On the Surfshark website, the official description of the Kill Switch is the following:
If your VPN connection drops unexpectedly, Kill Switch disconnects you from the internet, safeguarding your privacy.
Its safe to say that’s how most people would expect a Kill Switch to work.
However, the Surfshark app preferences window via the MacOS application describes it like so:
Kill Switch reconnects you and maintains the connection in case of any disruptions
These are obviously two very different things (what does the MacOS description even mean?). I tested the Kill Switch, and I was able to access the internet even when not connected to the VPN.
This is exactly right. If you use the Surfshark Mac client, you should not expect the kill switch to be of any assistance. It does not stop the connection.
use openVPN more of a solid connection I never have any issues it reissues your encrypted cert when you’re internet times out
I know this is an old(ish) post, but just for anyone who finds this thread while searching around as I did: download Surfshark for Mac directly from their website as opposed to through the App Store. It will prompt you to install a Helper Tool and this enables an actual Kill Switch (the ‘Kill Switch reconnects you and maintains the connection in case of any disruptions’ text is replaced by ‘Disable internet access if VPN connection suddenly drops’ in the app). IMO it’s very misleading for Surfshark to label the auto-reconnect as a ‘Kill Switch’ in the App Store version - it isn’t a Kill Switch at all! It should just be called ‘Reconnect Automatically’ or something like that, with a message prompting users to download the DMG version if they want access to the protection of a real Kill Switch.
This might be so, but it does not answer the original question- why does the macOS app say it has “Kill Switch”, when what it has is clearly the opposite, I.e., a software function that keeps your connection open when the VPN drops for whatever reason?
I downloaded it through the website and didn’t see anything about a helper tool and the app still has the nonfunctional killswitch, do you know if there’s any other way to get the helper tool or anything sprcific I need to do?
Today, after restarting my computer, I received on my Mac a pop-up message from Surfshark asking permission to installer a helper tool for operation of the kill switch. I’ve had Surfshark for a while now, and so it’s odd that this is the first time I received such a request. I’m guessing the kill switch was never property working in the past.