ExpressVPN shipped two products on February 19, 2026, and they solve two different problems. One is the first standalone VPN app built for a VR headset. The other is a browser extension that refuses to pick a lane between “lightweight” and “full coverage.” Neither is a huge leap on paper, but both fix a real annoyance for anyone who has used a VPN on a headset or juggled a browser extension alongside a desktop client.
A VPN app for Meta Quest, a first for the industry
ExpressVPN is now available directly on the Meta App Store as a standalone application for Meta Quest headsets. That distinction matters more than it sounds. Meta Horizon OS runs on an Android foundation, so people have sideloaded phone VPN apps onto their headsets for years, with mixed results and no official support if something broke. A native app built for the platform is a different thing entirely: no workaround, no compatibility gamble, just an install from the store like any other headset app.
The app uses AES-256 encryption on Meta Horizon OS and adds two features aimed squarely at how people actually use VR. Smart Routing lets you assign different server locations to different sites or services, so a shopping app can sit on a US server while a banking session stays local. Split tunneling by app means you can route one specific app through the VPN while everything else on the headset connects normally, useful when only one experience actually needs the extra hop.
Why would a headset need a VPN at all? For the same reasons a phone or laptop does. Public Wi-Fi at a friend’s place or a hotel room is still public Wi-Fi, whatever device you’re using it on. Some social VR apps and content platforms restrict access by region, the same geo-blocking problem streaming services have trained everyone to expect. And there’s a simple preference many users share: not broadcasting a headset’s real IP address to every server it happens to talk to during a session.
VR headsets have quietly turned into full internet devices. They browse, they stream, they run social platforms with real accounts and real payment methods attached, and the security tooling around them has lagged well behind that shift. This app is ExpressVPN closing that gap first, and given how often VPN providers copy each other’s platform launches, it probably won’t stay unique for long.
The hybrid extension: neither a proxy nor a full app, both at once
The second launch is arguably more interesting for anyone who isn’t strapping a headset to their face. ExpressVPN’s new browser extension does something most VPN extensions can’t: it works as a lightweight browser-only proxy on its own, or it syncs with the full ExpressVPN app to cover the entire device, and you choose which one you want at any given moment.
To see why that matters, it helps to separate the three things people usually lump together under “VPN extension.”
A classic browser extension only protects traffic inside that specific browser. It’s quick to set up and bundled free with most VPN subscriptions, but everything else on your device, other apps, background connections, a second browser you forgot you had open, stays exposed. It’s fine for quick geo-unblocking or hiding your browser’s location from a single site. It’s not a privacy tool for anything beyond that tab.
A full VPN app protects the entire device: every app, every connection, system-wide, all the time. It’s what you want if you’re serious about privacy or need protection for something outside the browser, torrenting, a gaming client, background sync. It’s also heavier to run and sometimes more than you need if all you’re actually doing is loading one geo-blocked page.
ExpressVPN built its hybrid extension to move between those two modes without forcing a choice upfront. Run it stand-alone for lightweight browser-only coverage when that’s all you need. Let it sync with the desktop app when you want full-device protection instead. Switch between the two with a click rather than installing and paying attention to two separate tools for two separate needs.
Shay Peretz, COO of ExpressVPN’s parent group, described the reasoning behind it directly:
“Most VPNs make you choose: either a simple browser proxy or a full-device app. Our new hybrid browser extension does both in a single tool. You can protect just your browser when you want something lightweight, or switch to full-device coverage with a click. We’re excited to launch this first-of-its-kind extension in the industry.”
The extension is live now on the Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons, and despite launching alongside the Meta Quest news, it has nothing to do with headsets specifically. It works on any desktop where you’d normally install a browser extension. ExpressVPN has confirmed it plans to bring the same hybrid approach to other products later, though no specific timeline has been announced yet.
On the feature list, the extension includes controllable HTML5 geolocation, so sites that read your browser’s reported location get the VPN’s location rather than a mismatched real one, WebRTC leak protection, a wide selection of servers, and ExpressVPN’s own Lightway protocol running underneath it all. If you want the deeper technical background on how Lightway stacks up against WireGuard and OpenVPN, we cover the differences in our guide to VPN protocols.
Worth noting: neither launch is actually tied to the other. The browser extension runs on any regular desktop browser, headset or not. And the Meta Quest app looks less like a one-off and more like a template ExpressVPN has used before, ship a version for a specific niche first, then expand the same approach elsewhere once it’s proven out. If you don’t own a Quest, the announcement is still worth filing away.
Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.
Should this change what you pick?
Not by itself, but it’s a useful data point about where ExpressVPN, owned by Kape Technologies, has been putting its engineering time. The company has spent the past couple of years pushing into platforms other providers haven’t bothered with, native apps for specific devices rather than telling users to sideload something and hope for the best. The Meta Quest app fits that pattern exactly.
The hybrid extension is the more broadly useful release of the two. Almost nobody reading this owns a VR headset, but nearly everyone who’s ever installed a VPN browser extension has run into the same limitation: it only covers the browser, and switching to full protection meant opening a separate app and remembering it’s running. Removing that friction is a small but real improvement, and it’s the kind of feature other providers tend to copy once someone proves it works and users like it.
None of this replaces reading a full review before committing money to a subscription. Our ExpressVPN review covers speeds, pricing, and how it holds up against competitors on the things that actually matter day to day: streaming reliability, torrenting support, and how it performs on a restrictive network. A new headset app or a clever extension is a good sign a provider keeps investing in its product. It shouldn’t be the only reason you sign up.
If you’re weighing ExpressVPN against other options, the Meta Quest app is genuinely a differentiator right now, nobody else offers a native VR headset app. The hybrid extension is less of a moat. Give it six months and expect a couple of competitors to announce something similar, since browser-only versus full-device coverage is a limitation every provider’s extension shares.
Two solid, narrow improvements, not one flashy headline feature. The Meta Quest app fills a gap that genuinely existed: VR headsets have been full internet devices with no native VPN option for years. The hybrid extension is the more useful launch for most readers, since it removes the annoying choice between a thin browser proxy and a heavy full-device app. Worth trying if you're already an ExpressVPN subscriber. Not, on its own, a reason to switch providers.