Cheats

The first thing to say about Cheats in Subway Surfers is that there are many hacks out there which can be downloaded to break the game - allowing you to get infinite Coins, become invincible, and so on. Or at least this is what they purport to do. Many of these are in fact viruses or people trying to gain access to your device accounts.

There aren't many legitimate cheats for the game, but the main one allows you to access characters and challenges which were time-specific i.e. they should no longer be available.

You can see this cheat below:

Time Change Cheat

This cheat allows you to gain access to all of the limited characters, boards and missions in Subway Surfers. To do it, access your device's settings, go to Date and Time, then change it to whichever time period corresponds to the character, challenge or board you wish. You can see these below:

Zombie Jake (character)

October 3, 2012

Elf Tricky (character)

December 1, 2012

Tony (character)

January 5, 2013

Carmen (character)

January 30, 2013

Roberto (character)

Februrary 28, 2013

Egg Hunt/Chicky Hoverboard (Challenge/Board)

March 1, 2013

Double Coins

This cheat is quite hard to implement, but, as well as picking up the Coin doubler multiplier, you can earn twice as many Coins if you have the Super Sneakers and Jetpack active at the same time. You should upgrade the Super Sneakers to make this easier to occur. It won't make a tremendous difference to your score, but it's nice all the same.

Hints & Tips

Clearly, the main goal of Subway Surfers is to stay alive as long as possible. As such, any hints and tips to do well at the game, without resorting to cheating or hacks, focus on this area.

Below are a few simple pointers on how to stay alive long enough in Subway Surfers to rack up some big scores and challenge your friends.

Use the Hoverboard

You will naturally collect a fair few Hoverboards on your runs in Subway Surfers. If you find yourself doing particularly well on a run, you should use as many of these as necessary to prolong your survival. Personally, I found it something of a distraction to have to double-tap the screen every time, not to mention the fact that you may not pay so much attention knowing that you can survive a hit.

Upgrade Your Power-Ups

The power-ups in Subway Surfers are a great gift when they come along. My personal favorite is the Jetpack, as it takes you up above the arena at great speed, is really fun to use, and means you can't get hit by any obstacles. Also, you earn points the whole time that you're using it, so extending the amount of time that it lasts is a great idea.

The Jetpack is extremely fun

Stay Up High

The safest place to be in Subway Surfers is on top of the trains. This means that you can jump off the top of the train and move in the air - effectively making a diagonal movement. If you try this on the ground, you just move left or right - there are also far more obstacles to avoid on the ground. Stay up high and you should find you have an easier run.

Coins Are Not Essential

Of course it's great to have loads of Coins so that you can unlock the extra characters and boards in Subway Surfers, and upgrade your power-ups. However, it is not worth risking your life for a few measly Coins, so if you are on a great run, try to preserve it just by staying up high and out of harms way rather than making risky maneuvers for Coins.

Learn the Advanced Moves

There are some moves in Subway Surfers that a lot of players don't realize. You can jump, then go left or right in midair, for one thing. You can also cut a jump short by swiping downwards in mid-jump. This is a good way to complete the jump missions, as well as correcting a mistake you may have made to avoid obstacles.

List Of Hoverboards

Subway Surfers features a wide array of Hoverboards to make the game even more varied. These are the boards that appear when you double-tap the screen, if you have them in your inventory. Some even feature special abilities, which will be in effect for the entire time that you are using the Hoverboard.

Hoverboards last 30 seconds for one use, although will disappear should you hit an obstacle. Below you can see a full list of the game's Hoverboards, as well as instructions on how to get them. Bear in mind that some of the boards are limited to a particular edition of the game. Note that you can bypass this by changing the Date and Time on your device's settings, which you can find more information about in this guide's Cheats section.

Permanent Hoverboards

Big Kahuna

65,000 Coins

Bouncer

280,000 Coins
Special Power: Super Jump (the effects of Super Sneakers)

Daredevil

85,000 Coins
Special Power: Surf Faster

Freestyler

45,000 Coins

Hoverboard

Starting board

Lowrider

320,000 Coins
Special Power: Stay Low (no need to roll)

Lumberjack

4,000 Coins

Miami

12,000 Coins

Monster

30,000 Coins

Scoot

35,000 Coins

Skull Fire

75,000 Coins

Starboard

Free to anyone who downloads Subway Surfers

Superhero

8,000 Coins

Using the Hoverboards in Subway Surfers is the best way to ensure your survival. Plus they look awesome!

Limited Boards

NOTE:Even if you do not have the correct edition of Subway Surfers indicated below because the date of the promotion has passed, it is still possible to get these boards by changing the Date and Time in your device's settings. For more information on this, see this guide's Cheats section.

Liberty (New York)

50,000 Coins

Toucan (Rio)

50,000 Coins

Egg Hunt (Rome)

Collect 100 Easter Eggs to unlock

Kick-Off (Rome)

50,000 Coins

Outback (Sydney)

50,000 Coins

Fortune/Chicky (Tokyo)

50,000 Coins

Cherry (Tokyo)

60 Japanese Keychains

Flamingo (Miami)

50,000 Coins

Rose (Paris)

50,000 Coins

Panda (Beijing)

50,000 Coins

Teddy (Moscow)

50,000 Coins

Pumpkin (New Orleans)

50,000 Coins

Snowflake (London)

50,000 Coins

The limited Hoverboards are a nice distraction

Character Lists

There are a variety of characters available in Subway Surfers, with more added every time a new update or variant of the game is released. If you would like to be able to unlock one of the limited characters but the time of that offer has passed, you are able to do so by changing the clock on your device. For more information on this, check out this guide's Cheats section.

A full list of the characters are below, along with details on how to unlock or purchase each one. Where it says 'find' a certain number of a particular item, you have to do this by locating Mystery Chests and getting lucky with the contents in there.

Permanent Characters

Brody

350,000 Coins

Fresh

Find 50 Stereos

Frank

40,000 Coins

Frizzy

150,000 Coins

Jake

Starting character

King

80,000 Coins

Lucy

7,000 Coins

Ninja

20,000 Coins

Prince K

980,000 Coins

Spike

Find 200 Spike Guitars tokens

Tagbot

12,000 Coins

Tasha

30,000 Coins

Tricky

Find 3 Hats

Yutani

Find 500 Yutani UFOs tokens

Zoe

120,000 Coins

The list of characters is quite extensive

Limited Characters

NOTE: You can still get these characters even after the time has passed by changing the Time and Date in your device's settings. For more information on this, see this guide's Cheats section.

Zombie Jake (Halloween)

95,000 Coins

Elf Tricky (Holiday)

95,000 Coins

Tony (New York)

95,000 Coins

Carmen (Rio)

95,000 Coins

Roberto (Rome)

95,000 Coins

Kim (Sydney)

95,000 Coins

Harumi (Tokyo)

95,000 Coins

Nick (Miami)

95,000 Coins

Coco (Paris)

95,000 Coins

Sun (Beijing)

95,000 Coins

Alex (Moscow)

95,000 Coins

Eddy (New Orleans)

95,000 Coins

Jamie (London)

95,000 Coins

The game also provides numerous limited edition characters depending on the game's current scenario and setting

Power Ups

Power-ups can be picked up during play, and may have a profound impact on your success in any particular run.

There are two main types or power-up: Single Use and Upgradable. Single-Use are ones that are activated either by you, or are activated in the background automatically. Upgradable power-ups are the ones that you collect while on a run. These can be upgraded in the Shop to make them more effective. You can also purchase Coin multipliers using real money.

See below for more information on the power-ups available in Subway Surfers:

Single-Use

Hoverboard

This is by far the most useful power-up, as it effectively saves you from death. You will earn plenty of these in your travels, but it's worth buying them every now and then as they come in handy for completing certain missions.

To activate the Hoverboard, double tap the screen. You will then be on a hovering skateboard, and, should you hit an obstacle, you will simply lose the Hoverboard and go back to running.

Cost: 300 Coins

Mystery Box

The Mystery Boxes can be purchased in the Shop and collected in game. They are chiefly the way that you find the parts required to unlock new characters, as well as other goodies. Currently the prizes on offer in the Mystery Boxes are as shown in the image below. Notice how there are tiers of rarity.

Cost: Free on a run, or 500 Coins in the shop.

These are the items you can get in each Mystery Box

Score Booster

This increases your Multiplier by 5 for a single run. It is an expensive power-up, but if you have lots of Hoverboards saved up and are planning that epic, high score-beating run, then equipping the Score Booster is a great idea.

Cost: 3,000 Coins

Mega Headstart

The Mega Headstart allows you to skip ahead by 1,000 meters on a run. It is useful for completing various missions, as well as for giving you a breather and a healthy-dose of points at the start of a run. Once you purchase it, Headstarts appear in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and you simply tap them to activate.

Cost: 2,000 Coins

Skip Mission

You will have as many of these available to purchase as missions you have oustanding. They simply allow you to move on past one mission and proceed to the next, if there's one that you think is going to take you hours of work to achieve.

Cost: 1,800 Coins

The Hoverboard is vital for getting high scores

Upgradable

As mentioned above, the power-ups below can be found dotted around the subway on each run. You can increase the length of time that each one lasts by upgrading them in the Store.

Jetpack

This is a really fun power-up whereby your character uses their spray cans as a jetpack. They ascend above the tracks and can avoid all obstacles, essentially skipping ahead while still earning points. In the Shop you can upgrade the Jetpack, for a few which increases from 500 Coins upwards depending on what level your Jetpack is already. The upgrades increase how long the Jetpack power-up lasts for.

Super Sneakers

These allow your character to jump far higher than normal, as if they have springs on their shoes. By upgrading them in the Shop you can increase the length of time that they last for. The Super Sneakers are generally useful for bypassing trains - you can jump right over them if you time it right, and allowing you to spend most of your time in the air - where it is safest to be.

Coin Magnet

This is a great power-up which draws in Coins from the lanes around you. The good thing about this is it saves you from having to change lanes, meaning you can focus on avoiding obstacles rather than collecting Coins. As with most of the other upgrades, you can increase the duration of the Coin Magnet in the Shop.

2x Multiplier

The 2x Multiplier is great for getting some massive scores. Once you pick it up, every Coin you collect will be doubled for as long as the power-up is in effect. This is why it's a good idea to upgrade your 2x Multiplier in the Store - to make it last longer.

The Coin Magnet is a good way to maximize the Coins available on any section of a run

UPDATE: Power Jumper

The Power Jumper allows you to jump even higher than you were previously able to using the Super Sneakers and collect any Coins that might otherwise have been out of reach. This can also allow you to access routes on rooftops and on top of trains more easily.

Some rooftops are only accessible with the Power Jumper. It is very similar to the Super Sneakers but can only be used for one jump. It is often positioned near to a roof or tunnel that contains Coins on top, allowing access. However, you must be careful when using it as you can find yourself on top of a building when you would rather be below it collecting all the Coins.

It also takes a lot of getting used to in terms of the landing, so use it wisely. You are not able to upgrade the Power Jumper. The Power Jumper was introduced with the Beijing edition of Subway Surfers: World Tour.

Premium

Premium power-ups are those which you can only attain by paying real money for them. Surprisingly, there is only one of these in Subway Surfers.

Double Coins

This does exactly what it says. For a modest fee, you can double all of your Coin pickups. This gives you a real advantage against other players, meaning you can upgrade all of your other power-ups fare more easily. The question is, are you willing to spend real cash on it, as opposed to the imaginary Coins of Subway Surfers?