Your Travel VPN for Geo-Unblocking, Privacy & Ad Blocking — Surfshark Review

This post is sponsored by Surfshark — all content and opinions are written by Iju Hsu based on genuine personal experience.

Why use a VPN?

VPNs get mentioned all the time, so I did a bit of research into what they’re actually for. Here are the main practical reasons:

• Privacy: Hides your real IP address so your browsing history can’t be tracked or monitored by third parties
• Security: Data gets encrypted, so using public Wi-Fi won’t expose your sensitive info (like login credentials) to potential interception
• Geo-unblocking: By connecting through servers in different countries, you can access region-locked apps and websites — this is honestly the biggest reason I started using one
• Remote work: The encryption means remote workers can access company data securely from anywhere

Personally, I use a lot of Japanese websites and apps — plenty of games are only available for download in the Japan region, and some Japanese or Taiwanese sites restrict access to local users only. It used to be a real headache. So yes, I started out purely for geo-unblocking.
But over time I’ve become more conscious of privacy too, so now a VPN is just part of my daily routine. (Like right now — I’m writing this post on Louisa’s Wi-Fi with Surfshark running the whole time, haha.)

About Surfshark

Surfshark is pretty well-known in Taiwan, especially if you watch YouTube. XD
It feels like every creator has done a sponsored post for them at some point.

According to Surfshark’s own website, they were founded in 2018 and are headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dutch law is quite protective of user privacy — the government doesn’t mandate data retention, which makes it an ideal base for a VPN provider.

I genuinely appreciate that their site is upfront about both the pros and cons (yes, they’re framing the cons favorably, but at least they address them). It makes it easy to resolve any doubts before signing up.

My honest take after two years with Surfshark

Quick summary of pros and cons:

Pros

• No ties to Chinese capital — no concerns there
• Stable and fast connection
• High success rate for geo-unblocking
• Simple, excellent user experience
• Works seamlessly across platforms and devices
• Ad blocking — including on mobile browsers!
• Huge cashback with ShopBack on first-time subscriptions!!!

Cons

• Occasional geo-unblocking failures (rare)
• After reconnecting on desktop, Facebook sometimes logs you out (might be a VPN-wide issue)

My first Surfshark subscription was back in 2022 — so I’ve been using it for over two years now. Before that I tried a bunch of free VPNs, but they constantly ran into issues: geo-unblocking failures, having to manually enter the IP, clunky interfaces. That’s what pushed me to look into paid options.

Surfshark was naturally on my shortlist since it’s so well-known. What sealed the deal was the ShopBack cashback offer — with Surfshark through ShopBack, you can get incredible cashback that makes it almost half price. I missed the best window and still got around 67% cashback; at peak, ShopBack and Surfshark have reportedly offered up to 120% — meaning you’d get more money back than you paid. That’s not a typo. It’s actually free plus a profit. If that deal comes back around, it’s a no-brainer.

My Surfshark payment history. You can see I subscribed in 2022, and renewed a year later because I was so happy with it. XD

My ShopBack cashback record — NTD 951 at the time, roughly 66% back. If you catch the 120% window it’s an even better deal!

Two years in and I’m still very happy with it.
Geo-unblocking almost never fails, and the connection speed is solid. I can watch a full episode of Running Man on Friday Video with Surfshark running and not a single hiccup. XD

Beyond the technical stuff, as someone who does UX research, I care a lot about the user experience — and Surfshark genuinely delivers. The interface is clean and clear; I’ve almost never gotten stuck or confused. More importantly, I constantly switch between devices and platforms, and Surfshark handles those transitions completely seamlessly. That’s honestly why I’ve developed a real loyalty to it.

There are a couple of minor annoyances though — I’m not sure if these are Surfshark-specific or just things that come with using any VPN.
The biggest one: after connecting to Surfshark, Facebook often signs me out. I assume Facebook treats a new IP as a security trigger and logs you out as a precaution. A little annoying, but manageable.
Occasionally a specific app doesn’t successfully unblock even when the VPN is on — I’ve had that happen with Netflix before.

But overall, the good far outweighs the bad. When my first contract was almost up, I looked around at alternatives — and ended up renewing with Surfshark.

One tip worth knowing: if you cancel your subscription first, they’ll often come back with a better price offer. When I renewed in 2023, I went for a 27-month plan — running through July 2025 — for only USD 12 more than the original 12-month plan. Incredible value. XD
This trick works for plenty of other subscription services too — worth trying.

Surfshark’s interface is genuinely clear and intuitive, with a decent amount of customization. Once you’ve used it for a while, it’s hard to switch to anything else. XD

I was genuinely surprised and excited when Surfshark reached out to collaborate! (Word is that getting a Surfshark sponsorship is a rite of passage for being a “content creator” — does that mean I’m officially one now? XD)
When I found out they wouldn’t review or approve my content — just let me share my honest experience — I said yes immediately. I’m already a genuine fan, so this is really just an excuse to write about something I already recommend to people. XD

Going deeper into Surfshark for this post, I found they update the product regularly and genuinely care about user feedback.

And — I just discovered that Surfshark has an ad-blocking feature!!!
On my desktop browser I already have AdBlock installed so it’s less of a game-changer there. But on mobile browsers? I’ve never found a good solution for blocking ads, and it drives me crazy.
Turns out you just need to go into Settings on both the desktop app and the mobile app, turn on CleanWeb, and ads disappear immediately.

This isn’t on by default — remember to go turn it on!

The two screenshots below compare before and after. Left: CleanWeb off. Right: CleanWeb on (note the Surfshark icon at the top of the screen). The ads are just gone.>//<
The page is so much cleaner — genuinely amazing!

I’m also really intrigued by Surfshark’s newer service, Alternative ID.
It generates a random set of personal details — name, gender, age, address — and the paid tier even includes a phone number (US numbers for now). Perfect for those times when you need to sign up for a sketchy website but don’t want to hand over your real info.
The only downside currently is that Taiwan isn’t one of the supported countries, so most generated profiles are from Western countries. Hoping they add Taiwan support eventually.

Alternative ID can generate a name, birthday, and address — so you never have to worry about your personal data being leaked.

This is my first sponsored post, and I had a lot of fun writing it — because sharing tools I actually use is basically what I do anyway. This just gave me a little extra motivation. 😛
If you’ve been thinking about trying a VPN, Surfshark is genuinely an excellent choice. Highly recommend giving it a shot — and if you’re not in a rush, keep an eye out for a ShopBack cashback window first!

Thanks for reading :D

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