Bark Parental Controls Review – Pros and Cons, Features, Prices, Plans, and More

Today, keeping an eye on the children’s activities is surely a challenging task. With Bark parental controls, you can not only monitor your kid’s activity but also track their location. 

This app is comparatively better than other options available due to its ease of use and the fact that it can monitor over 30 apps. If you’re planning to use it to monitor your kids and ensure their safety, in this write-up, I’ll provide you with everything you need to know.

I love using Bark and thought you’d like it too. It’s a parental control app that lets you block sites, manage screen time, and monitor your child’s online activities.

Click this link for a free trial.https://t.co/E80ciwASR9

— Linda Williams (@linnywilliams) April 9, 2024

Quick Answer: With Bark, you can monitor your child’s device without letting them know they’re being monitored. The app allows you to monitor more than 30 apps, connect multiple devices, and provide activity reports too.

Pros and Cons of Bark App

To understand the advantages and drawbacks of using the Bark app, take a look at the table below for its pros and cons:

How to Set Up and Install the Bark App?

When it comes to installing the Bark app, you’ll have to install the Bark Parent app on your phone and the Bark Kids app on your kid’s device. These apps are compatible with iOS, Android, and Chrome OS as well.

Apart from this, you can also access the monitoring details on a desktop by logging in to the Bark account. That said, let’s take a look at the steps you need to follow to install and set up the app.

• Download and install the Bark app from the app store of your phone.

  

• Create your account on Bark using mobile or desktop.

• Then, create a child’s account on the app. In this step, you’ll have to enter their name and birthdate, followed by the devices and apps they use.

  

• Now, enter your email to receive the alerts, along with another phone number used as a backup.

  

• Proceeding further, you will have to install the Bark Kid’s app on your kid’s device. As the app is not available on any app store, Bark will guide you through the steps.

  

• Then, you’ll receive a code on your parent’s dashboard. Enter the code in the very next step.

  

Once you enter the code, the app will start the monitoring process, and you’ll receive all the information on your desktop or phone (wherever you’ve signed in).

Top 5 Bark Features Worth Your Attention

With Bark parental control, you get the following features that help you monitor your child effectively.

Bark monitoring uses machine-learning algorithms to identify and block inappropriate terms. Once you set up the app, you can monitor texts, almost every social media app, emails, photos, videos, and much more.

So, if you want to know your child’s actions on social media apps and with whom they communicate, installing Bark will do the job.

Moreover, Bark will detect and alert you if any inappropriate/concerned words are used by your child. Some of these include – anxiety, bullying, depression, hate speech, profanity, violence, weapons, and more. 

Bark will ensure that your child is not visiting any explicit sites, as it uses a virtual private network (VPN) that monitors their activity and blocks such websites and apps.

The app will also block internet access for most websites that don’t seem appropriate for children. Moreover, it allows you to create a list of any websites that you don’t want your child to visit, even if they use a VPN.

Bark allows you to manage your kid’s time. When they’re using their phone and when they must study, this app has built-in options to apply different rule sets during different times of the day.

Moreover, you can even create time schedules for each day. This means your child won’t be able to access certain apps during the set period.

In addition, you can change the rules any time you like. For example, you can disable the internet for a few hours to disallow your kids from playing online games or surfing the net.

Almost every tracking app has a location tracking feature, but Bark allows you to set a boundary for your kid. Once they leave the marked area on the map, you’ll get an alert. In addition, Bark will give you location updates every 5 minutes.

Moreover, there’s a check-in feature that allows you to send a notification to your child’s phone. Your child will have to check in using that notification, and once they do it, you’ll get an alert containing the address, a timestamp, and their exact location. 

Bark provides you with all the data reports that include your child’s activity reports. The reports mainly contain the apps they were using and any blocked/prohibited activities performed on the device.

Note that Bark does not send you notifications until it receives triggers and won’t provide complete app usage.

What are the Pricing and Plans of Bark?

Bark offers two subscription plans and has no free plans. Take a look at this table for detailed information:

The prices mentioned here can change in the future and also vary as per the user’s location.

Wrapping Up

Installing Bark on your tween’s phone won’t even let them know that they’re being monitored. Also, it is easy to use and offers a streamlined dashboard to track activities.

I’ll be honest, parental control apps like Bark can do phenomenal work when it comes to your kid’s safety. But, having decent communication about online threats and prioritizing safety is also pretty effective.

Gaurav Rathore