Bark Review 2024: A Parental Control App With a Unique Approach (2024)

Bark offers an impressive amount of parental control features, while still providing some privacy to your child by only alerting you to flagged messages. Unfortunately, our hands-on testing found the app to be resource heavy on our phone and the alerts to be quite delayed.

We put every aspect of Bark to the test to see how it stands out against other top parental control apps on the market. Here are the results.

Bark review at a glance

Our experience testing Bark Premium

Bark is a promising parental controls app that boasts a lot of highly advanced features. We did come across some issues when testing, but were overall impressed at the accuracy of its alerts.

One of the major downsides is that having the app on our phone drained our phone battery about 20% in an hour, without us even using the phone much. It also got really warm, so it was obviously working overtime for its monitoring services. Granted, our phone is five years old, so this issue may be less pronounced on newer devices.

Setting it up

Installing and setting up the Bark Premium account only took a few minutes, but we needed to connect each of our child’s devices that we wanted to monitor, which was a little time-consuming.

First, we needed to set up a child account by entering their name and birthday, then select any devices and apps we wanted monitored. Bark provides straightforward step-by-step instructions, so it was pretty easy to do.

We connected everything to our own accounts to make testing easier. This included downloading the Bark app to our Samsung Galaxy S10. Unfortunately, the app isn't available on the Google Play Store or App Store, so we had to download the app file directly from Bark's website.

Though we trusted the app, this still felt a bit sketchy to do because our phone warned us multiple times that it's dangerous to download apps this way. We went through with it and it went fine, but it wasn't a great user experience.

Once we downloaded the app, we also needed to enable a ton of permissions. This is a monitoring app at the end of the day, so feeling uncomfortable about these settings comes with the area.

Once we connected our device, we were also able to connect our child’s accounts that need monitoring. Email accounts, social media accounts, streaming accounts, and more can be connected for monitoring. We chose to connect to our own Gmail account to test out this feature.

When playing around the dashboard, we found it to be a bit confusing where certain features were, but it was relatively easy to get used to. We had just finished testing Aura Parental Controls and Aura definitely was more user friendly in this area, but Bark wasn't bad.

Testing monitoring and alerts

With all our accounts set up, it was time to test out how well the monitoring actually worked.

We first tried getting Bark to trigger alerts for Discord. We got a couple of our friends to send us "mean" messages to see if Bark was able to pick up on it. Unfortunately, we never received an alert for Discord, despite Bark mentioning it as one of the apps that's automatically monitored. The alerts we did receive were a bit delayed, so we may have seen the Discord alerts eventually.

For example, we also sent ourselves a nasty email from our other email account. We only received the alert for that the next day.

This was much longer than the time estimate for alerts that customer service gave us, so we were disappointed. The agent told us alerts typically take 15 minutes to arrive, but it could be up to two hours. Still, we were happy to get the alert at all.

While we were playing around, Bark started to go back through our older text messages and screenshots. It was impressive that the AI monitoring technology was able to read text on screenshots to be able to monitor for certain categories quite accurately. It caught things like my husband saying he picked up some beer (drug/alcohol content) and a screenshot of a Reddit post where someone said "damn" (profanity).

We did get a couple alerts for text messages from our cell phone provider, which happens to be called Virgin Mobile. The messages were flagged for sexual content. But without the context, it's easy to understand why they were flagged.

So while the above alerts were delayed, they did work very well.

Location tracking

Unfortunately, we didn't have a similar experience with location tracking. We set up an alert that was supposed to trigger when the phone left our house, but our location never even updated when we were on the opposite side of town.

We did receive a notification when we checked-in through the app, which finally updated our location, but it wasn't automatic. We also tried sending a request for a check-in via the dashboard, but we never received the request on our phone.

So overall, we were happy with the accuracy of the content alerts, but wish they could come in quicker. Our experience with location tracking left a lot to be desired though, and we had some performance issues on our old phone.

Bonus: When we went to uninstall Bark after we were done testing, we had to enter a device code that can only be found in the parental dashboard. This means you're safe from your kids being able to uninstall the app without you noticing.

This wasn't an option for Aura, so we were glad to see this safeguard.

Who is Bark best for?

• Recommended for parents who want to monitor all communication, but only receive alerts when its inappropriate

Bark really shined in its monitoring and alert features, but we liked that it doesn't give you full access to every message that's sent. You can only see what was flagged, which lets your child still have some privacy on their device.

Based on our testing, we wouldn't use Bark for its location tracking services, so you may want to rely on other apps for that.

Bark prices and subscriptions

The Bark app costs between$4.00–$14.00/mo, depending on which plan you go for and if you take the monthly or annual plan.

Bark’s monitoring services is a little bit higher than other competitors in the field. For example, Norton Family is $4.16/mo (billed annually) and Qustodio is $4.58/mo (billed annually). It's about the same as Aura's$8.25/mo (billed annually) and much lower than the more intrusive mSpy at $48.99/mo.

Bark features

Bark offers features and amenities that help parents feel at ease as their kids learn to navigate sites, apps, social media, and the responsibility of having a phone. In addition to parental monitoring, Bark also offers:

• Content monitoring
• Screen time management
• Location tracking
• Activity reports

Content monitoring

On the Bark Premium plan, Bark scans your child’s connected accounts 24/7 and alerts you via text, email, and in-app, when possible issues are detected.

Bark uses machine-learning algorithms to recognize potential threats, including the following:

• Body image/eating-related issues
• Bullying
• Depression
• Drug- and alcohol-related content
• Hate speech
• Medically concerning content
• Phishing
• Predatory behavior
• Risky app and site usage
• Self-harm
• Suicidal content or ideation
• Sexual content
• Violence
• Weapons

Bark’s algorithms also analyze conversational content rather than just searching for triggering keywords. Bark recognizes that what triggers one user may be different for another user and allows parents to adjust the alert sensitivity.

Social media and phone apps monitored by Bark

Social media sites and apps are growing in popularity, as younger kids gain access to phones and internet-connected tablets. Bark helps keep kids safe online by filtering content they see, scanning their messages for inappropriate content, and allowing parents to safeguard internet activity by setting screen time guidelines and website boundaries.

On all platforms, Bark can scan and alert you to issues in your child’s posts, including text in captions, images, and videos. On Android and Amazon Fire tablets, Bark can also scan and alert you to issues found in direct messages and searches.

Parents can determine which websites their kids can and cannot visit, including blacklisting or blocking websites, preventing their child from visiting those sites entirely, and receiving notifications if their child tries to access the blacklisted sites.

Text messages

Bark monitors text conversations on the default text app of your child’s phone, including Apple’s iMessages, Samsung Messages, Google Messages, and the Messages app installed on the Bark phone. The Bark Premium plan can also monitor pictures, audio, or video sent via messaging apps.

Bark’s text message monitoring is one aspect of online protection that leaves some parents wanting a little extra surveillance. Families don’t get access to every single message a child sends, but Bark does send alerts for trigger issues like bullying, self-harm, sexual predators, and more. The alert includes a copy of the content and suggested actions to help parents handle the situation.

Email

One of Bark’s notable features is its ability to monitor your child’s email account. Bark can monitor Comcast, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and iCloud email accounts.

With Bark’s email monitoring, your child’s sent emails, received emails, and image attachments are scanned. At this time, Bark doesn't scan the images inside the body of an email. So, for example, if someone emailed your child a photo of a gun in the body of an email, Bark might not detect it.

Web browsers

Bark also monitors computer web browsing on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. This includes website visits, searches, and even incognito browsing, when you install the Bark browser extensions.

Parents are alerted via email or text message when their child tries to visit a restricted site. Bark also allows parents to block sites completely or restrict specific content categories like streaming sites, gaming sites, p*rnography, and more.

Screen time management

Not only does Bark allow you to monitor what your child sees on the internet, but it also helps you manage when your child can access the internet with their screen time monitoring.

You set the rules — no social media after bedtime? You get to decide. Want to block YouTube during school hours? That’s your prerogative. Choose which apps and sites your child can access during different times of the day, like free time, school time, and bedtime. In the Screen Time settings, you can choose when and if they can access which apps and websites.

Bark also offers category blocking in addition to app blocking. You can block specific apps, like Facebook, Instagram, or all social media apps by blocking the category.

Location tracking and geo-fencing

Bark offers two location features: check-ins, and location alerts, each serving a separate and distinct purpose.

The parent initiates check-ins for immediate location updates. A check-in requires the child to open the app and respond. A notification is then sent to the parent with the child's exact location.

Location alerts are notifications triggered whenever your child leaves or arrives at a pre-set location, like a practice facility, school, or another frequently visited location. The parent dashboard shows the location history for the past seven days. This real-time location tracking helps give parents peace of mind that their child is where they should be at any point in the day.

Activity reports

Parents can access regular activity reports in Bark’s parent dashboard. There, you can find general insights about your child’s screen use over a period of time. You can see information, like recently installed apps, top contacts, and more.

Each week, Bark sends a report summarizing your child’s activity over the past seven days. In our opinion, we prefer to utilize the dashboard. While alerts aren’t instant on the dashboard, it’s a lot faster than waiting one week for the summary report from Bark. Bark sends alerts through email, text, or in the Bark app, if it spots a potential issue in your child’s online activities.

Bonus features

Something extremely unique that Bark offers is the Bark Home and Bark Phone options. These are physical devices that you can buy to set your parental monitoring at a Wi-Fi level (with the Home) or at a device level (with the Phone)

Bark Home offers support for unlimited devices and accounts, website and app blocking, and screen time management. It's a physical device that connects to your router and allows you to manage internet-connected devices, from TVs to gaming consoles and more.

The Bark Phone is a Samsung phone that offers all of the amenities featured in Bark Premium and Bark Home: unlimited devices, website and app blocking, screen time management, location check-ins and alerts, as well as text, app, and social media monitoring and alerts.

Bark Phone also offers remote alarms for parents to set one-time or recurring alarms on their child’s Bark Phone. For an added layer of surveillance, Bark Phone’s texts can’t be deleted without permission. Finally, Bark Phone requires app and contact approvals so you know what your kids are downloading and who they’re talking to.

Bark customer support

Bark offers email, live chat, and online forums and guides. We were impressed with the information available in the online forums and guides. Bark’s YouTube channel, linked on its Contact Us page, has more than a dozen videos, with tutorials on setting up Bark Phone, enabling screen time and monitoring for various devices, using parental controls on various web browsers, pausing and resuming internet access, and more.

During our testing, we used the chat feature, but the bot didn’t answer our question and instead linked us to a few articles. The bot, not the linked articles, ultimately answered our question, but we did find the answer later in a different article.

We also emailed Bark’s customer support a generic question, and we had a resolution within an hour.

Does Bark collect your data?

Bark automatically collects information from you when you visit their site, including your device’s IP address, browser, operating system, and statistics about your use. If you connect to Bark through a mobile device, it may also collect information about your device.

According to Bark’s privacy policy, it “may” collect data from online interactions through other websites, including social media sites, email accounts, or other interactive sites. Bark also uses cookies to remember your site preferences and third-party cookies to serve relevant ads. It’s worth noting that Bark also collects:

• Web forms
• Registration data
• Account data
• Location information

Bark’s privacy policy explicitly states it does not sell information to third parties.

Bark security

Bark is secured with several layers of protection to ensure user data is safe. All databases, physical servers, and web sessions are encrypted to help secure your child’s data.

Bark is compliant with privacy regulations required by law, including:

• COPPA: Protects minors from deceptive marketing practices
• FERPA: Gives rights to families over school records
• CIPA: Requires schools to adopt internet safety policies
• AB 1584: Allows schools to contract with third parties
• SOC 2 Type II: Evaluates the effectiveness of security systems

Top alternatives

There are a lot of factors when taking your child’s online safety into account. While Bark does a good job monitoring content, there are other factors to consider, including price and what features are most important to you. If you're looking for the best parental control software, here are some other alternatives we recommend.

Bark review FAQs

Bottom line: Is using Bark worth it?

Bark is worth it thanks to its unique and extensive features, including monitoring of 30+ apps and websites. Bark also offers location services and screen time management, as well as support for an unlimited number of devices, which is rare for parental control apps.

That being said, Bark's alerts aren't in real-time, and we weren't able to get location tracking to work. Bark is worth the cost with the understanding that there are a few drawbacks.

If you’re looking for a parental control app that offers monitoring with an opportunity for discussion and gives your child more freedom online, Bark may be for you.

Want to see how Bark compares to other top parental apps on the market? Check out our in-depth reviews:

• Bark vs. Aura
• Bark vs. Norton Family
• Bark vs. Qustodio
• Bark vs. mSpy
• Bark vs. Net Nanny

Kalleigh Lane is a passionate digital security advocate and the Lead Editor at All About Cookies. After completing her Master of Arts in English Literature, Kalleigh has gained over 5 years of editing and writing experience in the fields of cybersecurity, tech, and finance. She has been featured in major media outlets such as The Globe and Mail and CTV News, emerging as an advocate for digital security.