly everywhere; money, meaning refunds, cancelling and renewals, dominates Trustpilot. None of it moves the VPNRadarLab score of 5.3, built only from published facts.

Averages next to the all-VPN baseline

Smoothing adds 50 average-looking reviews to every VPN's sample, so a small source can't outrank a big one. Listing headlines count star-only taps, which is why they look generous next to written reviews: the Surfshark Trustpilot profile shows a 4.3 TrustScore from 30,781 reviews, the US App Store 4.70 from 132,169 ratings, Google Play 4.6 from 316K.

Country by country: the UAE App Store and the rest

British reviewers are kindest at 3.60, the UAE storefront sits at 1.84: 78% of its reviews are negative, and about three in four of those describe a connection that fails or an app that won't work. That matches the low bypass sub-score covered below. Saudi Arabia follows at 2.48, Egypt has only 11 reviews. On Google Play the six languages land within half a star: French highest at 3.76, Italian lowest at 3.31.

What one- and two-star reviewers complain about

These are approximate keyword counts by VPNRadarLab across six languages; one review can hit several themes:

Two reasons dominate. First the tunnel: apps stuck on "connecting", speeds that crawl, sessions that drop. Second money: on Trustpilot it's nearly everything, with refunds in about 43% of the 42 negative reviews, cancelling in 31%, renewals in 29%. Google Play adds roughly 12% complaining that nothing works without paying, which traces back to the absence of a free plan. If a dead tunnel is your problem, the guide to fixing Surfshark connection problems is the quicker route than a one-star review.

The subscription rules behind the refund anger

Auto-renewal is on by default and the next term's price isn't published, which produces the "charged again" stories. The 30-day money-back guarantee covers the first purchase only and excludes recurring payments, gift and prepaid cards and some resellers. The 7-day trial exists only on 12- and 24-month plans, needs a card, PayPal or Apple Pay, and bills automatically once the week ends. Cancelling means switching off auto-renewal in your account or emailing support; the Surfshark refund rules explain what is covered.

Why people give five stars

About 31% of the positive Trustpilot reviews praise the support staff, with speed second at about 26%. App Store reviewers mostly thank the app for being easy to use (17%) and fast (15%). Android praise tends to be terse: 594 of 1,426 positive Google Play reviews are shorter than 15 characters.

Are the reviews getting better?

On the App Store, clearly yes: yearly averages moved from 2.39 in 2024 to 2.50 in 2025 to 3.32 in 2026, and the last 90 days (3.37) beat the full-year figure. Google Play is flat, 3.63 in 2025 against 3.57 in 2026. Monthly volume grew from 54 collected reviews in October 2025 to 525 in September 2026. The 45 indexed Reddit and forum threads keep returning to value after the first term, routers and Linux, and the device limit.

Why the reviews stay out of the VPNRadarLab score

The score of 5.3 out of 10 (8th of 377) counts only what Surfshark publishes. Its strong points are platform coverage at 9.0, network at 7.2 and security at 6.1. It loses the most on bypass, where NoBorders stealth mode is listed but none of the other anti-censorship protocols the ranking checks, and on privacy at 4.4: connection IP and session times are kept for up to 15 minutes after a session, the company is based in a 9 Eyes country, there's no warrant canary, and sign-up requires an email. Price and terms score 5.7.

Surfshark user review questions

Is Surfshark legit according to its customers?

Four- and five-star reviews outnumber one- and two-star ones on all three platforms: Trustpilot 149 against 42, Google Play 1,426 against 806, the App Store only narrowly, 1,082 against 1,062. The negative ones are mostly about connecting and billing.

Why is the App Store listing so much higher than the written reviews?

The listing counts star-only ratings without text, so it shows 4.70 against a raw written average of 3.05.

Does Surfshark answer bad reviews?

All 42 negative Trustpilot reviews and 777 of 806 negative Google Play reviews get a reply. On the App Store none are recorded.

Are Surfshark reviews improving?

On the App Store, yes: 2.50 in 2025 against 3.32 in 2026. Google Play is roughly flat.

Surfshark reviews: the short version

Trustpilot customers are happy and single out the support team. Written App Store reviews trail the field, dragged down by connection complaints, hardest in the UAE, though the yearly trend is upward. Money anger comes down to renewal that's on by default at an unpublished price, and a refund window that skips renewals. Turn off auto-renewal early and most of that risk disappears. The VPNRadarLab score ignores all of it.