ExpressVPN Drops Aircove for Fortify, Adds Caller ID and Vault Files

ExpressVPN pulled both Aircove routers from sale on September 16 and replaced them with Fortify, a $199.99 co-branded Wi-Fi 6 router built on GL.iNet's Flint 2 hardware that moves VPN traffic at up to 900 Mbps. Two quieter releases landed alongside it: scam-call screening inside Identity Defender, and file attachments in the ExpressKeys password manager. Here is what each one actually changes — and what Aircove owners need to plan for.

Fortify: the same idea as Aircove, on hardware that can keep up

The headline number is throughput. Aircove topped out at up to 330 Mbps with the VPN running; Fortify is rated at up to 900 Mbps on WireGuard — roughly 2.7× the ceiling. That gap is the whole reason this product exists. A router-level VPN encrypts every packet for every device in the house on one CPU, so the router, not your ISP line, is usually what caps your speed. On a gigabit connection, Aircove was the bottleneck. Fortify mostly isn't.

The hardware behind it is GL.iNet's Flint 2 (GL-MT6000), a router that has been on the market in its own right. Per GL.iNet's own specification page, that platform runs a quad-core MediaTek processor at 2.0 GHz with 1 GB of DDR4 and 8 GB of eMMC storage, and is rated for up to 900 Mbps on WireGuard and up to 880 Mbps on OpenVPN with DCO — the kernel-level data-channel offload that stops OpenVPN from being the slow option it used to be.

One caveat on the Wi-Fi rating. AX6000 is a sum of theoretical PHY rates, not a speed any single laptop will see: the announcement splits it as up to 1148 Mbps on 2.4 GHz plus 4804 Mbps on 5 GHz. Add those and you get the marketing number. No client negotiates both bands at once, and real throughput depends on your device's own radio. The 900 Mbps VPN figure is the one that should drive your buying decision, because it applies to all traffic in the tunnel. The jump from 2×2 to 4×4 MU-MIMO matters more than the headline AX number anyway: doubling spatial streams lets the router serve more clients at once instead of time-slicing between them, which is what the "up to 86 concurrent devices" claim rests on.

Read our VPN router guide first

The business model changed, not just the box

This is the part the spec sheet hides. ExpressVPN has shipped router software since 2016, first as custom firmware, then as Aircove — its own hardware, its own manufacturing, its own support burden. Fortify drops that: GL.iNet builds and maintains the hardware, firmware and router platform; ExpressVPN supplies only the VPN and privacy layer on top.

Zac Eller, GM of Global Partnerships at ExpressVPN, framed it as letting "both companies focus on what they do best." Alfie Zhao, co-founder and COO at GL.iNet, described the result as a joint effort on home-network VPN management. Read practically: ExpressVPN is out of the hardware business and into a licensing partnership.

For buyers that is mostly good: GL.iNet ships router firmware for a living and iterates faster than a VPN company maintaining a side product. The trade-off is that your update cadence now depends on a second vendor's roadmap — a dependency that didn't exist when one company owned the whole stack.

If you own an Aircove, here are your dates

Both models were discontinued immediately, but they are not dead:

• Aircove — support and security updates through 2027
• Aircove Go — support and security updates through 2028
• Existing owners of either are eligible for a discount on Fortify (ExpressVPN routes this through support rather than an automatic code)

That is a runway, not an abandonment. Upgrade now only if VPN throughput is actively costing you speed, or if 2×2 Wi-Fi is your constraint. But when the support window closes, replace the router — an unpatched edge device is worse than no VPN at all, because it terminates every connection in your home.

Regional pricing outside the US "will be announced separately," so the $199.99 figure is a US MSRP, not a global one.

Identity Defender now screens calls, on Android in the US

ExpressVPN extended Identity Defender's scam protection from email to the phone line. Caller Identification checks incoming calls against a database of reported and suspected spam and scam numbers, then warns you or blocks the call outright. ExpressVPN's own feature page confirms the scope: it is available to Express Pro subscribers, on Android, in the United States, at no additional cost. iOS support is stated as coming, and the company points to region-specific laws and data regulations as the reason it has not committed to other countries.

There are three levels, and the difference between them is how much false-positive risk you accept:

The third level is the aggressive one. "Potentially suspicious" without wide reporting means pattern-based inference, and that is exactly where a legitimate call from a clinic, a courier or a new number gets silenced. Start at the warning level, move up only if the volume justifies it, and check the blocked-numbers list in the app for the first week. All three levels are switchable at any time, and call protection can be turned off entirely.

Strategically this is catch-up, not innovation: NordVPN shipped a free Android call blocker earlier this year, and Surfshark added SMS scam filtering in August. Scam-call screening is becoming table stakes in the privacy-suite bundle rather than a differentiator.

See how NordVPN's free call blocker compares

ExpressKeys stores files now — 10 GB on Pro, 5 GB on Advanced

ExpressKeys, ExpressVPN's password manager, can now hold file attachments on any vault item — documents, photos, videos and other file types — so a passport scan sits with the credential it belongs to instead of in a phone gallery. There is no individual file-size limit, only a per-plan storage pool:

• 10 GB on Express Pro
• 5 GB on the Advanced plan and the standalone ExpressKeys subscription

Text, PDF, image and video files preview inside the app, and when you share a vault item you choose whether attachments are included and which ones. That per-item, per-attachment choice is the detail worth noting — sharing a Wi-Fi password without also handing over the scanned lease attached to it is a real scenario.

The security model is unchanged: AES-256 with keys generated on your device and a vault password that never leaves it — zero-knowledge, with the client built in Rust. That matters more once files are involved, because documents are a far richer target than password strings. Encrypting client-side means ExpressVPN cannot read what you upload.

The practical warning: a password manager is not a backup. If it holds your only copy of a document and you lose vault access, the file is gone with it.

What to do now

• Aircove owner on a sub-300 Mbps line: do nothing. You have patches through 2027 or 2028 and the speed gap won't show.
• Aircove owner on gigabit: Fortify is a genuine 2.7× throughput upgrade; ask support for the existing-owner discount before ordering.
• No VPN router yet: a router-level VPN is still the wrong default for most households — it covers devices that can't run an app, at the cost of an all-or-nothing tunnel that breaks banking sites and local casting.
• US Express Pro subscriber on Android: turn on Caller Identification at the warning level today. It costs nothing.
• ExpressKeys user: attachments are a convenience feature, not a document vault. Keep a second copy of anything irreplaceable.

FAQ

Is Fortify just a rebadged GL.iNet Flint 2?

Essentially yes on hardware — it is the GL-MT6000 platform — with ExpressVPN's VPN and privacy software layered on and 12 months of the Advanced plan bundled in. GL.iNet lists it separately as a Wi-Fi 6 router with ExpressVPN built in.

Will my Aircove stop working?

No. Both models were discontinued from sale but keep security updates — Aircove through 2027, Aircove Go through 2028. Plan a replacement before your model's window closes.

Does Caller Identification work outside the United States?

Not currently. ExpressVPN limits it to US Android users on Express Pro and cites local laws and data regulations as the reason it has not committed to other regions.

Do ExpressKeys attachments count against a file-size limit?

There is no individual file-size cap, only your plan's storage pool: 10 GB on Express Pro, 5 GB on Advanced and the standalone subscription.

Is 900 Mbps the Wi-Fi speed?

No. It is the VPN throughput ceiling on WireGuard, which is the number that limits tunneled traffic. The AX6000 Wi-Fi rating is a sum of theoretical per-band rates that no single client reaches.

Bottom line

Fortify is the more honest product Aircove should have been: real router hardware from a company that builds routers, with ExpressVPN doing the part it is actually good at. The 2.7× VPN throughput jump is the only number most buyers need, and $199.99 with a year of the Advanced plan is defensible pricing. Caller Identification and ExpressKeys attachments are smaller, and both are catch-up features — but they are included rather than upsold, which is the right side of that line.

The pattern worth watching is consolidation: ExpressVPN is assembling a privacy suite — VPN, password manager, identity monitoring, call screening — while licensing away the parts it would rather not build. Expect rivals to price bundles, not tunnels.

Sources and further reading

Sources

• ExpressVPN and GL.iNet launch Fortify (press release, September 16, 2026) itwire.com
• GL.iNet Flint 2 (GL-MT6000) official specifications gl-inet.com
• ExpressVPN — Identity Defender feature page (Caller Identification) expressvpn.com
• ExpressVPN — ExpressKeys password manager expressvpn.com
• TechRadar: Out with Aircove, in with Fortify techradar.com

More on ExpressVPN

Specifications and pricing are ExpressVPN's and GL.iNet's and were accurate at publication; regional pricing outside the US was not announced.