Bark Phone Review

While most parents likely share a desire to keep their kids off social media for as long as possible, if you have kids who ride public transport or have a modicum of independence, not being able to reach them is decidedly concerning. Enter Bark Phone, a safer cell phone designed with kids and teens in mind.

What is Bark Phone?

If you have older kids, you’re probably familiar with the Bark App, which monitors your child’s devices for inappropriate content and notifies parents via text and email. The Bark Phone is, essentially, the app in phone form. It has built-in parental controls as well as Bark’s monitoring capabilities, so your child’s text, emails, and social media (if you allow them to have it) are automatically scanned and parents are notified when inappropriate content is identified. Parents control all the phone features through the Bark App, which is easy to navigate and has cute avatars, too.

What makes a Bark Phone different from other kid-focused phones (like the Gabb) is that it actually is a smartphone. In fact, it’s a really nice Samsung that looks just like a standard Android phone, it’s just that this one comes pre-loaded with Bark’s software.

What network does Bark Phone use?

Bark Phone uses its own network, Bark Wireless. Unfortunately, this means that you can’t simply add your child’s Bark Phone to your AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile plan and must instead set up a whole new account solely for your kids devices.

How much does a Bark Phone cost?

Bark offers two types of plans, one for younger kids, called the starter plan, and one that’s geared more towards teens, called the advanced plan.

The Starter Plan costs $39 per month, and has no apps, no social media, no browser, and no voicemail. It does have GPS tracking, seriously robust parental controls that even the most tech-savvy kids can’t get around and gives parents the ability to control who can call or text your child (and who they can call, too).

The Advanced Plan will run you $49 a month, but it’s far more customizable, as it’s geared towards teens. With the Advanced Plan kids can use any apps you’ve approved, and parents have the ability to pause the internet and disable the camera—major pluses if you’ve got a kid who is staying up late scrolling or if you’re worried about a teen taking inappropriate photos at a party. The Advanced Plan also lets parents approve or deny contacts, and it has driving mode that automatically pauses the Bark Phone when it detects that your child is in a moving car.

What we like about the Bark Phone

You can control who your kid talks to or texts

The feature I like the most about the Bark Phone is that no one can call your child unless you first add the number and contact info to the approved safe list. I had to add my own number and my husband’s number before we could call the kids or they could call us. One of my biggest issues with other kid-centric phones we tested was that there was no way to control who called my kids, so this is a huge plus in my book.

It sends location alerts

My kids have a lot of independence and ride public transport solo, so the GPS tracking and location alerts are must-have features for us. Parents can easily add locations via the app, and then the Bark system will automatically send an alert when the child arrives or departs the location. Live location tracking is available at all times by simply opening up the app, and there’s even a “request check-in” button for those times when you think your tween may be up to something nefarious.

It looks like a regular phone

The last thing any adolescent kid wants to do is stand out for being different—which is most likely why they’re begging for a cell phone in the first place! Unlike other phones geared towards kids, the Bark Phone is just a dumbed-down Samsung Android, so none of your child’s peers will be any the wiser.

Bark’s monitoring program is great

Bark is the first parental control app that I’ve tried that my kids can’t outsmart. It’s also the only one I’ve found that doesn’t miss anything, and I like that it sends me both texts and emails when it finds something concerning. Plus, it’s user friendly and doesn’t take a degree in coding to set up.

What we don’t like about the Bark Phone

Sometimes Bark can be too cautious

Bark is a computer, and not a human, so some of the “problematic” things it flagged were really just my tweens being tweens. For instance, shortly after I set up the phone Bark sent me a bullying notification with a video of my daughter and her friend, but it was just them being silly and had no ill-intent. That being said, I far prefer a program that sends me too many notifications rather than one that misses something truly concerning.

It’s slow to update approved contacts

While it’s easy to set up the list of approved contacts, I did get frustrated because it took about 25 minutes for the Bark Phone to update when I added a new phone number and name. I thought it wasn’t working and ended up sending multiple approval requests to myself before finally getting frustrated and setting the phone aside. When I went back to pick it up with the intention of calling customer service, the contacts had updated. Annoying, yes, but not a deal breaker if you know what to expect.

It’s pricey

The monthly fees definitely feel high when compared to simply adding another line to your phone plan. However, the Bark Phone does include all of Bark monitoring and stellar parental control features, which means you’re really paying to keep your kids safer—and that’s pretty much priceless.

Should you buy a Bark Phone?

Yes, it’s a smartphone without all the bad stuff

The Bark Phone has all the features a parent could want in a cell phone without all the bad stuff, like social media, and unfettered internet access. Having a phone that’s already equipped with Bark’s parent control features gives me so much peace of mind, especially since I have the ability to control who my kids communicate with. While I have no intention of letting my kids use social media before, they’re in eighth grade, I do need to be able to communicate with them while they navigate the city on their own, and the Bark Phone is ideal for doing just that.