Surfshark Web content blocker on macOS

Web content blocker is a Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ feature that allows you to block access to your chosen website categories. These include, but are not limited to, adult, drug, gambling, and weapon websites.

NOTE: As long as the web content blocker feature is on, you cannot access any of the website categories you selected to block.

Set up Surfshark’s web content blocker

Follow the steps below to enable web content blocker in the Surfshark app:

1. Open the Surfshark app and click the cogwheel icon in the left-side menu to open Settings:
   
   
    
2. Click Web content blocker:
   
   
    
3. Click Set up this device:
   
   
    
4. Type in the name of the device and click Next:
   
   
    
5. Select the content categories you want to block by checking the relevant boxes, then click Save:
   
   
    
6. After completing these steps, you’ll see a notification in the Surfshark app confirming that the Web content blocker is now active:
   
   

Web content blocker troubleshooting on macOS

If the web content blocker isn’t working as expected on macOS, try the troubleshooting steps below to resolve the most common issues.

Another VPN is active

The web content blocker won’t work if another VPN is active on your device. To solve this:

1. Disable any other VPNs you have installed.
2. Restart the web content blocker in the Surfshark app:
   
   

Settings synchronization delay

Your device’s web content blocker settings may not sync immediately with the Surfshark web application. Synchronization can take up to one hour. To solve this:

1. Open the Surfshark app.
2. Navigate to the Web content blocker settings screen to force synchronization.

Browser caching

Due to browser caching, websites may not be blocked immediately after the web content blocker is enabled. Your browser may be displaying a cached version of the page. To solve this:

• Clear your browser’s cache and reload the website.

Bypasser conflict

The web content blocker won’t block any website that’s been added to Bypasser. In this case:

1. Check whether the website is on your Bypasser list.
2. Remove it from Bypasser if you want it to be blocked.

All websites stop loading

If your browser stops loading websites after enabling the web content blocker, try one of the following:

1. Turn off the web content blocker or remove the Surfshark VPN profile from your device settings.
2. Reconnect to the Surfshark app and check if websites load normally.

If websites load correctly after disabling the feature, you can restart the web content blocker:

1. Open the Surfshark app and click the cogwheel icon in the left-side menu to open Settings.
2. Select web content blocker.
3. Toggle the web content blocker back on:
   
   

Category changes are not applied immediately

If you update your web content blocker categories and notice that websites from newly selected categories aren’t blocked right away, DNS caching may be causing the delay. To solve this:

• Reconnect to your network or restart the VPN connection.