Bark Kids

Bark Kids

By Bark Technologies, Inc.

Score: 1.28881
1.28881
From 7,517 Ratings

Description

Bark Kids is the free child companion app for both Bark and Bark Jr. To use it, you’ll need to have an established Bark account and install Bark Kids on your child’s device. Here are the features this app enables: SCREEN TIME MANAGEMENT Families can set healthy time limits and create schedules for when their children’s devices can connect to the internet (through both cell service and Wi-Fi). WEB FILTERING Our web filter lets you select which websites your child can access on their devices. You can allow or block specific sites — or even whole categories like streaming services, online gaming, sexual content, and more. GPS-POWERED LOCATION TRACKING Bark’s robust location tracking enables you to track your child in real time on a map. You can even find out if they’re stationary, walking, biking, or moving in a car. CHECK-INS Check-Ins are an easy way for families to get peace of mind when their kids are out and about. Rather than sending a "Did you get there?" or "Where are you?" text, you can rely on a GPS-based location confirmation from your children to verify that they've safely arrived at their destinations. It can even give you step-by-step directions via Google Maps so you can meet them where they are if necessary. PERSONAL ACCOUNT CONNECTIONS The Bark Kids app allows kids to connect their own accounts to Bark’s monitoring service (not available with Bark Jr). By allowing them to connect directly to our monitoring service, they get more privacy without having to share their usernames or passwords. HOW BARK KIDS WORKS WITH THE BARK PARENT APP Download the Bark Parent companion app to manage your child’s entire digital world - Monitor texts, apps & social media - Create custom screen time schedules - Block websites & apps - Get insights into online activities - Track location WHAT PARENTS ARE SAYING - "My wife and I LOVE Bark. We've had some tough but productive conversations with our 13-year-old son. It's proving to be extremely valuable." — Josh L. - “It’s just another set of protections we as parents give our kids for the digital environment (or as my 10-year-old calls it, a “cell phone seat belt”). My oldest is a 9th grader, and while I trust her, I’ve come to realize through the alerts that some of her friends aren’t truly her friends. It’s led to some amazing conversations about choosing friends wisely and recognizing toxic people. While she wasn’t for Bark at first, she’s since said she’s grateful that I saw those messages because it reaffirmed what she was feeling but didn’t know how to verbalize without sounding sensitive.” — Bark Parent - "Bark notified me that my young daughter had unknowingly revealed her phone number to strangers on Twitter. The fact that Bark notified me was impressive and led to an informative discussion with her the same day." — Jon B. - “Since Bark alerted us to the suicidal language used in the Google doc that was being used in a chat document with a friend, we have seen both a pediatrician and a licensed counselor. We are hopeful for a positive outcome. Thanks to Bark for letting us peek into our child’s mind!” — Bark Parent - “This app is a lifesaver! It has allowed us to catch so many “red flags” in the content my kids have accessed on their devices and in their interactions with friends and other people online that I wouldn’t have ever known about otherwise. The big difference between Bark and other “Parental Control” software is that Bark allows your kids to have so much more privacy. It doesn’t show you everything they do, but sends an instant alert regarding any activity that might be concerning. Highly recommended!” — Bark Parent With Bark, you can help keep your kids safe both online and in real life. Try it out for seven days absolutely free! Our Family Online Safety Specialists are standing by to help answer any questions you might have. Email [email protected] or visit help.bark.us to get answers and advice from the Bark Team.

Screenshots

Reviews

  • This app destroys your kids privacy!

    1
    By Kaitlinsaperson
    Did they ever tell you Kid’s without enough privacy become sneaky kids? When you buy this app your telling me the answer is yes but you don’t care because you feel the need you need to know every single thing about your kid? Is that the person you want to raise having to hide everything from you not talking to you anymore about personal stuff.. You may be the parents that say “Oh it’s just for my kids safety” Guys this app is just like reading your kid’s diary and it doesn’t feel good for them… So lets try and thing about the choices we make once downloading this app…

  • I’m not a dog on a leash

    1
    By idk cookie 99182734
    Bark is for helicopter parents to have a leash on their kids because they somehow don’t deserve privacy, the internet is not and will never be safe. You can try all you want but if you’re a helicopter parent trying to make the internet “safe” maybe just get them a flip phone instead

  • Doody booty app fr

    1
    By Just a random teen 😉
    It works but the bullying thing is wayyyyyyy to harsh also it makes my device work like it’s 10 years old ALSO WHAT IN THE NAME OF EVERYBODYS SOUL ARE THESE BOT GENERATED RESPONESS

  • Not recommend (TW self harm)

    1
    By たあかあなかのふにやかなか
    This is coming for a 11 yr girl and my parents have downloaded this app on my phone without my permission because they were “concerned” i have my sisters contact name as “ Sister Evie rat” and they concerned it but that’s a joke me and my sister do and when I was venting to my friend about one of my ex best friends had told me to kill my self so I was talking to her about but the app showed it as I was telling her to kill her self and was leaving everything out and it makes it look like I’m the bad person.

  • Objectively, not a great solution, from the POV of a now-adult. 3/5 for effort, though.

    3
    By CD Stokes
    If I'm to be 100% objective, the services, in my experience, just do not work as intended. The services (at least as of about a year ago) have links that require way too much to set up which may not be worth parents' time. If you're going to restrict your child's device, start with just iOS Screen Time, then if you actually have a growing concern, talk to your child about their social media habits instead of using this. In my eyes, my parents using Bark was seen as a bit of a privacy overreach, and children are allowed to have some semblance of privacy. If your child refuses to talk to you, then you may have some reason to download it if you think that your child's life or wellbeing could be in jeopardy. Don't put it on their devices just because you can, that's a very easy way to have your child despise your screen time policies. Reminder: Bark is NOT designed to give you absolutely all information about what your child is doing. While I respect that from the perspective I have now, as a kid, my parents knowing anything about my online friends was a death sentence for me, because they openly despised the idea. They're better about it now that I'm an adult and I can do my own thing, but still. Aside from that VERY long tangent, here's a few issues I've noticed across the years of using it. Some of these may have been fixed since I last used it, but anyways: 1. Notification time The notifications take WAY too long to be sent. In testing we did before we stopped using the service (because I got too old to use it), it took (on average) around 40-75 minutes to send notifications. Though, I will say, part of this isn't the fault of Bark, it's more the services. 2. More context than needed For some things, such as Discord DMs, Bark revealed too much of the message, instead of intelligently grabbing snippets from their messages. This may have changed in recent but this is to the best of my recollection. It also would grab entire emails without consent, even when said emails were tagged as confidential. 3. Fundamental issues with use cases While I do respect the mission Bark is trying to accomplish, and the niche they've filled in the app market, the use case isn't their fault. This more just lies in the parent(s). 4. Zero control for the child This is something I'm unfortunately a bit fuzzy on, but from what I could recall, the children had zero control via the Bark app. 5. VPN (or so you think) Bark's VPN isn't so much a VPN as much as it is a network tunnel. Everything sent through the tunnel should be treated as unsecure, as all traffic can be read if the Bark account is spoofed. This may have been improved as of recent, but when I used it, it definitely needed some work. In summary, Bark is a very powerful tool, but don't use it just because you can. Use it only if you have a legitimate concern that you do need to use it. Using it randomly damages trust between your child and you, and can lead to some unintended consequences later down the road.

  • Better before bark

    1
    By 🧋🖤❤️🖤
    As a teen myself I did not like bark it was making my phone glitch. Like if I was on a app it would say that I'm not connected to the internet even if I was, this did not happen before bark.

  • My phone doesn’t work

    1
    By aiden——
    This was installed on my phone a week a ago and my brand new iPhone 14 acts like a phone that i've had for 8 years plus. it is a terrible app, I do not care about limiting screen time or having alerts when your kid is looking at something the shouldn't, but there has to be a better way because this is not it.

  • From a teens pov

    1
    By Bsd lover
    I understand wanting to protect your kids, but this is to far. It watches everything you do. What music you listen to, every text you send and receive, and your social media. Parents should be able to trust their kids online.

  • MY point of view.

    1
    By Avvliv
    Bark is an impressive tool for parents seeking to monitor their children’s every interaction, but it comes at a heavy cost to privacy and independence. This app essentially eliminates any personal boundaries, allowing parents access to private conversations and even enabling them to disable WiFi at their discretion. While the intention may be to keep kids safe, the execution feels invasive, promoting an environment where trust is replaced by constant surveillance. For teens trying to develop a sense of responsibility and personal space, Bark turns every message, search, and interaction into something parents can scrutinize, creating a digital world with zero room for privacy.

  • Don’t recommend

    1
    By fr8sckzhduzd
    I don’t like this app for 3 reasons. 1#. I like to have a little privacy while I’m on my phone, but this app invades your privacy. 2#. I’m a good kid and my parents know that, and if I am talking to one of my friends sending them videos, every, single video gets reported. Even a motivation video! Like what the heck! My parents once got a report of swearing and violence, and it was saying that o was doing it but I wasn’t. I showed my parents and they believed me. 3#. I just don’t like the app. It says things you don’t do. I don’t recommend this app

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