Installing Surge on macOS

Surge is a Mac app distributed as a signed and notarized DMG. Installation takes about a minute.

System requirements

Surge runs on macOS 11 Big Sur and later. We support both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Install Surge

1. Download Surge Browser.
2. When the download finishes, open the DMG file.
3. Drag the Surge Browser icon into your Applications folder.
4. Open Applications and double-click Surge Browser to launch it.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Your first launch

The first time you open Surge, you'll go through three steps: sign in, import, and then you're browsing.

1. Sign in to create your User Cooperative account

Surge will open a sign-in screen in your browser. Click Sign up at the bottom to create a new account.

Your User Cooperative account is what links your browsing to your dividends. It's secured by Clerk, and you'll be asked to grant Surge access to your basic profile and email so it can identify you.

2. Import from another browser

After signing in, Surge will offer to import your data from another browser. Pick the browser you're switching from, choose what to bring over, and click Import. If you'd rather do this later, click Skip for now.

What you can import depends on which browser you're coming from. See the next few articles for details.

3. Start browsing

Once import finishes, you'll see a summary of what came over (history, bookmarks, passwords, etc.). Click Start browsing and you're done. Every line item in your imported history counts as a click. Every URL you visit from this point on counts as a click. Clicks earn you User Cooperative dividends.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Setting Surge as your default browser

If you want links from emails, messages, and other apps to open in Surge, set it as your default browser.

From Surge

1. Open Surge.
2. Go to Settings → Default browser.
3. Click Make default.

From macOS System Settings

1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to Desktop & Dock.
3. Scroll to Default web browser and choose Surge Browser.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Importing from Chrome, Edge, Brave, and other Chromium browsers

Surge is built on Chromium, so it can import the most data from other Chromium browsers, like Chrome, Edge and Brave.

What you can import

From Chromium browsers, Surge can import:

• Clicks (browsing history) — these go toward your User Cooperative dividends
• Autofill form data
• Bookmarks
• Extensions
• Passwords
• Payment methods (see the note below)
• Search engines and shortcuts

If you're coming from Chrome specifically, you can also import your profile image. The other Chromium browsers don't expose this.

How to import

1. On first launch, choose your browser from the dropdown.
2. Confirm the items you'd like to bring over (everything is selected by default).
3. Click Import.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Importing from Firefox

Firefox stores some data in formats Surge can't read directly, so the process has an extra step for passwords.

What you can import

From Firefox, Surge can import:

• Clicks (browsing history) — these go toward your User Cooperative dividends
• Autofill form data
• Bookmarks
• Search engines and shortcut

Firefox doesn't expose payment methods, extensions, or profile images to other browsers, so those aren't importable.

How to import the basics

1. On first launch, choose Firefox from the dropdown.
2. Confirm the items you'd like to bring over.
3. Click Import.

Importing passwords from Firefox (CSV)

Passwords come over separately, via a CSV file you export from Firefox first.

1. Open Firefox and navigate to about:logins.
2. Click the three small dots (…) in the upper-right corner.
3. Select Export Passwords… from the menu.
4. Confirm the format is CSV Document.
5. Click Export and save the file somewhere you can find it.
6. In Surge, go to Settings → Autofill and passwords → Password Manager and click Import passwords.
7. Select the CSV file you just exported.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Importing from Safari

Safari keeps its data inside protected macOS folders, so importing requires granting Surge Full Disk Access and a quick restart.

What you can import

From Safari, Surge can import:

• Clicks (browsing history) — these go toward your User Cooperative dividends
• Bookmarks

Safari doesn't expose autofill, extensions, payment methods, or search engines to other browsers. Passwords come over separately. See below.

Grant Full Disk Access

1. On first launch, choose Safari from the dropdown.
2. Surge will prompt you to grant Full Disk Access and provide a deep link that opens the right pane in System Settings.
3. In the Full Disk Access pane, toggle Surge Browser on. macOS will ask for your password.
4. Quit and reopen Surge for the change to take effect.
5. Return to the import screen and click Import.

Importing passwords from Safari (CSV)

Safari passwords are stored in your iCloud Keychain and aren't directly readable, so the import goes through a CSV export from macOS.

1. Open Autofill & Passwords in System Settings.
2. Click the Open Passwords button on the top-right of the menu.
3. Provide your authentication to open Passwords.
4. When Passwords opens, go to File → Export All Passwords to File…
5. Click Save.
6. In Surge, go to Settings → Autofill and passwords → Password Manager and click Import passwords.
7. Select the CSV file you just exported.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Importing from more than one browser

The first-launch import only lets you pick one browser. To bring data over from additional browsers later, you can run the import again from Settings.

How to import again

1. Open Settings → You and User Cooperative → Import data from another browser.
2. Pick the browser you'd like to import from.
3. Confirm the items you'd like to bring over.
4. Click Import.

You can repeat this as many times as you need.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Your clicks, your history, your dividends

Clicks and history sound like the same thing. They're related, but not identical, and the difference matters for what you earn.

What's a click?

A click is any URL you navigate to while signed in to Surge Browser. Every click you make adds to your lifetime click count, which determines your User Cooperative dividends. More clicks, more dividends.

What's history?

Your history is the local record of pages you've visited, viewable at surge://history. Surge stores roughly 90 days of history locally to keep things fast and to save disk space on your Mac.

History captures everything Surge records, including sessions where you're signed out. Signed-out activity doesn't count toward your lifetime clicks.

When the two numbers disagree

Your history and your lifetime click count can diverge for a few reasons:

• History only shows the last ~90 days. Your lifetime click count goes back to the day you joined.
• Clearing local history doesn't clear your lifetime click count. Those clicks are stored separately and stay attributed to you.
• If you browse while signed out, those visits appear in history but don't add to your lifetime clicks.
• Imported clicks add to your lifetime count, even if those URLs aren't in your local history.

Clearing history vs. deleting clicks

These are two different actions:

Clearing history removes pages from your local 90-day history, the same way it does in any other browser. It doesn't touch your lifetime click count, and it doesn't affect your dividends.

Deleting clicks removes records from your lifetime click count itself. This isn't something you can do from inside Surge. You need to contact us to request it. Deleting clicks will reduce the dividends you've earned from those clicks.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Adding a second profile

Each User Cooperative account is tied to one email address. To run a second profile in Surge, you'll create a second account with a different email.

Create the second profile

1. Click your profile bubble in the top-right corner of Surge.
2. Choose Sign out of Surge Browser.
3. Surge will return you to the sign-in screen. Click Sign up at the bottom to create a new account with a different email address.
4. Once signed in, open Settings → You and User Cooperative → Import data from another browser to bring data into the new profile.

Clearing cookies for the sign-in domain

To get a fresh sign-in screen, clear Clerk's cookies:

1. Open Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → View permissions and data stored across sites.
2. Search for clerk.usercooperative.com.
3. Click the trash icon next to the result.
4. Sign in again, and you'll see the full sign-in screen with a Sign up option at the bottom.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

What is User Cooperative?

User Cooperative is a wholly user-owned and -governed tech company, and that means we exist for the sole benefit of our users.

The short version

Tech companies are capitalized by their users. We're owned by ours. Anyone who uses one of our services is an owner, and all users have equal ownership rights.

Surge Browser is the first product we've built. Over time, we plan to add more.

What "cooperative" actually means here

A cooperative is a business that's owned by its patrons instead of shareholders. Our profits go back to our users in proportion to how much they've used our services. It's how cooperatives have worked for centuries — credit unions, electric utility co-ops, REI, etc. — and it's how we work too.

The legal piece

We're incorporated in Washington State as a Miscellaneous and Mutual Corporation. Our Articles of Incorporation are what make us user-owned. They require that all profits go back to our users in proportion to their use of our services and each user gets one vote in governing us. Our Articles can only be modified by our users.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

How we're funded

We're funded by voluntary contributions from our users and revenue from our business. We don't accept money from outside investors, and we never will.

Source of funds

We're funded by voluntary contributions from natural private individuals who are our users or intend to be users, and revenue from our business. We don't accept money from outside investors or anyone else who would dilute the whole, de facto ownership and control our users have, and we never will.

That's deliberate. Organizations tend to serve the interests of their funders, either by fiduciary obligation or favoritism. Our approach to funding ensures that we work solely for the benefit of our users and no one else.

Use of funds

Tools and infrastructure. Building and maintaining a web browser is technically demanding work. A portion of our funds goes toward the software subscriptions, developer hardware, and web hosting that keep Surge Browser running and in development for other platforms.

Marketing and growth. A tech company's strength comes from its user community. A portion of our funds goes toward conferences, meetings, and other promotional events meant to build such a community.

The long-term plan

User contributions keep us going today, but they're a bridge to financial sustainability, not the destination.

Surge Browser's long-term business model incorporates the same revenue streams that make other tech companies highly profitable. The planned revenue streams are search engine royalties, which are the fees browser makers collect from search engines, like Google, for being set as a default, and targeted ads in places like new tab backgrounds. All profits go back to our users in proportion to their clicks.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

How dividends work

We pay out all our profits and gains to our users in proportion to their clicks on our services. These payouts are called patronage dividends.

What's a dividend?

Patronage dividends are how cooperatives pay out their profits to their owners. Cooperative profits get paid out to their owners in proportion to a specific measure of their service use.

For Surge Browser, your use is measured in clicks, which are the unique URLs you navigate to while signed in. The more you browse, the larger your share of any payout.

When dividends are paid out

Dividends are paid out in two situations:

• A calendar-year profit. If we end a year with profit left over after expenses and reserves, that profit is divided among our users in proportion to their use that year.
• A one-time liquidity event. If we're ever acquired or dissolved, the proceeds are divided among our users in proportion to their lifetime use.

Voluntary contributions from our users are excluded from our profit calculation.

The documents that govern this

Together, our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws govern how we distribute dividends. They're the legal commitment behind the summary above.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

How users govern the co-op

Ownership isn't just about getting a share of the profits — it's about having a say in how the company is run. As a user, you have one.

What users decide

Our users elect the Board of Directors, which sets the company's direction and oversees the people who run it day to day. Users also have rights to inspect company records, propose changes to the bylaws, and vote on major decisions, like a sale or dissolution. One user, one vote, majority rules.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Chipping in

We're not profitable yet. Until we are, voluntary contributions from our users are what keep us building. Chipping in is how you can help.

What chipping in is

A chip-in is a voluntary financial contribution from a private individual who is a user, or intends to become a user, to cover our operating costs. It goes into the same pot as everything else: tools, infrastructure, marketing, and the people doing the work.

When you chip in, you become a registered User Cooperative user, with the same ownership rights as every other user.

How to chip in

Visit usercooperative.com/chip-in. You can choose between a recurring monthly contribution or a one-time contribution, in any amount greater than $1.

Why the banner keeps coming back

Surge shows a chip-in reminder banner about once a week. There's no way to dismiss it permanently, and that's deliberate. Until we have enough recurring revenue to operate without contributions, we need to keep asking. When we're financially sustainable, the banner will go away.

About DRM video

You may notice the chip-in banner appears more prominently on streaming sites that use DRM-protected video. That's because Surge doesn't currently support DRM playback. The licensing is expensive, and we'd rather put that money toward expanding to other platforms and growing our user community. Most people we've talked to watch DRM content on other devices anyway, like a TV. If that calculus changes, we'll revisit. For now, the banner on those sites is a reminder of the same ask: chip in if you'd like us to do more.

Updating or canceling a monthly contribution

You can update or cancel your monthly contribution at any time. Two ways to do it:

• Access our contribution portal.
• Click Manage your subscription in any of the payment notifications or receipts you receive.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Managing your User Cooperative account

Your User Cooperative account is created automatically when you sign up. To change anything about it, including deleting it, you'll need to contact us.

What's in your account

When you sign up, we create a User Cooperative account tied to your email address. It links your browsing activity to you so we can credit you for your clicks. We don't currently have a self-service way to edit your account information from inside Surge or on our website.

Updating your account info

To update your email address or any other account information, contact us and let us know what you'd like to change.

Deleting your user profile

To delete your user profile entirely, contact us and request deletion.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Tabs and windows

Surge handles tabs and windows the way you'd expect from any modern browser. Here's a quick reference.

Opening, closing, and switching tabs

• New tab: click the + button to the right of your tabs, or press ⌘T.
• Close a tab: click the × on the tab, or press ⌘W.
• Reopen a closed tab: press ⌘⇧T. Surge remembers the last several tabs you closed.
• Switch tabs: click a tab to switch to it, or press ⌘⌥→ and ⌘⌥← to cycle through them.
• Jump to a specific tab: ⌘1 through ⌘8 selects the first through eighth tab. ⌘9 jumps to the last tab.

Pinning and muting

Right-click any tab to pin it (so it stays at the left edge of your tab bar across sessions) or mute it (so you don't hear a site that's playing audio).

Tab groups

Tab groups let you collect related tabs under a colored, named label, which is useful for separating work tabs from personal tabs or for keeping a research project together. To create one:

1. Right-click a tab and choose Add tab to new group.
2. Name the group and pick a color.
3. Drag other tabs onto the group label to add them.

Click the group label to collapse or expand the group.

Windows

• New window: ⌘N.
• New incognito window: ⌘⇧N. See Incognito mode.
• Move a tab to a new window: drag it out of the tab bar.
• Combine windows: drag a tab from one window onto another window's tab bar.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Bookmarks and the bookmarks bar

Bookmarks save a page so you can return to it later. Surge keeps yours in folders, and shows the ones you visit most on a bar under the address bar.

Saving a bookmark

• Click the star on the right side of the address bar, or press ⌘D.
• Give the bookmark a name and choose a folder to save it in.
• Click Done.

Showing the bookmarks bar

The bookmarks bar sits under the address bar and gives you one-click access to your favorites. To show or hide it, press ⌘⇧B, or go to View → Always show bookmarks bar.

Organizing bookmarks

Open the Bookmark Manager with ⌘⌥B, or go to Bookmarks → Bookmark manager. From there you can:

• Drag bookmarks between folders.
• Create new folders to group related bookmarks.
• Rename or delete bookmarks.
• Search across all your bookmarks.

Importing bookmarks from another browser

If you haven't already, you can pull bookmarks in from another browser. See the import articles in Getting started for how each browser works.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

History

Your history is the local record of pages you've visited. Open it at surge://history or by pressing ⌘Y.

What's in your history

Surge stores roughly 90 days of browsing history on your Mac. You can search across it, jump back to any page, or delete individual entries.

Searching your history

Type into the search box at the top of surge://history to find pages by title or URL.

Clearing history

1. Open surge://history.
2. Click Clear browsing data in the left sidebar, or press ⌘⇧⌫.
3. Choose what to clear and over what time range, then click Clear data.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Downloads

Surge saves downloaded files to your ~/Downloads folder by default and shows recent downloads in a tray at the bottom of the window.

Where your downloads go

By default, every file you download goes to your Mac's Downloads folder (~/Downloads). To change the default location:

1. Open Settings → Downloads.
2. Click Change next to the location and choose a different folder.

You can also turn on Ask where to save each file before downloading in the same settings panel if you'd rather pick a location every time.

Viewing your downloads

Open surge://downloads or press ⌘⇧J to see everything you've downloaded recently. From there you can:

• Open a file by clicking its name.
• Show a file in Finder by clicking Show in Finder.
• Remove a file from the list (without deleting the file from your Mac) by clicking the × next to it.

Resuming an interrupted download

If a download fails or gets interrupted, open the downloads page and click Resume. Surge will try to pick up where it left off, as long as the file is still available on the server.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

The address bar and search engines

The address bar at the top of every Surge window is also your search bar. Type a URL to go to a page, or type anything else to search.

Searching from the address bar

Anything that isn't a URL gets sent to your default search engine. Surge uses Google as the default; you can change this in Settings.

Changing your default search engine

1. Open Settings → Search engine.
2. Pick a different engine from the dropdown — Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and Ecosia are available by default.

Adding a custom search engine

You can also add custom search engines, including site-specific ones (so you can search GitHub or Wikipedia from the address bar with a keyword).

1. Open Settings → Search engine → Manage search engines and site search.
2. Under Site search, click Add.
3. Enter a name, a shortcut (the keyword you'll type), and the search URL. Use %s as a placeholder where the search term should go.

Once added, type the shortcut into the address bar followed by your search term. For example, wiki cooperative would search Wikipedia for "cooperative."

Suggestions while you type

Surge shows suggestions from your history, your bookmarks, and your search engine as you type. Use the arrow keys to move through them, and press Return to go to the selected suggestion.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Profiles

Each Surge profile is tied to a User Cooperative account. Your profile keeps your bookmarks, history, passwords, and clicks separate from anyone else's.

The profile menu

Click the profile bubble in the top-right corner of any Surge window. You'll see:

• Your profile picture and name at the top, with a short note about your clicks and links to dividends and governance.
• Passwords and Autofill — opens Surge's password manager and autofill settings.
• Customize Profile — change your profile picture, name, and theme colors.
• Sign Out of Surge Browser — signs you out of your User Cooperative account.
• Open Guest Profile — opens a temporary, signed-out browsing window.

Adding a second profile

Each User Cooperative account is tied to one email address. To run a second profile, you'll need to sign out and create a second account with a different email. The full walkthrough is in Adding a second profile in Getting started.

Guest Profile

Guest Profile opens a fresh, signed-out browsing window with no access to your bookmarks, passwords, or history. It's useful for letting someone else use your Mac briefly without giving them access to your stuff.

Guest Profile behaves like stock Chromium. Nothing about your User Cooperative session carries over into it, and nothing the guest does is added to your lifetime clicks.

What signing out does

Signing out of Surge Browser ends your User Cooperative session. Your local bookmarks, history, and passwords stay where they are, but new browsing won't count toward your clicks until you sign back in.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Incognito mode

Incognito mode opens a browsing window that doesn't save your history, cookies, or site data after you close it.

Opening an incognito window

Press ⌘⇧N, or go to File → New Incognito Window. Incognito windows look slightly different so you can tell them apart from regular windows.

What incognito does and doesn't do

Incognito mode doesn't save:

• The pages you visit (they don't appear in your history).
• Cookies or site data (cleared when you close the last incognito window).
• Form entries or search queries.

Incognito mode doesn't hide your browsing from:

• The websites you visit. They can still see your IP address.
• Your internet service provider, employer, or school, if they're monitoring network traffic.
• Anyone with access to your Mac, if they're watching over your shoulder.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Extensions

Surge is built on Chromium, so it runs the same extensions as Chrome. You can install anything from the Chrome Web Store.

Installing an extension

1. Go to the Chrome Web Store.
2. Find an extension and click Add to Surge.
3. Review the permissions it asks for, then click Add extension.

Once installed, the extension's icon appears to the right of the address bar. Click the puzzle-piece icon to see all your extensions and pin the ones you use most.

Managing your extensions

Open surge://extensions to see everything you have installed. From there you can:

• Turn an extension on or off without uninstalling it.
• Click Details to see what permissions it has and which sites it can access.
• Click Remove to uninstall.

Importing extensions from Chrome

If you imported from Chrome during setup, your extensions came over with you. See Importing from Chrome, Edge, Brave, and other Chromium browsers for details.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

What data Surge collects

We're a tech company that uses data the same way other tech companies do, except all the profits flow back to our users.

What we send to our servers

When you're signed in to Surge, three things leave your Mac and go to services we operate:

Your browsing activity. Each URL you visit, its page title, and a timestamp are sent to our database (we use Supabase), tied to your User Cooperative user ID. This includes URLs you import from another browser. We use this to calculate your clicks and your dividends.

Crash reports. If Surge crashes, a report is sent to our error-tracking service (we use Sentry). The report includes a stack trace, your operating system version, and your Surge version. It doesn't include the URLs you were visiting, page content, or anything you typed.

Sign-in information. Your email address and password (hashed) are stored by our authentication provider (we use Clerk). This is what lets you sign in and what links your browsing to your User Cooperative account. Your profile picture, if you have one, stays on your Mac.

What stays on your Mac

Everything else stays local:

• Your bookmarks
• Your 90-day local browsing history
• Your saved passwords and autofill data
• Your cookies and site data
• Your extensions and their settings
• Your site permissions (camera, microphone, location, notifications)
• Your profile picture
• Your download history

None of this is synced to a Surge cloud server, because we don't run one for these things.

What we do with the browsing data we collect

Today, we use it to calculate your clicks and your dividends. We don't sell it or share it with outside parties.

In the future, we plan to use it for targeted advertising, which will be shown inside Surge, by us, for the exclusive benefit of our users. All profits from those ads will flow back to our users. We'll be clear about it when we get there, and we'll update this page.

Incognito sessions are different

Browsing in incognito mode doesn't send anything to our servers. Incognito sessions are signed out by design, so no URLs, no titles, no timestamps. See Incognito mode for the full picture.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

The deal

Every tech company that collects browsing data turns that data into profits. We do too. The difference is who profits.

How other browsers handle this

When you use Chrome, your browsing data helps Google sell ads and improve its products, and the profits go to Google's shareholders. When you use Safari, Apple uses your data to sell ads and improve its products, and the profits go to Apple's shareholders. Same story for Edge and Microsoft.

There's nothing wrong with any of that. It's how the industry works. The point is: users generate the value, and someone else captures it.

How Surge handles it

Surge collects browsing data too. We use it today to calculate dividends, and we plan to use it in the future for targeted ads inside Surge. The business isn't much different from what other browsers do.

What is different is the ownership structure. User Cooperative is owned by its users. Any profit we make, whether from ads, search-engine royalties, or any other source, gets paid back to our users in proportion to their clicks. Our Articles of Incorporation require it.

What you get in return

By using Surge while signed in, you're contributing to the company you own a share of. Every click adds to your lifetime click count, which determines your share of any payout — whether that's an annual dividend from operating profits, or a one-time payout if we're ever acquired or dissolved.

The deal, in one sentence: you generate the data, you get the value it creates.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Passwords and autofill

Surge uses Chromium's built-in password manager. Your passwords are stored locally and encrypted using your macOS Keychain.

Saving a password

When you sign in to a site, Surge offers to save your username and password. Click Save and they're stored in Surge's password manager. The next time you visit that site, Surge fills them in for you.

Viewing your saved passwords

1. Open Settings → Autofill and passwords → Password Manager, or visit surge://password-manager.
2. Click a domain's row to reveal its login credentials. macOS will ask for your Mac password or Touch ID before showing it.
3. Click on the eye icon next to the password to reveal it.

How autofill works

Surge stores three kinds of autofill data, all locally:

• Passwords — usernames and passwords for sites you've signed in to.
• Addresses — names, phone numbers, mailing addresses for forms.
• Payment methods — credit card numbers and billing addresses.

Manage each category at Settings → Autofill and passwords.

Importing passwords

To import passwords from another browser, see the import articles in Getting started.

What we don't do

We don't have a password sync server. Your passwords stay on the Mac you saved them on. If you want them on another device, you'll need to export and re-import.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Site permissions

Sites sometimes ask to use your camera, microphone, location, or send you notifications. You decide which sites get to.

When a site asks for permission

When a site requests access to something, for example, your microphone for a video call, your location for a map, or a notifications for a chat app, Surge shows a prompt under the address bar. You can choose Allow or Block. Surge remembers your choice for that site.

Reviewing what you've allowed

To see every permission you've granted, open Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings. You'll see categories for:

• Location
• Camera
• Microphone
• Notifications
• Pop-ups and redirects
• Cookies and site data
• JavaScript
• Images
• … and a few dozen more

Click into any category to see which sites have access and to revoke permissions you no longer want to grant.

Changing a single site's permissions

For a faster path on a specific site:

1. Visit the site.
2. Click the icon to the left of the address bar (a lock, a tune-control icon, or a globe depending on the site).
3. Click Site settings in the menu that appears.
4. Change any permission directly.

What gets sent to our servers

Nothing about your site permissions leaves your Mac. We don't track what sites you've allowed or blocked.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Clearing your browsing data

You can clear browsing data, like local history, cookies, and cached files, at any time. Clearing local data doesn't touch your lifetime click count.

How to clear browsing data

1. Press ⌘⇧⌫, or open Settings → Privacy and security → Delete browsing data.
2. Choose a time range — last hour, last 24 hours, last 7 days, last 4 weeks, or all time.
3. Check the categories you want to delete.
4. Click Delete data.

What each category does

• Browsing history — removes pages from your local 90-day history. Doesn't affect your lifetime click count.
• Cookies and other site data — signs you out of most websites and removes site preferences.
• Cached images and files — frees up disk space, but means some pages will load more slowly the next time you visit.
• Passwords and other sign-in data — removes saved passwords. Be careful with this one.
• Autofill form data — removes saved addresses and payment methods.
• Site settings — removes permissions you've granted (camera, location, etc.).
• Hosted app data — clears data stored by web apps installed through Surge.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Cookies and site data

Cookies are small files websites store on your Mac to remember things, like your sign-in, your cart, and your preferences. Surge gives you fine-grained control over them.

How cookies work in Surge

By default, Surge accepts cookies from sites you visit (first-party cookies) and blocks third-party cookies in incognito mode. This matches Chromium's default behavior.

Changing your cookie settings

1. Open Settings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies.
2. Choose one of three modes:
   • Allow third-party cookies — most permissive; sites work as designed.
   • Block third-party cookies in Incognito — the default.
   • Block third-party cookies — most restrictive; some sites may not work properly.

Managing cookies for a specific site

1. Open Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → View permissions and data stored across sites.
2. Search for the site whose cookies you want to manage.
3. Click into the site to see what it's stored, and use the trash icon to clear it.

Clearing all cookies at once

Use the Clear browsing data flow and check the Cookies and other site data box.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Safe Browsing and security warnings

Surge warns you about malicious websites, dangerous downloads, and suspicious sign-in pages. This is on by default, and we recommend leaving it on.

What Safe Browsing does

Surge uses Google Safe Browsing to check the sites you visit against a list of known threats, like phishing sites, sites that distribute malware, and deceptive sites that try to trick you out of your credentials. If you try to visit one, Surge shows a full-page warning before the page loads.

What Google receives

Google receives a partial hash of each URL you visit and matches it against their list of known threats. They've documented their Safe Browsing privacy practices. Surge doesn't see or modify what gets sent.

Standard vs. Enhanced protection

Surge ships with Standard Protection enabled by default. This is the URL-hash check described above.

Enhanced Protection is available as an opt-in. It sends more data to Google in exchange for more proactive warnings, including real-time URL checks, password-leak alerts, and warnings about uncommon downloads. To turn it on:

1. Open Settings → Privacy and security → Security.
2. Choose Enhanced protection.

You can also turn Safe Browsing off entirely from the same page. We don't recommend this unless you know what you're doing.

Other warnings you might see

• "Your connection is not private" — the site's TLS certificate is invalid, expired, or doesn't match the domain. Don't proceed unless you understand why and trust the site.
• "Dangerous site ahead" — Safe Browsing has flagged this site as a known threat.
• "This file may be dangerous" — a download has been flagged as potentially malicious.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

How Surge updates itself

Surge checks for updates automatically on launch using Sparkle, the standard auto-update framework for Mac apps. New versions install in the background and apply on next restart.

Checking your current version

1. Open Surge → About Surge Browser, or visit surge://settings/help.
2. Your current version is shown under "Surge Browser."

For example: Version 1.1.1 (Official Build) (arm64). The architecture in parentheses tells you whether you're on the Apple Silicon (arm64) or Intel (x86_64) build.

Checking for updates manually

Surge checks automatically on launch, but you can also force a check:

1. Open Surge → About Surge Browser.
2. Click Check for updates.

If an update is available, Sparkle will download it in the background and prompt you to restart when it's ready.

Where updates come from

Updates are downloaded from our GitHub releases at github.com/martense1106/surge-updates/releases. Each release is signed, notarized by Apple, and verified by Sparkle before installation.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Update errors

If Surge can't download or install an update, it'll show an error. Here's what each one means and what to do.

"Update is improperly signed"

This means the update Sparkle downloaded didn't match the signature we published. It's rare, and it usually clears up on its own. Sparkle will try again on the next launch.

If it persists across multiple launches, the safest fix is a manual reinstall:

1. Download the latest version.
2. Quit Surge.
3. Open the DMG and drag the new Surge Browser into Applications, replacing the existing copy.
4. Open Surge. Your data, like bookmarks, history, passwords, and sign-in, stays put.

"The update couldn't be downloaded"

This usually means a network problem. Check your internet connection and try again. If it keeps failing, do the manual reinstall above.

"Update verification failed"

Same fix as the manual reinstall above. Sparkle wouldn't let the install proceed if it didn't trust the update, so this isn't dangerous. It just means the auto-update couldn't complete.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

"Surge Browser can't be opened…"

If macOS shows "Surge Browser can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software," it means Gatekeeper couldn't verify the notarization. The fix is to open it manually the first time.

The fix

1. Open the Applications folder in Finder.
2. Right-click (or Control-click) Surge Browser and choose Open.
3. In the dialog that appears, click Open.

You'll only need to do this once. After the first launch, Surge opens normally.

Why this happens

Every release of Surge is signed with our Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple before we ship it. Occasionally, usually right after a release or if your Mac has spotty internet, Gatekeeper can't reach Apple's servers to verify the notarization and shows the warning out of caution. Right-clicking and choosing Open tells macOS you trust the app, and the verification continues in the background.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Surge is slow or unresponsive

Try these in order. Most slowness comes from a single misbehaving tab or extension, not from Surge itself.

1. Open the Task Manager to find the culprit

1. Press ⇧Esc, or open Window → Task Manager.
2. Sort by Memory or CPU to find what's using the most.
3. Select the offending process and click End process.

If a specific tab is consistently the problem, try closing and reopening it.

2. Disable extensions one at a time

Extensions can quietly slow down every page you visit. Open surge://extensions and turn each one off, then test whether things improve.

3. Clear the cache

A bloated cache can slow page loads. Press ⌘⇧⌫, choose Cached images and files, set the time range to All time, and click Clear data.

4. Turn off hardware acceleration

If Surge is sluggish across the board, especially when scrolling or playing video, your graphics drivers may not be cooperating. Try toggling hardware acceleration:

1. Open Settings → System.
2. Toggle Use graphics acceleration when available off.
3. Restart Surge and test.

If turning it off helps, leave it off. If it doesn't help, turn it back on.

5. Try a clean profile

If nothing else works, a corrupted profile may be the issue. See Resetting, reporting, and starting over for the reset flow.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

A page won't load or render correctly

If a single page is broken but other sites work, the problem is usually local: cache, cookies, or an extension. Try these in order.

1. Hard reload

A normal reload (⌘R) uses cached files. A hard reload forces a fresh download:

• Press ⌘⇧R.
• Or hold Shift and click the reload button.

2. Open the page in an incognito window

Press ⌘⇧N and try the page there. Incognito windows don't use your extensions, cookies, or cache. If the page works in incognito but not in a regular window, the problem is one of those three.

3. Clear cookies for the specific site

Some pages get into a bad state when their cookies are stale or corrupted:

1. Open Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → View permissions and data stored across sites.
2. Search for the site.
3. Click the trash icon to clear its data.
4. Reload the page.

4. Disable extensions

Ad blockers, script blockers, and privacy extensions can break pages they don't recognize. Open surge://extensions and turn each one off, then reload.

5. Check if the site is down

If none of the above helps, the issue may not be on your end. Try the page in another browser or on another network to confirm.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Video won't play

If a video won't play, the cause is almost always one of three things: the site uses DRM (which Surge doesn't currently support), your cache is in a bad state, or hardware acceleration is interfering.

If the site uses DRM

Surge doesn't currently support DRM-protected video playback. Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and similar streaming services rely on DRM to play their content. On those sites, video won't play in Surge.

The reason and the longer story is in Chipping in. The short version: DRM licensing is expensive, and we believe most DRM streaming happens on TVs and other devices anyway. We'd rather put that money toward expanding to other platforms.

If it's a non-DRM site

For sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and most embedded video, try these in order:

1. Hard reload the page with ⌘⇧R.
2. Clear the site's cookies and data (see the previous article for how).
3. Disable extensions at surge://extensions — ad blockers in particular can break video players.
4. Turn off hardware acceleration at Settings → System and restart Surge.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Sign-in problems

Most sign-in trouble comes from a stuck Clerk session. The fix is to clear cookies for the sign-in domain and try again.

"Allow Surge Browser access" won't let me switch accounts

If you signed in once and want to sign in as a different user, Clerk may show you an "Allow Surge Browser access" screen instead of a fresh sign-in form. That screen doesn't have a way to switch accounts.

The fix is to clear cookies for the Clerk domain. See Adding a second profile in Getting started for the exact steps.

I'm stuck on a loading screen after signing in

Try these in order:

1. Close the tab and reopen Surge.
2. If that doesn't help, clear Clerk's cookies: Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → View permissions and data stored across sites → search "clerk.usercooperative.com" → click the trash icon.
3. Try signing in again.

I forgot my password

On the sign-in screen, click Forgot password? Clerk will send a reset link to your email.

I can't access the email I signed up with

If you've lost access to the email tied to your User Cooperative account, contact us. We'll work with you to recover or transfer the account. Don't create a new account in the meantime. Your clicks and dividends are tied to the original account, and creating a duplicate splits them.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Resetting, reporting, and starting over

When nothing else works: reset Surge's settings, report a bug, or, as a last resort, uninstall and reinstall.

Reset Surge to defaults

This resets your settings, like your startup page, search engine, pinned tabs, and content settings, without deleting your bookmarks, history, or passwords.

1. Open surge://settings/reset, or Settings → Reset settings.
2. Click Restore settings to their original defaults.
3. Click Reset settings to confirm.

Reporting a bug

If you've hit something that doesn't look right, let us know at usercooperative.com/contact-us. Helpful things to include:

• Your Surge version (from Surge → About Surge Browser).
• Your macOS version.
• The steps that triggered the issue.
• Whether it happens in an incognito window too (which rules out extensions and cookies).
• Screenshots, if relevant.

Crash reports

When Surge crashes, a report is sent automatically. You don't need to do anything. See What data Surge collects for what's in the report.

Uninstalling Surge

If you want to remove Surge entirely:

1. Quit Surge.
2. Drag Surge Browser from your Applications folder to the Trash.
3. Empty the Trash.

Your local Surge data, like bookmarks, history, passwords, and profile, stays in ~/Library/Application Support/Surge/. To remove that too, drag the folder to the Trash.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

What Surge is

Surge Browser is a web browser built by User Cooperative. It's based on Chromium, the same engine that powers Chrome, Edge, Brave, and others. What makes it different is who owns it.

Built by a user-owned company

Surge is the first product from User Cooperative, a cooperative corporation owned by the people who use its services. When you browse with Surge while signed in, you're using a product made by a company you own, and the profits flow back to you in proportion to your use. See What is User Cooperative? for the longer story.

What's in the v1 release

Surge ships with everything you'd expect from a modern Chromium browser: tabs, bookmarks, history, downloads, extensions from the Chrome Web Store, profiles, and incognito mode. We've added a User Cooperative sign-in, a click-tracking system that powers dividends, and an import flow that brings your data in from Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and most other browsers.

For what's not in this release: Surge doesn't currently support DRM-protected video playback (Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and similar), it's macOS-only for now, and there's no sync server: your bookmarks, history, and passwords stay on your Mac.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

What Surge is built on

Surge stands on a lot of open-source work. Here's what's under the hood and credit where it's due.

Chromium

Surge is built on Chromium, the open-source browser project that also powers Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera, Vivaldi, and many others. Chromium is released under a BSD-style license. The full list of components and license terms is available in Surge at surge://credits.

We make targeted modifications to Chromium for Surge-specific features, like sign-in, click tracking, the chip-in banner, the import flow's expanded payload, but the vast majority of the browser is unmodified upstream Chromium.

The services that power Surge

A few external services run alongside the browser to make things work:

• Sparkle handles automatic updates. Each release we ship is signed, notarized, and verified by Sparkle before installing.
• Clerk handles sign-in and authentication for your User Cooperative account.
• Supabase stores the clicks that determine your dividends.
• Sentry receives crash reports if Surge crashes.
• Stripe processes contributions when you chip in.

What each service does with your data is covered in What data Surge collects.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

System requirements

Surge runs on most Macs sold in the last several years. Here's what you need.

What you need

• macOS 11 Big Sur or later. Earlier macOS versions aren't supported.
• An Apple Silicon or Intel Mac. Surge ships native builds for both architectures.
• An internet connection. You need to be able to reach our sign-in service (Clerk), our database (Supabase), and our GitHub Releases page (for updates). On a locked-down corporate network, you may need to talk to your IT department.

What's not supported yet

• Windows, Linux, iOS, Android. macOS-only for now. If you're on Windows, you can join the waitlist to hear when it ships. See Where Surge is going for what's next.
• DRM-protected video. Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and similar streaming services don't play in Surge. The reason is in Chipping in.
• Cloud sync. Bookmarks, history, and passwords stay local to each Mac.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.

Where Surge is going

A few more feature updates for macOS, then a Windows port. After that, we'll see.

Near-term: more on macOS

The next several releases will focus on extending what Surge does on macOS, like adding a dedicated surge://equity page to view your click count, tightening the import and sign-in experiences, and allowing for multiple signed-in users.

Next: Windows

After the macOS work, we'll port Surge to Windows. That opens up the much larger Windows user base and is the most-requested platform.

Why no dates

We deliberately don't publish a roadmap with timelines. We'd rather ship things when they're ready than commit to a calendar we'd have to walk back. If you're curious where things stand at any given moment, the most reliable signal is our GitHub Releases page. Every release notes what changed.

Still need help?

If you can't find the answers you need, contact us.