What is the Bark Monitoring Solution?
In their words, “Bark is an online safety solution powered by advanced algorithms that proactively alerts parents to potential dangers, including cyberbullying, sexting, drug use, internet predators, depression and suicidal thoughts – and provides expert recommendations on how to talk about issues as a family.”
There are parental control solutions that control WHAT kids see. These include filters like Mobicip or Covenant Eyes which both prevent pornography from being viewed. BARK is different because it tells parents HOW their kids are using popular apps like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and others.
That’s right – it’s an app that let’s you know what’s going on INSIDE Snapchat and Instagram. Kik and Twitter. And, that’s worth gold.
Disclosure: Some of the links within this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. We constantly test products to make sure we only recommend solutions that we trust with our own families.
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What Makes Bark Different from Other Solutions?
Other than the obvious value that comes from knowing the words, comments, and pictures being used and shared in popular apps, it also advocates for a collaborative approach to technology usage between parents and kids.
At Protect Young Eyes, we love this. We are not advocates of the “bubble-wrap” approach to parenting in the digital age. Instead, parents who are observant, engaged, and informed, often have kids who learn to use technology responsibly. These three steps explain their value nicely:
- Sign-up: Parents work with their child to connect text messaging, social networks, and email accounts.
- Get Alerts: Bark’s technology monitors their child’s accounts 24/7/365, and sends parents text/email alerts to potentially risky activity.
- Take Positive Action: Parents get recommended actions and ways to talk about issues as a family.
Remember, parental controls don’t ever take the place of parents. Bark agrees.
Is Bark Easy to Install? What’s the Cost?
Bark is available for both iOS (iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone) and Android devices, and can be found in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Stores, respectively. From there, it’s a simple app install, follow the prompts, and connect your child’s accounts.
The cost is $9/month or $99 if paid annually. So, basically, three trips to the gas station to protect your child from digital risk. We believe the pricing is very reasonable.
So, does your child love social media? We think Bark is a great solution for the parent who wants to teach their child how to use technology well.
Related Post: What’s the Right Age to Give My Kid Social Media?
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How many devices for one subscription?
Unlimited devices! Awesome.
Chris
iMazing is required to use Bark. Unfortunately, iMazing wants a password to turn off encryption for backups, even though the software was never installed. iMazing support was useless. Bark support was surprised that I had to provide a password to disable backup encryption in iMazing, even though it was never installed in the first place.
I am still not sure what is going on with iMazing.
Hi, DS – were you able to resolve your questions with Bark? They’re typically very helpful.
Chris
It says that the app isn’t available on the amazon device. Any suggestions?
this is horrible it wont let me watch yuotube for my scince class
Considering bark for a 13 yo who is getting a first phone. However, am I understanding correctly that apple devices have to be physically connected to a computer to monitor texts? I’m concerned that this means issues may not be seen in a timely manner.
Currently, there’s a delay, depending on how often you are grabbing iCloud back-ups. Alternatively, if you’re wanting to see texts real-time, you can set up a dummy device with the sample Apple ID and mirror the iMessage activity on that dummy device. If he deletes the activity on his iPhone, it stays on the dummy device. We explain some of that here.
It requires backup on the computer the first time, and from there on out does it over WiFi. Note, though, that it only alerts you of texts that are cause for concern, you won’t see the sent and received content of every message.
Hi Chris. Just some updates for your site: Bark is now $14/month and in trying to set it up, their site says they can not monitor Snapchat, which is why I was looking into it.
Hi, Chernetta – yes, we’re in the process of updating our Bark references due to their upgrade. Thanks!
Chris
*can not monitor Snapchat on Apple products, is what I meant.