Surfshark lists several reasons for using cookies: keeping the Website working efficiently and securely, detecting and preventing fraud, remembering your preferences and recognizing you as a returning visitor, analyzing your habits to personalize content, gathering statistics on Website traffic and usage, and displaying customized advertisements more relevant to your interests.
Supporting quotations
detect and prevent fraud effectively
Cookies also enable us to remember your preferences and recognize you as a returning visitor, tailoring your browsing experience by analyzing your habits and personalizing content.
we gather statistical information on Website traffic and usage, and to display customized advertisements that are more relevant to your interests
Qualifications & exceptions
This passage gives overall reasons only; it does not say which individual cookie serves which reason (the cookie tables in section 3 and the categories in section 2 do that in part).
Not stated here
The last sentence is grammatically loose (it says Surfshark gathers statistical information and 'to display customized advertisements'); read as a statement that cookies are used for both statistics and customized advertising.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Analytic cookies track browsing behavior to improve the Website
Analytic cookies help Surfshark understand your browsing behavior: which parts of the Website you find most engaging and where you hit errors. Surfshark says it uses this to improve the Website and analyze its performance.
Supporting quotations
These cookies help us to understand your browsing behavior. They track which parts of our Website you find most engaging and flag any areas where you hit an error. They allow us to make improvements to our Website and analyze their performance.
Not stated here
This passage does not say whether analytic cookies need consent.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Analytic cookies: session status and cross-session attributes
Two cookies are categorized Analytic: _sp_ses.{{DOMAIN HASH}} (30 minutes) is described as determining the current session authentication status, and _sp_id.{{DOMAIN HASH}} (13 months) as persisting attributes across sessions.
Supporting quotations
_sp_ses.{{DOMAIN HASH}} 30 minutes Surfshark Determines the current session authentication status Analytic
_sp_id.{{DOMAIN HASH}} 13 months Surfshark Persists attributes across sessions Analytic
Qualifications & exceptions
The cookie names contain a {{DOMAIN HASH}} placeholder as printed in the source.
Not stated here
The listed purposes (authentication status, persisting attributes) do not say which attributes are kept or exactly what analytics results; the Analytic category is the table's own label.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Survey, pop-up and interface-experiment cookies
Six first-party cookies record interactions with surveys, pop-ups and experiments, all labeled Functional: surfshark-on-exit-dialog-shown and surfshark-intent-survey-shown (1 year, exit and intent surveys), surfshark-purchase-survey-showed (1 year, order-related exit survey), surfshark-sticky-cta-closed (session, engagement with promotional pop-ups), surfshark-experiments (1 year, session data for interface optimization research) and surfshark-experiments-exclude (session, session segmentation for interface optimization).
Supporting quotations
surfshark-on-exit-dialog-shown 1 year Surfshark Stores interactions with exit surveys Functional
surfshark-intent-survey-shown 1 year Surfshark Stores session data related to intent surveys Functional
surfshark-purchase-survey-showed 1 year Surfshark Stores interaction data for order-related exit survey Functional
surfshark-sticky-cta-closed Session Surfshark Captures engagement data for promotional pop-ups Functional
surfshark-experiments 1 year Surfshark Maintains session data for interface optimization research Functional
surfshark-experiments-exclude Session Surfshark Manages session segmentation for interface optimization Functional
Qualifications & exceptions
Four of the six last one year; the other two are session cookies.
Not stated here
The table does not say how survey or experiment data is used beyond the stated purposes.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Notification, setup guide, upgrade screen and app-download cookies
Six Functional first-party cookies remember interface state: surfshark-hide-renewal-off-notification and surfshark-hide-renewal-not-supported-notification (30 days, engagement with auto-renewal notifications), surfshark-hide-setup-guide (1 year, setup guide interactions), surfshark-skip-upgrade (14 days, upgrade screen interactions), surfshark-app-auto-download-triggered (1 year, whether an automatic application download started) and surfshark-hide-manual-setup-startup (1 year, actions on the setup screen).
Supporting quotations
surfshark-hide-renewal-off-notification 30 days Surfshark Stores engagement status for auto-renewal notification Functional
surfshark-hide-renewal-not-supported-notification 30 days Surfshark Stores engagement status for auto-renewal notification Functional
surfshark-hide-setup-guide 1 year Surfshark Stores interactions within the setup guide Functional
surfshark-skip-upgrade 14 days Surfshark Stores interactions with upgrade screen Functional
surfshark-app-auto-download-triggered 1 year Surfshark Stores the initiation status of automatic application downloads Functional
surfshark-hide-manual-setup-startup 1 year Surfshark Stores information about actions on setup screen Functional
Qualifications & exceptions
Expiries range from 14 days to 1 year.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Onboarding and upgrade redirect cookies
Three first-party session cookies handle navigation: surfshark-product (redirects back to the product after an additional product purchase, Functional), surfshark-upgrade-initially-skipped (session redirection after an upgrade transaction, Functional) and surfshark-onboarding-task (navigation state between onboarding tasks, Essential).
Supporting quotations
surfshark-product Session Surfshark Redirects back to product after additional product purchase Functional
surfshark-onboarding-task Session Surfshark Manages navigation state between onboarding tasks Essential
surfshark-upgrade-initially-skipped Session Surfshark Manages session redirection following an upgrade transaction Functional
Qualifications & exceptions
All three expire at the end of the session.
Not stated here
Another onboarding-related cookie, surfshark-onboarding-upgrade-visited, appears in the final table row.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Error and fallback-workflow cookies
Two Functional first-party session cookies handle errors: surfshark-expired-url (stores session errors to facilitate redirection to fallback workflows) and surfshark-activate-user-error (indicates errors to facilitate redirection to fallback workflows).
Supporting quotations
surfshark-expired-url Session Surfshark Stores session errors to facilitate redirection to fallback workflows Functional
surfshark-activate-user-error Session Surfshark Indicates errors to facilitate redirection to fallback workflows Functional
Qualifications & exceptions
Both are session cookies.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Support chat continuity cookie
The first-party session cookie surfshark-chat-session (Functional) maintains support chat continuity during site navigation.
Supporting quotations
surfshark-chat-session Session Surfshark Maintains support chat continuity during site navigation Functional
Qualifications & exceptions
Session cookie.
Use & Processing · Company practice
The Website does not respond to do-not-track signals
Asked whether the Website responds to do-not-track signals, Surfshark answers 'Currently, it doesn't.' It says it does not recognize automated browser signals regarding tracking mechanisms, which may include do-not-track instructions.
Supporting quotations
Does our website respond to do-not-track signals?
Currently, it doesn’t.
At this time, Surfshark does not recognize automated browser signals regarding tracking mechanisms, which may include “do-not-track” instructions.
Qualifications & exceptions
Stated as the current position ('At this time'), which may change.
The statement concerns automated browser signals; the policy offers browser cookie settings as the alternative.
Not stated here
The policy does not describe what happens to a request that carries a do-not-track signal beyond saying it is not recognized.