Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
---

Title: ExpressVPN review 2025: Fast speeds and a low learning curve

Date: Fri, 30 May 2025 17:31:26 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/ex...

ExpressVPN is good at its job. It's easy to be skeptical of any service with
a knack for self-promotion, but don't let ExpressVPN's hype distract you from
the fact that it keeps its front-page promise of "just working."

Outside of solid security, the two best things ExpressVPN offers are fast
speeds and a simple interface. Our tests showed only a 7% average drop in
download speed and a 2% loss of upload speed, worldwide. And while the lack
of extra features may frustrate experienced users, it makes for a true set-
and-forget VPN on any platform.

This isn't to say ExpressVPN is without flaws ΓÇö it's nearly bereft of
customization options and it's notably more expensive than its competition
ΓÇö but it beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup.

For this review, we followed our rigorous 10-step VPN testing process,
exploring ExpressVPN's security, privacy, speed, interfaces and more. Whether
you read straight through or skip to the sections that are most important for
you, you should come away with all the information you need to decide whether
to subscribe.

Editors' note: We're in the process of rebooting all of our VPN reviews from
scratch. Once we do a fresh pass on the top services, we'll be updating each
review with a rating and additional comparative information.

Table of contents

Findings at a glance

Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages

ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks

How much does ExpressVPN cost?

ExpressVPN side apps and bundles

Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy

Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location?

Investigating ExpressVPN's server network

Extra features of ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN customer support options

ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies

Final verdict

Findings at a glance

Category

Notes

Installation and UI

All interfaces are clean and minimalist, with no glitches and not enough
depth to get lost in

Windows and Mac clients are similar in both setup and general user experience

Android and iOS are likewise almost identical, but Android has a nice-looking
dark mode

Speed

Retains a worldwide average of 93% of starting download speeds

Upload speeds average 98% of starting speeds

Latency rises with distance, but global average stayed under 300 ms in tests

Security

OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Lightway VPN protocols all use secure ciphers

Packet-sniffing test showed working encryption

We detected no IP leaks

Blocks IPv6 and WebRTC by default to prevent leaks

Pricing

Base price: $12.95 per month or $99.95 per year

Lowest prepaid rate: $4.99 per month

Can save money by paying for 28 months in advance, but only once per account

30-day money-back guarantee

Bundles

ExpressVPN Keys password manager and ID alerts included on all plans

Dedicated IP addresses come at an extra price

ID theft insurance, data removal and credit scanning available to new one-
year and two-year subscribers for free

1GB eSIM deal included through holiday.com

Privacy policy

No storage of connection logs or device logs permitted

The only risky exceptions are personal account data (which doesn't leave the
ExpressVPN website) and marketing data (which the policy says should be
anonymized)

An independent audit found that ExpressVPN's RAM-only server infrastructure
makes it impossible to keep logs

Virtual location change

Successfully unblocked five international Netflix libraries, succeeding on 14
out of 15 attempts

Server network

164 server locations in 105 countries

38% of servers are virtual, though most virtual locations are accessed
through physical servers within 1,000 miles

A large number of locations in South America, Africa and central Asia

Features

Simple but effective kill switch

Can block ads, trackers, adult sites and/or malware sites but blocklists
can't be customized

Split tunneling is convenient but unavailable on iOS and modern Macs

Aircove is the best VPN router, albeit expensive

Customer support

Setup and troubleshooting guides are organized and useful, with lots of
screenshots and videos

Live chat starts with a bot but you can get to a person within a couple
minutes

Email tickets are only accessible from the mobile apps or after live chat has
failed

Background check

Founded in 2009; based in the British Virgin Islands

Has never been caught selling or mishandling user data

Turkish police seized servers in 2017 but couldn't find any logs of user
activity

Owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and Private Internet
Access

A previous CIO formerly worked on surveillance in the United Arab Emirates;
no evidence of shady behavior during his time at ExpressVPN

Windows Version 12 leaked some DNS requests when Split Tunneling was active

Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN

This section focuses on how it feels to use ExpressVPN on each of the major
platforms where it's available. The first step for any setup process is to
make an account on expressvpn.com and buy a subscription.

Windows

Once subscribed, download the Windows VPN from either expressvpn.com or the
Microsoft Store, then open the .exe file. Click "Yes" to let it make changes,
wait for the install, then let your computer reboot. Including the reboot,
the whole process takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To finish, you'll need
your activation code, which you can find by going to expressvpn.com and
clicking "Setup" in the top-right corner.

You can install ExpressVPN's Windows app from the Microsoft store, but we
found the website more convenient. Sam Chapman for Engadget

Extreme simplicity is the watchword for all ExpressVPN's designs. The Windows
client's launch panel consists of three buttons and less than ten words. You
can change your location or let the app pick a location for you ΓÇö the
"Smart Location" is the server with the best combination of being nearby and
unburdened.

Everything else is crammed into the hamburger menu at the top left. Here, in
seven tabs, you'll find the Network Lock kill switch, the four types of
content blockers, the split tunneling menu and the option to change your VPN
protocol. You can also add shortcuts to various websites, useful if you
regularly use your VPN for the same online destinations.

To sum up, there's almost nothing here to get in the way: no delays, no
snags, no nested menus to get lost in. It may be the world's most ignorable
VPN client. That's not a bad thing at all.

Mac

ExpressVPN's app for macOS is almost identical in design to its Windows app.
The process for downloading and setting it up is nearly the same too. As on
Windows, it can be downloaded from the App Store or sideloaded directly from
the expressvpn.com download center. Only a few features are missing and a
couple others have been added. Split tunneling is gone (unless you're still
on a macOS lower than 11), and you won't see the Lightway Turbo setting.

ExpressVPN recommends some servers, but it's easy to search the whole list.
Sam Chapman for Engadget

Mac users do gain access to the IKEv2 protocol, along with the option to turn
off automatic IPv6 blocking ΓÇö Windows users have to leave it blocked at all
times. Almost every website is still accessible via IPv4, but it's useful if
you do need to access a specific IPv6 address while the VPN is active.

Android

Android users can download ExpressVPN through the Google Play Store. Open the
app, sign in and you're ready to go. The Android app has a very nice dark-
colored design, only slightly marred by an unnecessary information box about
how long you've used the VPN this week.

ExpressVPN's Android app puts a little more information on the screen than it
needs to, but still runs well. Sam Chapman for Engadget

There's a large button for connecting. Clicking on the server name takes you
to a list of locations. On this list, you can either search or scroll and can
choose individual locations within a country that has more than one. We
connected to as many far-flung server locations as we could, but not a single
one took longer than a few seconds.

The options menu is organized sensibly, with no option located more than two
clicks deep. You will see a couple of options here that aren't available on
desktop, the best of which is the ability to automatically connect to your
last-used ExpressVPN server whenever your phone connects to a non-trusted
wifi network.

There are also a few general security tools: an IP address checker, DNS and
WebRTC leak testers and a password generator. These are also available on the
website, but here, they're built into the app. With the exception of the
latter, we'd recommend using third-party testing tools instead ΓÇö even a VPN
with integrity has an incentive to make its own app look like it's working.

iPhone and iPad

You can only install ExpressVPN's iOS app through the app store. During
setup, you may need to enter your password to allow your phone to use VPN
configurations. Otherwise, there are no major differences from the Android
process.

ExpressVPN looks good on iPhone and iPad. Sam Chapman for Engadget

The interface is not quite as pleasing as the dark-mode Android app, but it
makes up for that by cutting out some of the clutter. The tabs and features
are similar, though split tunneling and shortcuts are absent. Also, both
mobile apps make customer support a lot more accessible than their desktop
counterparts ΓÇö plus, mobile is the only way to send email support tickets.

Browser extension

ExpressVPN also includes browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These let
you connect, disconnect and change server locations without leaving your
browser window. It's nice, but not essential unless you have a very specific
web browser flow you like.

ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages

Connecting to a VPN almost always decreases your speed, but the best VPNs
mitigate the drop as much as possible. We used Ookla's speed testing app to
see how much of your internet speed ExpressVPN preserves. For this test, we
emphasized the locations ExpressVPN uses for most of its virtual servers,
including the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and Singapore.

Some terms before we start:

Latency, measured in milliseconds (ms), is the time it takes one data packet
to travel between your device and a web server through the VPN. Latency
increases with distance. It's most important for real-time tasks like video
chatting and online gaming.

Download speed, measured in megabits per second (Mbps), is the amount of
information that can download onto your device at one time ΓÇö such as when
loading a web page or streaming a video.

Upload speed, also measured in Mbps, is the amount of information your device
can send to the web at once. It's most important for torrenting, since the
amount of data you can seed determines how fast you can download in exchange.

The table below shows our results. We conducted this on Windows, using the
automatic protocol setting with the Lightway Turbo feature active ΓÇö a
recent ExpressVPN addition that keeps speed more consistent by processing
connections in parallel.

Server location Latency (ms) Increase factor Download speed (Mbps) Percentage
dropoff Upload speed (Mbps) Percentage dropoff Portland, Oregon, USA
(unprotected) 18 -- 58.77 -- 5.70 -- Seattle, Washington, USA (best server)
26 1.4x 54.86 6.7% 5.52 3.2% New York, NY, USA 156 8.7x 57.25 2.6% 5.57 2.3%
Amsterdam, Netherlands 306 17x 53.83 8.4% 5.58 2.1% São Paulo, Brazil 371
20.6x 53.82 8.4% 5.65 0.9% Frankfurt, Germany 404 22.4x 55.71 5.2% 5.67 0.5%
Singapore, Singapore 381 21.2x 52.76 10.2% 5.64 1.0% Average 274 15.2x 54.71
6.9% 5.61 1.6%

These are extremely good results. ExpressVPN is a winner on both download and
upload speed. No matter where we went in the world, we never lost more than
about 7% of our download speeds, and upload lost an astoundingly low average
of 2%. This suggests that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its user load between
servers to eliminate bottlenecks.

This Ookla speedtest shows you can still get fast internet while connected to
ExpressVPN -- our unprotected speeds are around 58 Mbps. Sam Chapman for
Engadget

The latency numbers look worse, but the rise in the table is less sharp than
we projected. Ping length depends far more on distance than download speed
does, so we expect it to shoot up on servers more than 1,000 miles from our
location. Keeping the average below 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does here, is a
strong showing.

ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks

A VPN's core mission is to hide your IP address and make you untraceable
online. Our task in this section is to figure out if ExpressVPN can carry out
this mission every time you connect. While we can't be 100% certain, the
tests we'll run through below have led us to believe that ExpressVPN is
currently leak-proof.

Available VPN protocols

A VPN protocol is like a common language that a VPN server can use to mediate
between your devices and the web servers you visit. If a VPN uses outdated or
insecure protocols, or relies on unique protocols with no visible specs or
source code, that's a bad sign.

Not all protocols are available on all apps, but Mac has the full range. Sam
Chapman for Engadget

ExpressVPN gives you a selection of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and
Lightway. The first two are solid choices that support the latest encryption
algorithms. OpenVPN has been fully open-source for years and is the best
choice if privacy is your goal. While IKEv2 started life as a closed project
by Microsoft and Cisco, ExpressVPN uses an open-source reverse-engineering,
which is both better for privacy and quite fast.

Lightway is the odd one out, a protocol you'll only find on ExpressVPN,
though its source code is available on Github. It's similar to WireGuard, in
that both reach for faster speeds and lower processing demands by keeping
their codebases slim. However, Lightway was recently rewritten in Rust to
better protect the keys stored in its memory.

Ultimately, you can't go wrong with any of ExpressVPN's protocol options. 99%
of the time, your best choice will be to set the controls to Automatic and
let the VPN decide which runs best.

Testing for leaks

ExpressVPN is one of the best services, but it's not leak-proof (as you can
read in the Background Check below). Luckily, checking for DNS leaks is a
simple matter of checking your IP address before and after connecting to a
VPN server. If the new address matches the VPN server, you're good; if not,
your VPN is leaking.

First, we checked the Windows app with split tunneling active to ensure the
flaw really had been patched. We tested several servers and didn't find any
leaks, which suggests the patch worked, though leaks were rare even before
ExpressVPN fixed the vulnerability.

We checked our IP while connected to the virtual India location, which is run
from a physical server in Singapore. Don't worry -- it still looks like India
to streaming services. Sam Chapman for Engadget

In fact, we didn't find any leaks on any ExpressVPN server we tested on any
platform. Though questions remain about iOS, as you'll see later in this
section, that's a problem on Apple's end that even the best VPNs can do very
little about for now.

The most common cause of VPN leaks is the use of public DNS servers to
connect users to websites, which can mistakenly send browsing activity
outside the VPN's encrypted tunnel. ExpressVPN avoids the risks of the public
system by installing its own DNS resolvers on every server. This is the key
factor behind its clean bill of health in our leak testing.

Two other common flaws can lead to VPN leaks: WebRTC traffic and IPv6. The
former is a communication protocol used in live streaming and the latter is a
new IP standard designed to expand domain availability. Both are nice, but
currently optional, so ExpressVPN automatically blocks both to ensure there's
no opportunity for leaks to arise.

One note about VPN security on iOS: it's a known and continuing problem that
iOS VPNs do not prevent many online apps from communicating with Apple
directly, outside the VPN tunnel. This risks leaking sensitive data, even
with Lockdown Mode active in iOS 16. A blog post by Proton VPN shares a
workaround: connect to a VPN server, then turn Airplane Mode on and off again
to end all connections that were active before you connected to the VPN.

Testing encryption

We finished up our battery of security tests by checking out ExpressVPN's
encryption directly. Using WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected
what it looks like when ExpressVPN transmits data from one of its servers to
the internet. The screenshot below shows a data stream encrypted with
Lightway UDP.

After connecting to ExpressVPN, HTTP packets were rendered unreadable while
in transit. Sam Chapman for Engadget

That lack of any identifiable information, or even readable information,
means encryption is working as intended. We repeated the test several times,
always getting the same result. This left us satisfied that ExpressVPN's core
features are working as intended.

How much does ExpressVPN cost?

ExpressVPN subscriptions cost $12.95 per month. Long-term subscriptions can
bring the monthly cost down, but the great deals they offer tend to only last
for the first billing period.

A 12-month subscription costs $99.95 and includes three months for free with
your first payment, costing a total of $6.67 per month. The bonus disappears
for all subsequent years, raising the monthly cost to $8.33. You can also
sign up for 28 months at a cost of $139.72, but this is also once-only ΓÇö
ExpressVPN can only be renewed at the $99.95 per year level.

There are two ways to test ExpressVPN for free before making a financial
commitment. Users on iOS and Android can download the ExpressVPN app without
entering any payment details and use it free for seven days. On any platform,
there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, which ExpressVPN has historically
honored with no questions asked. You will have to pay before you can use it,
though.

In our opinion, ExpressVPN's service is solid enough that it's worth paying
extra. Perhaps not this much extra, but that depends on what you get out of
it. We recommend using the 30-day refund period and seeing how well
ExpressVPN works for you. If it's a VPN you can enjoy using, that runs fast
and unblocks everything you need, that's worth a server's weight in gold.

ExpressVPN side apps and bundles

ExpressVPN includes some special features that work mostly or wholly separate
from its VPN apps. Some of these come free with a subscription, while others
add an extra cost.

Every subscription includes the ExpressVPN keys password manager. This is
available under its own tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you'll
need to download a separate extension from your browser's store, then sign in
using your account activation code. It's available on all Chromium browsers,
but not Firefox.

Starting in 2025, new subscribers get an eSIM plan through holiday.com, a
separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB holiday eSIM plans
last for 5 days and can apply to countries, regions, or the entire world
(though it's not clear whether the package deal applies to the regional and
global plans). Longer-term plans include larger eSIM plans.

You can add a dedicated IP address to your ExpressVPN subscription for an
additional cost per month. A dedicated IP lets you use the same IP address
every time you connect to ExpressVPN. You can add the address to whitelists
on restricted networks, and you're assured to never be blocked because of
someone else's bad activity on a shared IP.

Unlike many of its competitors, ExpressVPN doesn't currently offer antivirus
or online storage services, but there is a comprehensive bundle of ID
protection tools called Identity Defender. We haven't reviewed any of these
products in detail, but here's a list for reference:

ID Alerts will inform you if any of your sensitive information is leaked or
misused online. It's free with all plans, but you'll have to enter your
personal information on your ExpressVPN account page or a mobile app.

ID Theft Insurance grants up to $1 million in identity theft reimbursement
and comes free with new ExpressVPN one-year or two-year subscriptions. It's
not yet available to those who subscribed before it launched in October 2024.

Data Removal scans for your information in data brokerages and automatically
requests that it be deleted. It's also free with one-year and two-year plans.

Credit Scanner is only available for United States users. It monitors your
activity on the three credit bureaus so you can quickly spot any suspicious
transactions.

The Identity Defender features are currently only available to new ExpressVPN
customers in the US.

Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy

Although we worry that the consolidation of VPN brands under the umbrella of
Kape Technologies (ExpressVPN's parent company) will make the industry less
competitive, we don't believe it's influencing ExpressVPN to take advantage
of its users' privacy. To confirm, and get a full sense of what sort of
privacy ExpressVPN promises its users, we set out to read ExpressVPN's
privacy policy in detail. It's long, but thankfully aimed at casual users
instead of lawyers. You can see it for yourself here.

In the introduction, ExpressVPN states that it does not keep either activity
logs (such as a user's browsing history while connected to the VPN) or
connection logs (such as the duration of a user's session and their IP
address, which can be used to extrapolate browsing activity). It then
specifies the seven types of data it's legally allowed to collect:

Data used to sign up for an account, such as names, emails and payment
methods.

VPN usage data which is aggregated and can't be traced to any individual.

Credentials stored in the ExpressVPN Keys password manager.

Diagnostic data such as crash reports, which are only shared upon user
request.

IP addresses authorized for MediaStreamer, which is only for streaming
devices that don't otherwise support VPN apps.

Marketing data collected directly from the app ΓÇö a "limited amount" that's
kept anonymous.

Data voluntarily submitted for identity theft protection apps.

Of those seven exceptions, the only ones that count as red flags are account
data and marketing data. Both categories are highly personal and could be
damaging if mishandled. Fortunately, complying with subpoenas is not one of
the allowed uses listed for either data category, nor does the policy let
ExpressVPN sell the data to other private parties.

The only really annoying thing here is that if you ask ExpressVPN to delete
your personal data, you won't be able to use your account from then on. You
aren't even eligible for a refund in this case, unless you're within 30 days
of your initial subscription.

As for marketing data, ExpressVPN collects device fingerprints and location
data when you sign up for an account on its website. The privacy policy also
claims this is anonymized, as its "systems are engineered to decouple such
data from personally identifiable information." Audits corroborate this, as
we'll see in the next section. So, while it would be better if ExpressVPN
didn't collect any personal data at all, its practices don't appear to pose a
risk to anything you do while using the VPN ΓÇö just the ExpressVPN website.

Privacy audits

VPN providers often get third-party accounting firms to audit their privacy
policies. The idea is that a well-known firm won't mortgage its reputation to
lie on behalf of a VPN, so their results can be trusted.

For the last several years, ExpressVPN has had KPMG look over its privacy
policy and relevant infrastructure (see "TrustedServer" below). KPMG's most
recent report, completed in December 2023 and released in May 2024, found
that ExpressVPN had enough internal controls in place that users could trust
its privacy policy.

The report is freely available to read. This is a very good sign, though
we're looking out for a more up-to-date audit soon.

TrustedServer

"TrustedServer" is a marketing term ExpressVPN uses for its RAM-only server
infrastructure. RAM-only servers have no hard drives for long-term storage
and return to a standard disk image with every reboot. This makes it
theoretically impossible to store user activity logs on them, even if
ExpressVPN wanted to do that.

The KPMG audit, linked above, reports that TrustedServer works as advertised.
Between its many clean privacy audits and the Turkish server incident in
2017, we're prepared to say ExpressVPN is a private VPN, in spite of its
aggravating exception for marketing.

Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location?

Next, we tested whether ExpressVPN can actually convince websites that you're
somewhere other than your real location. Our security tests have already
proven it can hide your IP address, but it takes more than leak-proofing to
fool streaming sites these days ΓÇö Netflix and the others have gotten very
good at combing through metadata to sniff out proxy users.

The process for testing this is a lot like how we handled the DNS leak tests:
try several different servers and see if we get caught. We checked five
sample locations outside the U.S. to see if we a) got into Netflix and b) saw
different titles in the library. The results are below.

Server Location Unblocked Netflix? Library changed? Canada Y Y United Kingdom
Y (second try; Docklands failed) Y Slovakia Y Y India Y Y (different from UK
library) Australia Y Y

In fifteen tests, ExpressVPN slipped up only once. Docklands, the UK server
it chose as the fastest, wasn't able to access Netflix. We switched to a
server labeled simply "London" and unblocked it without issue.

ExpressVPN can change your virtual location so you can explore the wonderful
world of K-drama. Sam Chapman for Engadget

All the other locations got us access to an alternate Netflix library on the
first try. We even checked whether the India server, which is physically
located in the UK, showed us different videos than the UK servers. It did,
which makes us even more confident that ExpressVPN's virtual locations are
airtight.

Investigating ExpressVPN's server network

ExpressVPN users can connect to a total of 164 server locations in 105
countries and territories. These locations are reasonably well distributed
across the globe, but as with all VPNs, there's a bias toward the northern
hemisphere. There are 24 locations in the U.S. alone and a further 66 in
Europe.

That isn't to say users in the Global South get nothing. ExpressVPN has IP
addresses from nine nations in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia,
Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and six in Africa
(Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa). The network even
includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, impressive since central Asia
may be the region most often shafted by VPNs.

However, many of these servers have virtual locations different from their
real ones. For those of you choosing a server based on performance instead of
a particular IP address, ExpressVPN's website has a helpful list of which
servers are virtual. The bad news is that it's a big chunk of the list. A
total of 63 ExpressVPN locations are virtual, or 38% of its entire network.

To reduce the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to locate virtual servers as close
to their real locations as possible. Its virtual locations in Indonesia and
India are physically based in Singapore. This isn't always practical, leading
to some awkwardness like operating a Ghana IP address out of Germany. But it
helps ExpressVPN perform better in the southern hemisphere.

Extra features of ExpressVPN

Compared to direct competitors like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN doesn't
have many special features. It's aimed squarely at the casual market and will
probably disappoint power users. Having said that, what they do include works
well. In this section, we'll run through ExpressVPN's four substantial
features outside its VPN servers themselves.

Network Lock kill switch

"Network Lock" is the name ExpressVPN gives to its kill switch (though it's
called "Network Protection" on mobile). A VPN kill switch is a safety feature
that keeps you from broadcasting outside the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects
that you aren't connected to a legitimate ExpressVPN server, it cuts off your
internet access. You won't be able to get back online until you either
reconnect to the VPN or disable Network Lock.

ExpressVPN's kill switch is called Network Lock on desktop, and Network
Protection on mobile (Android pictured) Sam Chapman for Engadget

This is important for everyone, not just users who need to hide sensitive
traffic. The recently discovered TunnelVision bug theoretically allows
hackers to set up fake public wi-fi networks through which they redirect you
to equally fake VPN servers, which then harvest your personal information.
It's unlikely, but not impossible, and a kill switch is the best way to
prevent it ΓÇö the switch always triggers unless you're connected to a real
server in the VPN's network.

Like most of ExpressVPN's features, all you can do with Network Lock is turn
it on and off. You can also toggle whether you'll still be able to access
local devices while the kill switch is blocking your internet ΓÇö this is
allowed by default.

Threat manager, ad blocker and parental controls

ExpressVPN groups three tools under the heading of "advanced protection" ΓÇö
Threat Manager, an ad blocker and parental controls. Threat Manager consists
of two checkboxes: one that blocks your browser from communicating with
activity tracking software and one that blocks a list of websites known to be
used for malware.

Check any of these boxes to use the pre-set blocklists whenever you're
connected to ExpressVPN. Sam Chapman for Engadget

You can't customize the lists, so you're limited to what ExpressVPN considers
worthy of blocking. They share their sources on the website. While the lists
are extensive and open-source, they rely on after-the-fact reporting and
can't detect and block unknown threats like a proper antivirus.

The adblock and parental control options work the same way: check a box to
block everything on the list, uncheck it to allow everything through. In
tests, the ad blocker was nearly 100% effective against banner ads, but
failed to block any video ads on YouTube or Netflix.

The parental control option blocks a list of porn sites. It's an easy option
for concerned parents, but only works while ExpressVPN is connected. As such,
it's meant to be used in conjunction with device-level parental controls that
prevent the child from turning off or uninstalling the VPN client.

Split tunneling

Sometimes, you'll find it helpful to have your device getting online through
two different IP addresses at once ΓÇö one for your home services and one for
a location you're trying to spoof. That's where split tunneling is helpful:
it runs some apps through the VPN while leaving others unprotected. This can
also improve your speeds, since the VPN needs to encrypt less in total.

You can configure split tunneling through either a blocklist or an allowlist.
Sam Chapman for Engadget

ExpressVPN includes split tunneling on Windows, Android and Mac (though only
on versions 10 and below). You can only split by app, not by website, but
it's still pretty useful. For example, you can have BitTorrent handling a
heavy download in the background while you use your browser for innocuous
activities that don't need protecting.

ExpressVPN Aircove router

By now, it should be clear that we find ExpressVPN to be a highly reliable
but often unexceptional VPN service. However, there's one area in which it's
a clear industry leader: VPN routers. ExpressVPN Aircove is, to our
knowledge, the only router with a built-in commercial VPN that comes with its
own dashboard interface.

Usually, installing a VPN on your router requires tinkering with the router
control panel, which turns off all but the most experienced users ΓÇö not to
mention making it a massive pain to switch to a new server location.
Aircove's dashboard, by contrast, will be instantly familiar to anyone who
already knows how to use an ExpressVPN client. It even allows different
devices in your home to connect to different locations through the router
VPN.

Aircove's biggest drawback is its price. Currently retailing at $189 (not
including an ExpressVPN subscription), it's around three times more expensive
than an aftermarket router fitted with free VPN firmware. Some of you might
still find the convenience worth the one-time payment.

ExpressVPN customer support options

ExpressVPN's written help pages are some of the best on the market. Its live
chat is more of a mixed bag, and complex questions may cause delays. However,
it is at least staffed with human agents who aim to reply accurately, rather
than resolve your ticket as quickly as possible.

You can directly access both live chat and email from ExpressVPN's mobile
apps (on desktop, you'll have to go to the website). Sam Chapman for Engadget


We approached ExpressVPN's support features with a simple question: "If I
requested that ExpressVPN delete all my personal data, would I be able to get
a refund for my unused subscription time?" (Remember from the Privacy Policy
section that submitting a full deletion request also cancels your ExpressVPN
account.)

Our first stop was expressvpn.com/support, the written support center and FAQ
page. It's divided into setup guides, troubleshooting, account management and
information on each of ExpressVPN's products. The setup guides are excellent,
including screenshots and clearly written steps; each one includes a video
guide for those who learn better that way.

Troubleshooting is just as good ΓÇö no videos, but the same standards of
clarity and usefulness prevail. The section starts with general problems,
then delves into specific issues you might face on each operating system.
Each article clearly derives from a real customer need.

The live support experience

To get answers on our refund question, we visited the account management
FAQs. This section stated that the refund policy only applies within 30 days
of purchase. Pretty clear-cut, but we still wanted an answer on our special
case, so we contacted live chat by clicking the button at the bottom-right of
every FAQ page.

Live chat is in the bottom-right corner of every page of expressvpn.com. Sam
Chapman for Engadget

Live chat starts with an AI assistant, which is not too hard to get past ΓÇö
just ask it a question it can't answer, then click "Transfer to an Agent." We
got online with (what claimed to be) a human in less than a minute. Answering
the question took longer and involved an uncomfortable 10-minute silence, but
we did get a clear verdict from a real person: refunds are within 30 days
only, no matter what.

If the live chat agent can't answer your question, you'll be redirected to
open an email support ticket. Annoyingly, there's no way to go directly to
email support through the website or desktop apps, though mobile users have
the option to skip directly there.

ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies

ExpressVPN launched in 2009, which makes it one of the oldest consumer VPNs
in continual operation. In more than 15 years of operation, it's never been
caught violating its own privacy policy, though its record isn't free of more
minor blemishes.

Headquarters in the British Virgin Islands

Founders Dan Pomerantz and Peter Burchhardt registered the company in the
British Virgin Islands from the start to take advantage of that territory's
favorable legal environment for online privacy. The BVIs have no law
requiring businesses to retain data on their users, and the process for
extraditing data is famously difficult, requiring a direct order from the
highest court.

In 2021, the BVI implemented the Data Protection Act (DPA) [PDF link], which
prevents companies based in the territory from accessing data on their users
anywhere in the world. It's a great privacy law in theory, modeled on best-in-
class legislation in the EU. However, we couldn't find any evidence that its
supervising authority ΓÇö the Office of the Information Commissioner ΓÇö has
a leader or staff.

In other words, while ExpressVPN is not legally required to log any data on
its users, there's technically nobody stopping them from doing so. Whether
you trust the jurisdiction depends on whether you trust the company itself.
Let's see what the other evidence says.

Security and privacy incidents

Two significant incidents stand out from ExpressVPN's 16-year history. In
2017, when Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was shot to death at
an art show. Turkish police suspected someone had used ExpressVPN to mask
their identity while they deleted information from social media accounts
belonging to the alleged assassin. To investigate, they confiscated an
ExpressVPN server to comb for evidence. They didn't find anything.

A police seizure is the best possible test of a VPN's approach to privacy.
The provider can't prepare beforehand, fake anything, or collude with
investigators. The Turkey incident is still one of the best reasons to
recommend ExpressVPN, though eight years is a long time for policy to change.

The second incident began in March 2024, when a researcher at CNET informed
ExpressVPN that its version 12 for Windows occasionally leaked DNS requests
when users enabled the split tunneling feature. While these users remained
connected to an ExpressVPN server, their browsing activity was often going
directly to their ISP, unmasked.

The bug only impacted a few users, and to their credit, ExpressVPN sprang
into action as soon as they learned about it. The team had it patched by
April, as confirmed by the researcher who initially discovered the
vulnerability. But while their quick and effective response deserves praise,
it's still a mark against them that a journalist noticed the bug before they
did.

Kape Technologies ownership and management questions

In 2021, an Israeli-owned, UK-based firm called Kape Technologies purchased a
controlling interest in ExpressVPN. In addition to ExpressVPN, privately held
Kape owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and Zenmate (before it merged
into CyberGhost). As shown on its website, it also owns Webselenese,
publisher of VPN review websites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an
apparent conflict of interest.

When reached for comment, a representative for ExpressVPN said that
"ExpressVPN does not directly engage with, nor seek to influence, the content
on any Webselenese site," and pointed us to disclosure statements on the
websites in question ΓÇö here's one example. Even so, it's a good reminder
not to take VPN reviews at face value without knowing who's behind them
(Engadget is owned by Yahoo, which does not own any VPNs).

Diving deeper into the background of Kape's ownership will lead you to owner
Teddy Sagi. Go back far enough, and you'll see he did prison time in Israel
and was mentioned in the Pandora Papers, among other things. More recently,
headlines about the billionaire have focused more his businesses in the
online gambling and fintech arenas, as well as his real estate ventures. An
ExpressVPN representative told us that "Kape's brands continue to operate
independently," and our investigation bore that out ΓÇö we couldn't find any
proof that Kape or Sagi have directly attempted to influence ExpressVPN's
software or daily operations.

Closer to the immediate day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the company's
employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 through 2023. During that time,
the US Justice Department announced it had fined Gericke and two others for
their previous employment on a surveillance operation called Project Raven,
which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used to spy on its own citizens.

The revelation prompted a public response from ExpressVPN defending its
decision to hire Gericke, arguing that "[t]he best goalkeepers are the ones
trained by the best strikers." ExpressVPN's representative confirmed that the
company still stands by that linked statement.

Gericke parted ways with ExpressVPN in October 2023, per his LinkedIn
profile. While we don't know what we don't know, we can say that ExpressVPN
has not notably changed its public-facing security and privacy policies
during the time it's been connected to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke.

In the end, how much ExpressVPN's history matters to you is a personal
choice. If you object to any current or past actions by Kape Technologies or
Teddy Sagi, there are other premium VPN options you might prefer. If you need
more information to make up your mind, we recommend reading through CNET's
2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN's corporate history.

Final verdict

ExpressVPN is the VPN we most often recommend to beginners. It takes zero
training to use, and consistently gets past filters on streaming sites. It
also runs in the background with virtually no impact. If anything is worth
the high price of admission, it's the excellent speeds distributed evenly
across the worldwide server network.

However, for certain specific cases, ExpressVPN may not be the best choice.
There's no way to set up your own server locations, like NordVPN offers, and
no double VPN connections, like you can build for yourself on Surfshark. Its
corporate background is more suspect than the entities backing Proton VPN,
and unlike Mullvad, ExpressVPN doesn't work in China ΓÇö it's so well-known
that the government targets its servers specifically.

We suggest going with ExpressVPN for general online privacy, for spoofing
locations in your home country while traveling, or if you regularly need to
unblock sites in other countries. That encompasses 19 of every 20 users,
which is fine by us, as ExpressVPN is a great service. It's just more of a
reliable old screwdriver than a multi-tool.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/ex...
and-a-low-learning-curve-160052884.html?src=rss

---
VRSS v2.1.180528