As parents, we work hard to keep our kids safe. It was the reason for this post and we’ve already discussed internet safety for younger kids here. Now, as a mom of teens, I am here to provide a parent review of the Bark phone and Bark app and revisit the issue of digital safety.
When it comes to devices, the internet, and social media, it is complicated and so hard to parent. We want our kids to learn how to have a healthy relationship with the digital world, but what happens on their phones is so guarded and private that the stories of parents having no idea their kids were involved in alarming online behavior until was too late resonates. Enter Bark, a tool that gives us a little extra peace of mind, all while empowering our teens to explore their digital lives safely.
In the United States, smartphone usage among adolescents is notably high. According to a 2020 study, over 95% of teens aged 13 to 17 have access to a cell phone.
Specific data for the 12 to 16 age group (the age group we’re parenting) isn’t readily available, but it’s reasonable to infer that usage rates are similarly high. A 2023 report found that 97% of teens use their phones during the school day, primarily for social media, YouTube, and gaming.
These statistics show how widespread smartphones are in the daily lives of U.S. adolescents. It seems like they can’t be avoided anymore. The odds are your child already has a smartphone and, if they don’t, they are pressuring you to get one since “all” their friends have them.
The internet and social media are great tools for learning and connecting, but they also come with a lot of risks. Our kids are growing up in a world that’s very different from the one we grew up in. While I genuinely trust my kids, I also believe they can quickly get into situations or introduced to content they need help processing (even though they, of course, don’t realize it).
For example, studies show that kids are being exposed to pornography at younger ages than many parents realize. The average age of first exposure to explicit content is now around 11 to 12 years old, but it can happen even earlier. With the widespread availability of smartphones, social media, and easily accessible websites, children can stumble across explicit content by accident or through peer influence.
For me, monitoring isn’t about invading their privacy — or it doesn’t have to be. It’s about giving them the guidance and protection they need as they learn to navigate the digital world. It’s also an opportunity to have open conversations about safety, values, and responsibility online. We want to make sure they’re safe, healthy, and prepared for the challenges they might face in the digital space, while still giving them room to grow and explore. Bark helps us do that.
It’s all about balance—helping them use technology responsibly while protecting them from potential harm.
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Our Journey
We did not “wait until 8th” (the pledge parents are asked to make – to wait until the kids are in 8th grade to get them phones). Despite being a screen-lite family, we reached a point where we wanted them to have phones. Sports practice schedules were constantly changing, we would be delayed in meeting them due to traffic or work, they would be wandering the neighborhood with friends and we preferred to be able to get in touch, we wanted them to manage their own communications with coaches, teachers, and leaders. (Please, no more Band App or WhatsApp chats for youth activities for parents.)
Our kids were given phones in the middle of seventh grade – almost 13 years old but not quite.
We started with a “dumb” phone for our oldest. It was a flip, T9 text phone. Turns out, it was less locked down than what we have experienced with Bark. It still had a web browser that was unable to be monitored or gated in any way. Group chats were impossible. When he entered ninth grade, he received a refurbished iPhone with the Bark app installed.
Our youngest was gifted the Bark phone. He received a new Samsung smartphone that was capable of all the Bark phone monitoring and controls.
Parent Review of Bark Phone and Bark App
Table of Contents
What is Bark?
Bark is a smartphone and an app designed with one goal in mind: to help parents monitor and protect their kids in the digital world. It’s not about taking away privacy or tracking every step they take. Instead, it flags concerning words, phrases, or interactions across their entire digital lives—texts, emails, social media, Spotify, and even YouTube. We see it as not just about monitoring; it’s about opening up conversations with our teens about what’s happening online.
It’s not a magic bullet that makes everything perfect, but it gives us the tools to protect our kids while still giving them space to grow and explore.
What is the Difference Between the Bark Phone and the Bark App
The Bark Phone and the Bark app are both designed to help keep kids safe online, but they work in different ways. The Bark app is a monitoring tool that you can install on your child’s phone, tablet, or other devices. It helps track activity across social media, text messages, emails, and more, sending alerts if it detects potential issues like cyberbullying or inappropriate content. On the other hand, the Bark Phone is a phone specifically created for kids, which comes pre-loaded with the Bark technology and other parental controls. This phone limits internet access and only allows safe, approved apps, giving parents peace of mind that their child is using a phone designed with safety in mind. So, while the Bark app can be used on any device, the Bark Phone offers a complete, controlled environment from the start.
For both the app and the phone, parents set the level of sensitivity of the alerts and words Bark flags, as well as app limits, access limits, screen limits, and time limits.
The phone and the app can grow with the child as they reach milestones of maturity and independence.
Cost and Flexibility of Bark Phones
Cost and Flexibility:
The phone itself comes with reasonably priced plans through Bark, making it an affordable option. While the plans are through Bark, there’s a level of flexibility built in—if your teen or young adult decides they want to switch to a different carrier later on, they can easily move their number and keep the same device. It’s a great balance of affordability and future-proofing for both parents and teens.
Right now, we pay almost $61/month total to have a Bark phone and cell phone service for our youngest son and use the app on our older son’s iPhone.
Pros of Using Bark
- Real-time Alerts = Peace of Mind One of the biggest wins for us is the real-time alerts. If our teens head somewhere that matters (say, a friend’s house or a local park), we get a notification when they arrive or leave. Unlike traditional phones, Bark offers geofencing, which helps us keep tabs without constantly hovering over them. Bark also allows us to create known locations (like the YMCA or the soccer fields) that our kids frequently visit so we know they safely arrived at the Y to meet their friends after school.
- It Looks Like a Real Smartphone Let’s be honest—one of the things teens care about is how their phone looks. No kid wants to be the one with the “uncool” phone that’s clearly a “monitoring device” (our oldest was grateful for a phone but was not thrilled about this flip phone, obviously). The Bark phone is a regular smartphone. There’s no embarrassment in having it in their hands. While we tell them they should feel lucky to have a phone at all, the look is one less thing to negotiate.
- Growth and Flexibility Bark can grow with your kid. As they get older and more responsible, you can adjust the levels of monitoring. You don’t have to lock everything down forever, and it gives your teen more freedom as they prove they can handle it. It’s customizable, and we’ve found that helps us strike a balance between monitoring and independence.
- Screen Time Rules That Actually Work Setting up screen time rules can sometimes be a battle, but Bark makes it incredibly intuitive. From managing overall screen usage to controlling specific app usage, it’s all in one place. Plus, you can set rules for different times of the day—bedtime, homework time, or weekends.
- Contact Approval One of the best features is the ability to approve any contacts they want to add. If they want to chat with someone new, we’re notified and can approve or deny it. It gives us control over who they’re interacting with—without being overly invasive.
- Monitoring Beyond YouTube Ratings Bark’s monitoring isn’t just about YouTube ratings or inappropriate content. It goes deeper by flagging words related to bullying, eating disorders, depression, or even suicidal thoughts. As a parent, I don’t want to just know what my kids are watching; I am interested in any expressions or communications that are potentially harmful. This feature gives us a sense of comfort that we’re not missing any red flags.
Cons of Using Bark
- Set-Up Challenges Setting up Bark can be a bit of a headache. Getting everything installed, signed in, and linked to the right accounts (especially things like Gmail and YouTube) was trickier than we anticipated. Some accounts, like Gmail, have age limits, and YouTube monitoring has its own set of challenges. Once it’s running, though, it’s smooth sailing.
- Harder to Set Up the App Than the Phone This one might surprise you, but setting up the actual Bark phone was easier than setting up the app itself. The app has a few quirks and requires some patience to get everything dialed in. But once it’s all setup, it’s easy to manage and adjust as needed.
- They Hate It (of course) No surprise here—our kids really don’t love it. Every time we mention Bark, we hear groans, eye rolls, and “I’m not a little kid, Mom!” But deep down, we know it’s for their safety. (And let’s face it, we’re probably doing them a favor even if they can’t see it now. The hardest part of parenting teens seems to be saving them from themselves.)
Final Thoughts on the Bark Phone and the Bark App
At the end of the day, Bark is about more than just monitoring. It’s about providing an opportunity to connect with our kids and discuss what’s going on in the digital world, which is highly influential in their lives. Sure, the internet can be a scary place full of unknown dangers, but with Bark, we’re not just hoping our kids stay safe—we’re actively helping them navigate it. We can have those tough conversations about values and responsibilities.
By setting boundaries, encouraging healthy habits, and fostering open conversations, we’re trying to help our kids enjoy the benefits of smartphones while minimizing the potential anxiety and problems that can come with them. Balance.
While Bark might not be perfect, we feel better having it as a part of our parenting toolkit.
At the very least, it gives us a way to be involved in their digital lives in a thoughtful, non-invasive way—and that’s something we can all appreciate (even if my kids can’t appreciate it right now).