It is available on iOS, Android, HarmonyOS, Amazon Fire Tablet, and Windows Phone platforms and uses the Unity game engine.

[2] In the game, players take the role of young graffiti artists, led by Jake who, upon being caught in the act of tagging a metro railway site, run through the railroad tracks to escape from the inspector and his dog.

While running, the player can swipe up, down, left, or right to avoid crashing into oncoming obstacles especially moving trains, poles, tunnel walls, and barriers.

The player can collect various items such as coins, keys, x2 multipliers, super sneakers, jetpacks, magnets, mystery boxes, and pogo sticks.

Up to 18 characters can be unlocked using coins, keys, in-game purchases, collecting specific items, or connecting to a Facebook account.

[citation needed] In March 2018, Subway Surfers became the first game on the Google Play Store to cross the one billion downloads threshold.

[8] In December 2019, SYBO Games announced that Subway Surfers, according to AppAnnie statistics, crossed the 2.7 billion download mark.

[14] Gamezebo's Dant Rambo scored the game 3.5 out of 5, writing "It makes little attempt to stand out from other endless runners, but it's hard not to appreciate the polish of Subway Surfers.

[10] The 10 x 4-minute episodic series is scripted by Brent Friedman and Francesca Marie Smith, and produced by Sander Schwartz.