Club Benefits
ExpressVPN is no longer simply one of the best VPNs – it's a full-blown privacy suite. One subscription gets you up to five privacy-focused apps: ExpressVPN, ExpressMailGuard, ExpressAI, ExpressKeys, and Identity Defender.
We've been getting hands-on with each new app and now it's the turn of Identity Defender.
The suite has its own iOS and Android apps that operate completely independently of the ExpressVPN app, making it easier to find exactly what you need. You don’t have to use every tool either – you can cherry-pick through options and only set up the monitoring you want. Just make sure you choose the right subscription tier, or you may be disappointed.
Identity defense tailored to individuals
Many of the identity defense tools on the market were created for corporations, not individuals. Whether it's detecting active fraud or potential data breaches, having the same level of protection available on an individual basis is crucial.
Identity Defender is only available with the Advanced and Pro tiers of ExpressVPN, and you can’t purchase it separately. However ExpressVPN is currently cheaper than it has ever been, and one subscription includes up to five privacy-focused apps.
A 28-month ExpressVPN Advanced plan costs $2.92 per month ($81.72 upfront pre-tax). A 28-month ExpressVPN Pro plan costs $4.87 per month ($136.32 upfront pre-tax).
Both plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN Pro unlocks all Identity Defender features, as well as ExpressAI and Dedicated IP.
Tool | Advanced | Pro | Row 0 - Cell 3 |
Address Alerts | ✅ | ✅ | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
Dark Web Monitoring | ✅ | ✅ | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
SSN Monitoring | ✅ | ✅ | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
Credit Scanner | ✅ | ✅ | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
Credit Alerts | ✅ | ✅ | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
Data Removal | ✅ | ✅ | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
Home Title Monitoring | ❌ | ✅ | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
Auto Title Monitoring | ❌ | ✅ | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
Court Record Monitoring | ❌ | ✅ | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
Neighborhood Watch | ❌ | ✅ | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
High Risk Transaction Monitoring | ❌ | ✅ | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
ID Theft Insurance | ✅ (Up to $3 million) | ✅ (Up to $5 million) | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
Ease of Use
After you download and install the Identity Defender mobile app to your smartphone or tablet, you’ll log in and enter a nominal amount of information, including your name, DOB, email, state, and city. Once you accept the terms and conditions, you can begin setting up the individual tools.
To put your mind at ease before we continue, Identity Defender also falls under ExpressVPN's strict no-logs and privacy policies. The company performs regular independent privacy and security audits, with 20+ completed to date.
ExpressVPN baby-steps you through the entire process for each tool – very user-friendly, even if you’re a beginner. If you do have any issues, ExpressVPN offers a detailed setup guide for Identity Defender in its website's Support Center. You can also find useful information by tapping the Profile icon in the app, scrolling down, and pressing Getting Started.
You can enter up to 10 email addresses, physical addresses, and phone numbers. The app also has monitoring options for passports, driver's licenses, bank information, medical IDs, and credit cards.
If you need to edit or add information after your initial setup phase, just click the Security icon in the app, scroll down, and tap the Review or Update Monitored Information button.
The same section has a dropdown menu at the top that shows your Dashboard by default, but you can pick from Services, Alerts, Dark Web, Address, SSN, and Neighborhood.
Testing tools in real-time
The best thing about Identity Defender is the real-time monitoring and alerts. Home, finance, auto, and Dark Web monitoring are all available in real-time.
I downloaded the app for iOS and Android, and tested it via the ExpressVPN app for Windows. I tested each of the tools available for the Advanced tier over 7 days, twice a day (morning and evening), each session for a minimum of 10 minutes. It also ran in the background on my devices for at least half of each day. Switching up the testing times allowed me to stay on top of any data alerts.
Let’s look at a few of the tools in detail, starting with Data Removal because it’s one of the biggest draws for me. On initial setup of the suite, I entered one email. To see how easy it was to edit information, I went in and added another. It was quick and painless, and the tool began monitoring it immediately.
I received an email alert that data was found.
I was notified that the data removal tool was in the process of removing my information from three websites, one of which I recognized as a platform for downloading free clipart. It was nice to recognize sites I knew I had been on, proof of the tool doing its job. The tool displays "in progress," and you receive an email notification when data removal is complete.
The data removal tool does its job well, and the detailed description of which information was removed helps put you at ease. Mine included not only the emails, but any other information added on the sites, including my name, phone number, address (and in one instance, legal records and my mother's maiden name).
You can check your credit score right in the app – it uses the well-know agency, Experian. I’ll spare you the details of my credit report (grad student), but the data is accurate when compared to my recent big-three credit report.
What I will say is that the credit score and monitoring tool provides real details, including your payment history, derogatory marks, total number of accounts, and hard inquiries. Just click on the Credit Score icon on the Home page, and you’ll see your credit score at the top.
When you scroll down, you’ll see all the positive and negative credit marks that impact your score, click the > icon on the right side of each, and you can view recommended actions to improve or maintain your credit.
I live in a fairly rural area, so I didn’t receive any address or neighborhood watch alerts. Luckily, I can add or change my location. I entered a well-known street address in the city, performed a search within a one and five-mile radius, and immediately red location markers appeared, indicating known offenders.
If you click a location marker, it shows the offender's name and address, along with a link to view details. Details include age, approximate distance, physical traits, and offense.
I didn’t receive alerts on my SSN, address, or home. Those are the types of identifiable information you don’t want floating around on the internet, so I wasn't heartbroken. That said, it’s nice to know the app is monitoring for potential breaches, and it provides an easy way to stay on top of it.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the iOS and Android apps are almost identical. Most of the time, at the very least, iOS and Android apps have different verbiage, but that wasn't an issue with Identity Defender – consistent UI is something ExpressVPN does very well.
Not as convenient on desktop
The only real flaw I found with the Identity Defender suite is the inconvenience of using it on a desktop.
You can find links to the Identity Defenderid suite tools within ExpressVPN’s Windows app by clicking the Add-ons icon on the left-hand menu. A window containing available tools appears to the right of the map.
When you click on one, you’re redirected to your account dashboard to view the information. You can still see everything you would within the app, it just isn’t as convenient as the mobile app. It isn’t a huge flaw, just extra steps.
On a nit-picking level, I noticed that the Privacy tab's dropdown menu showed no items in progress for almost a minute before it displayed accurate statistics for each field. It may have been under a minute, but it's still a lag, and it happened every time I used the menu on both Android and iOS.
I'd love to see a standalone app for Windows and macOS, and less delay when loading Privacy (data removal) updates. Ease of use and no glitches across all platforms is never a bad thing.
Being proactive about your data just got easier
Overall, Identity Defender is a win for ExpressVPN. It provides online data monitoring with a click, all in the convenience of a mobile app.
It provides neighborhood alerts to help keep your family safe, data removal services to minimize your digital footprint, credit monitoring for the fiscally-minded, and it's really easy to use.
Just remember, it's a US-exclusive (for now), so anyone outside the States will have to wait.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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