Review Insights · App Store
Bark - Parental Controls
Bark Technologies, Inc. · 34,337 ratings · ★ 4.2
4.2
★★★★★
34,337 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 84 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"phone"
33 negative reviews mention this · 39% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless for Apple users. I got this to monitor what my niece is doing on the phone I got her. She’s had trouble in the past talking to creepers so I was hoping this would help. I wish I would have done more research and not wasted my money paying for this and the s…" - Velviv
2
"bark"
28 negative reviews mention this · 33% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not user friendly. Bark is really hard to manage because it keeps restricting my child from doing literally anything and then I have to go hunt and see what the individual problem is." - csr1462
3
"work"
26 negative reviews mention this · 31% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Installation Pains. Everything related to installing this app and getting it to work has been a pain in the @ss. Once we did the initial setup, it’s supposed to monitor over WiFi on the home network. That never worked so you had to plug it into the computer an…" - AnnoyedParent37
4
"doesn"
20 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not working. Doesn't work as advertised. Location services not working at all and monitoring only works when plugged into a computer! :-(" - Al on iPhone
5
"monitor"
17 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless for Apple users. I got this to monitor what my niece is doing on the phone I got her. She’s had trouble in the past talking to creepers so I was hoping this would help. I wish I would have done more research and not wasted my money paying for this and the s…" - Velviv
6
"kids"
17 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Okay!. The app has good features but it’s delayed. Checking my kids location and reviewing notifications is extremely slow. It gets annoying when I’m checking in on my kid when he’s away with other family or friends. App needs to be fixed. Updates…" - C.D.J.K254
7
"child"
15 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not user friendly. Bark is really hard to manage because it keeps restricting my child from doing literally anything and then I have to go hunt and see what the individual problem is." - csr1462
8
"apple"
14 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless for Apple users. I got this to monitor what my niece is doing on the phone I got her. She’s had trouble in the past talking to creepers so I was hoping this would help. I wish I would have done more research and not wasted my money paying for this and the s…" - Velviv
9
"computer"
13 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Installation Pains. Everything related to installing this app and getting it to work has been a pain in the @ss. Once we did the initial setup, it’s supposed to monitor over WiFi on the home network. That never worked so you had to plug it into the computer an…" - AnnoyedParent37
10
"monitoring"
13 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not working. Doesn't work as advertised. Location services not working at all and monitoring only works when plugged into a computer! :-(" - Al on iPhone
11
"does"
13 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not working. Doesn't work as advertised. Location services not working at all and monitoring only works when plugged into a computer! :-(" - Al on iPhone
12
"support"
13 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t Reach Customer Service. I need some one to contact me from your company. My app is glitching I can’t access alerts and can’t contact support on the app. I’m super frustrated with this app, I am getting text for alerts but can’t contact support not enter the app to…" - plrg73
📋 All 84 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Useless for Apple users
I got this to monitor what my niece is doing on the phone I got her. She’s had trouble in the past talking to creepers so I was hoping this would help. I wish I would have done more research and not wasted my money paying for this and the sync for a year 🤦🏻♀️. The majority of apps cannot be monitored on an iPhone so the app is decoration and not much else. Save your money! And the company refuses refunds cause they know the product is trash!!
It broke my phone
It broke my phone, we got a whole new one and it turned out we just had to delete the app. phones are expensive
Installation Pains
Everything related to installing this app and getting it to work has been a pain in the @ss. Once we did the initial setup, it’s supposed to monitor over WiFi on the home network. That never worked so you had to plug it into the computer and wait for it to manually sync there instead.. We got tired of that and inconvenience of not being the place where we charge phones, so caved and bought the Bark sync for an additional $49 annual subscription. Now as I’m trying to set up the bark sync it’s stuck on the pairing screen and won’t get past it despite entering in the right passcode. I’m so annoyed. Been trying for 45 minutes.
Not working
Doesn't work as advertised. Location services not working at all and monitoring only works when plugged into a computer! :-(
A huge headache with IPhone
The features seem good, but it does not work well with iPhones. Forces you to buy an extra piece of hardware because they can’t work with Apple.
TERRIBLE
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Horrible!
We were so excited about this watch but the reception is awful-we live in a highly populated area with plenty of cell coverage. The watch over heats within minutes. Even inside in a cool house and without even wearing the watch on your wrist. My daughter can hardly ever call on it and if she is able to make a call, it almost always drops the call and I can barely understand what she is trying to say. Tracking location is way off too. Customer service is a joke, AI chat bots. Don’t buy if you expect to actually use it.
Yea this is horrible
Bark is basically “Invade your privacy 2.0”. Your parents or whoever has it set up can see every text message, and every single thing you see without any privacy or consent needed. Disgusting.
Always hanging
The app is always hanging like it can’t load. When I tap on a notification it takes me to the notifications page but it never loads - it just hangs indefinitely. The unnecessary notifications and emails are annoying while trying to figure out what may be important.
Can’t Reach Customer Service
I need some one to contact me from your company. My app is glitching I can’t access alerts and can’t contact support on the app. I’m super frustrated with this app, I am getting text for alerts but can’t contact support not enter the app to see the alerts and my child is able to add apps without my approval. I am super frustrated with this app it’s been an entire week that I am not able to access the app and there is no tech support phone number available at all to reach anyone. I’m super upset right now with this service and having serious regret for the money I have given to this company for very poor customer service and very poor app functionality.
безпонтовое приложение
фигня
Frustrated
I had so many issues using this app as it does not work well with Apple phones. I canceled my plan and deleted the app, and then I realized my kids still have it on their phones, and now I can’t get back into the app unless I pay (the subscription is good until Dec). So frustrating.
Hate this so much
I am a 13 year old with Bark. I hate it so much. I understand the need to monitor your child to protect them, but seeing everything they do is invasive. My mom sees my PRIVATE business. We children need privacy.
Useless
Ok I’m only 16 and this app is so dumb and stupid because me and my bf were going through a break up and it flagged my mom about ongoing peer conflict centered on my bf’s name and it tracked the fight we had and I told my best friend about it and it flagged that too it acts like I’m a little kid that doesn’t deserve privacy me and my mom’s relationship is so bad now because on this app because it tracked it and I was also really annoyed with this and I try to vent to my friends about how my mom was being a bit annoying but she made me sit though this long talk with her about everything I said why can’t I vent don’t download this app because I also don’t like how it can track who I talk to on my TikTok like oh my god why does it need to know every single friend I have and sometimes I have topic about bullying just because I need to talk to a friend not have my parents wanting to talk to me about what’s going on at school because why can’t this app just leave me alone I don’t have a good relationship with my mom so yeah and also I’m trans and of course I tell my friends but my family doesn’t like that and guess what of course it flagged that too I will never use that phone again knowing that it will just stalk me
User unfriendly
It is super user unfriendly and complicated. I struggle with this app constantly. i’m I literally hate.
0 Trust
I’m a teen girl. That statement alone should pretty much explain most of my troubles with this app.
I’m also a teen girl in marching band, and THIS app made it all a nightmare. I have to manually request contacts, which made being on group chats horrendous. I had to literally sort through numbers and pray that it was the correct person, and explain to my parents that these people wouldn’t harm me. A lot of the time, they were hesitant in trusting that the kids I had to work with were safe due to messages constantly getting flagged about shared memes. Mind you, I haven’t said a word in the gc. Rides become near impossible, I missed a few rehearsals, I felt so excluded from my community. This is just one example of this app making me lose my mind.
I’m a teen girl, and quite the large amount of teens struggle with mental health, and that is especially prominent in girls. I, and I’m sure you have too, needed to vent to my friends, or a close relative. It’s pretty damn unnerving to know that someone who will react in anger can so easily see the rants I type up, so I end up just bottling it all up. That screws me over quite frequently. Well why don’t I just call them? You see I would, but verbalizing things in distress doesn’t end too well for me. Texting can be life saving, I promise you.
I don’t trust my parents enough to go to them with my problems anymore. I’m scared of them, because I know that if a problem irks them enough, they’ll take measures like this.
Parents considering to get this phone or app for your teen, watch out. It only sparks rebellion and sadness if you don’t handle things properly. I really wish I could talk to my parents and have civil conversations about my struggles without them snooping through everything, and that connection will keep your kids in touch with you for the long run. Growing up means making mistakes, and if your kid has a good enough relationship with you to come to you on their own with those mistakes rather than you spying on every flaw, you shouldn’t ever have to destroy their trust with this app. God bless.
I’m also a teen girl in marching band, and THIS app made it all a nightmare. I have to manually request contacts, which made being on group chats horrendous. I had to literally sort through numbers and pray that it was the correct person, and explain to my parents that these people wouldn’t harm me. A lot of the time, they were hesitant in trusting that the kids I had to work with were safe due to messages constantly getting flagged about shared memes. Mind you, I haven’t said a word in the gc. Rides become near impossible, I missed a few rehearsals, I felt so excluded from my community. This is just one example of this app making me lose my mind.
I’m a teen girl, and quite the large amount of teens struggle with mental health, and that is especially prominent in girls. I, and I’m sure you have too, needed to vent to my friends, or a close relative. It’s pretty damn unnerving to know that someone who will react in anger can so easily see the rants I type up, so I end up just bottling it all up. That screws me over quite frequently. Well why don’t I just call them? You see I would, but verbalizing things in distress doesn’t end too well for me. Texting can be life saving, I promise you.
I don’t trust my parents enough to go to them with my problems anymore. I’m scared of them, because I know that if a problem irks them enough, they’ll take measures like this.
Parents considering to get this phone or app for your teen, watch out. It only sparks rebellion and sadness if you don’t handle things properly. I really wish I could talk to my parents and have civil conversations about my struggles without them snooping through everything, and that connection will keep your kids in touch with you for the long run. Growing up means making mistakes, and if your kid has a good enough relationship with you to come to you on their own with those mistakes rather than you spying on every flaw, you shouldn’t ever have to destroy their trust with this app. God bless.
Horrible
Doesnt work off of wifi only for calls and texts. Have to be outside for “cellular service” horrible
Terrible with iPhone
This app is terrible with iPhone. It works, but the problems that arise after updates or a weird VPN issue are always a 90+ minute fix and rarely go well. In summary, you may get it to work well for a while but roughly 2x a year it will stop syncing and the repair process is painful.
Bark phone doesn’t work
I used to love Bark and then my child’s Bark phone stopped receiving some texts. After months of back and forth with their inefficient tech support we finally gave up and got an iPhone.
Terrible quality and IT support
We got Bark for our kids’ iPads. No matter how hard we try, the dashboard and the parental app can’t connect to the iPads and there is zero IT support. It reroutes you to the exact same useless troubleshooting advice over and over and over. We thought the problem was Apple so we foolishly bought the Bark phone. That is also terrible. My daughter can call out but it never allows her to answer her mom’s calls. I have tried myself and the phone simply does not work. It also sends constant alerts to the parental app saying that your child is at home if the phone is off when this alert has been read and closed. Looking for other options.
I hope this app gets deleted
The VPN SUCKS and doesn’t let your kid say what they think about a YouTube video because of the VPN and left my friend in tears. And to whoever Brandon is, FU__ you.
App is ok, bark phone is trash
Got our daughter her first cell phone and made the mistake of getting the Bark phone. It’s a Samsung product, so it runs Android OS and native apps like Google Play. However, we are having major issues with connectivity and the customer service is terrible. We are returning the device immediately.
Bleh
Me. Hate. Parental. Controls.
False advertising
Does not monitor texts like it advertises!! An iPhone has to be hooked up to a computer and it’ll scan texts but it won’t alert you if they are not at home. Pointless
ruins privacy
my parents got alerted for a cover of a yt video that said like “fight game” or something. its so dumb and ruins privacy. parents dont get this
Phone inoperable now
Not only did this app barely work but now my daughter cannot use her phone in any capacity due to this app. I see this is a common theme. Get your act together Bark. You’ve been around long enough and it’s now 2026. These issues I am reading in all these 1 star reviews are inexcusable in this stage of your app.
Doesn’t REALLY work with iOS
I had really high hopes for this. I subscribed for the full year up front, spent at least an hour setting up profiles for my kids, then more time getting app specific passwords for their Apple accounts, giving Bark access to all their other, third-party accounts, then found I had to hook their iPads up to my DESKTOP Mac for the initial scan and final setup. Either that or pay Bark for another device to help with scanning. First iPad connected, it scanned for 45 minutes, got stuck at 33% then over an hour later, was still at 33%. It wouldn’t progress past there! I ended up spending almost 4 hours setting everything up, then couldn’t even finish the initial scan on the first device! You have to keep BOTH DEVICES on and awake the whole time. I wasted almost 2 hours, just sitting and monitoring both devices waiting for the first device to finish scanning and it never did. While I was waiting (and absolutely nothing was happening) I found out that Bark can’t monitor Roblox on Apple devices, and actually only monitors a few specific apps. It only allows YouTube to be on or off. There is no content monitoring. It will monitor social media if you give them your kids’ passwords, which I’m sure is great for some parents, but my kids don’t have any social media. They have iPads, not phones, and they can’t install any apps without my express approval from one of my Apple devices. I really just wanted to be able to monitor their iMessages for bullying, but I could never get it to complete an initial scan. Also there are no sensitivity levels to alerts. Your choices are literally “All” or “None.” On or off. After looking for help on a few forums, I found that the general consensus is that Bark really doesn’t work on Apple devices because of Apple’s inherent privacy and security setup. Thank goodness I was still in the free trial window. I canceled the subscription and deleted everything from all our devices. I then found that it messed up Apple’s built in Screen Time monitoring, and I had to figure out how to get that working again. Overall, I wasted half a day and never got anywhere but frustrated. Now I’m back to going through their devices manually, myself. I hear this is great for Android, but with iOS, Bark is unfortunately a frustrating waste of time and money.
Worst thing ever
You can do anything on this app it ruined phones
Totally not worth your time and money
Totally useless. Several harmless sites were banned on my child’s phone and didn’t then let do the most basic of tasks such as connecting to the WiFi. Barks filters are way off, it doesn’t actually focus on the dangerous and explicit stuff but on things that have no value whatsoever. It reported useless things out of context. Sends a large picture of a preview that doesn’t load. Worst thing is that when we delete app it didn’t ask for a master code or any confirmation. It didn’t even notify me. My kid could have deleted this months ago. Trust your kids more this leech. My kids phone is broken now!
Abysmal setup
Seems like a great concept. So far Ive spent five hours trying to get it going with zero luck. Multiple restarts, unplug, plug back in, yes I trust this device, then pffft. Tech support gives me a list of troubleshooting tips as long as my arm. Half of which I’ve already done and the other half require a degree in computer science to interpret. Waiting on a call tomorrow from tech support, strongly suspect I’m going to be canceling.
Extortion!!!
Download this app for both my children’s phone ages 15 and 12. Got it all set up you will need a desktop for this. Kinda takes a lot of effort but it’s fine. App is supposed to track your children like find my phone but not, sometimes it didn’t show where they were. Now this is the problem I have and is why I gave this app 1 star. I didn’t like that I couldn’t see where they were sometimes. I canceled my subscription once you cancel make sure that you delete the app and all the data from all the phones you have the app attached to because if you don’t the app will make it so you CAN’T delete it or go on the internet or App Store from the phone. It literally makes your phone unusable and you are forced to subscribe to the service again just to delete the app and its data.
TERRIBLE
Invasion of my privacy!!!!!!
Does not work for Apple devices
Downloaded this based on the claims on their web site. Turns out, it’s all BS. This app can not monitor anything on Apple devices other than text messages and phone calls. It CAN NOT monitor social media apps at all, unless you have the user name and logins for each and every account, and you do not have MFA turned on the secure them (which is a basic security control to secure their accounts). Then it has to tunnel all their traffic through their VPN, which also isn’t disclosed, which breaks any network monitoring you have in place (like an Eero router, etc).
If you have multiple apples device and want to monitor your kids use of social media or any other non-Apple apps, THIs APP WILL NOT DO IT.
I’ve worked in tech, and cyber security for 35 years, and if one of my vendors was as shady as this app, they wouldn’t be in business. Don’t waste your time, this app won’t do what it claims it will or what you want it to do. Don’t believe me, go ask ChatGPT, look on Reddit or ask Google.
If you have multiple apples device and want to monitor your kids use of social media or any other non-Apple apps, THIs APP WILL NOT DO IT.
I’ve worked in tech, and cyber security for 35 years, and if one of my vendors was as shady as this app, they wouldn’t be in business. Don’t waste your time, this app won’t do what it claims it will or what you want it to do. Don’t believe me, go ask ChatGPT, look on Reddit or ask Google.
Location is Glitchy and Annoying
It’s good for monitoring text messages but it is AWFUL in terms of location especially recently. My child will be at home right next to me and I will receive honestly 30 alerts saying they have left and returned home. Constantly. Incessantly. And overnight and early in the morning I get another 50+ alerts of them leaving and coming home. Then when I open the app it will say last known location was an hour ago when I have 30 notifications in the past 15 minutes claiming that my child has come and gone from the house. It is completely useless for location tracking, which was the primary reason for me to get this app along with the message monitoring. I would DELETE THIS APP IN A HEARTBEAT it if I had any other reliable way to actually see and monitor messages.
Doesn’t work. No support.
The app has not worked from day one. Bark offers no support. They don’t even recognize the e-mail used to sign up for the account. They were only willing to take the money and run. Total scam and doesn’t do anything to protect kids. Any option is better than this app.
Too Difficult to Set Up
I cannot figure out how to get the app to monitor text messages which is what I need it for
If you care about your child’s safety this is a no go
I’m extremely disappointed in Bark’s parental control system.
I had sexual content fully turned OFF across all modes (school, free time, bedtime), and explicit content was still accessible on my child’s phone.
When I reached outr to support, I was told that content can still be accessed and that Bark mainly sends alerts. That is not how this product is marketed, and it creates a false sense of security for parents.
If the system is not designed to fully block explicit content, that needs to be clearly communicated upfront-not discovered after a failure.
As a parent, I trusted this product to protect my child, and it did not perform as expected. I would strongly caution other concious parents not to rely on Bark.
I had sexual content fully turned OFF across all modes (school, free time, bedtime), and explicit content was still accessible on my child’s phone.
When I reached outr to support, I was told that content can still be accessed and that Bark mainly sends alerts. That is not how this product is marketed, and it creates a false sense of security for parents.
If the system is not designed to fully block explicit content, that needs to be clearly communicated upfront-not discovered after a failure.
As a parent, I trusted this product to protect my child, and it did not perform as expected. I would strongly caution other concious parents not to rely on Bark.
Doesn’t stay connected
The app just continues to kick you off unless you keep your computer on 24/7. It worked well for a couple weeks, but a complete waste of $100.
Don't Trust It's Coverage Claims
The app seems like a very basic and easy to use program, but beware the company's false claims of coverage and their inability to do anything if you get a watch from a third party, link it to your account, and discover their claims of coverage in your area is false advertising. They won't issue a refund for the watch, and they do not have the ability to remove it from your account, so you can't return it to the third party seller, resell it yourself, or even give it away for free. Before you activate a watch at your location, test it with a friend's child's watch to ensure it works. Phone service working at your address is not an indication that the watch will have coverage either. Overall, would not recommend until they develop a way to remove a device for your account if they don't provide coverage at your location.
Doesn’t work
I’ve tried everything they have told me to do and it’s still isn’t monitoring my child’s phone. They won’t issue a refund because it’s through Apple and they typically don’t do refunds past 60 days. I’ve been working on this issue since the day we bought the app. They aren’t any help and just say to plug it into the computer for the first analysis and then it should be good. I’ve done that multiple times and it still doesn’t work. Don’t waste your money with this app!
Never Properly Functioned for Us
The app was a bit cumbersome to set up and I was never able to get it functioning properly in the year+ that we had it. The customer support email process was long, inefficient, and not helpful. The Bark Home box never worked for us either. Turned out to be way more frustration than value provided.
Doesn’t work
While after an hour of jumping through hoops I was able to install on my daughter’s iPad, the app would not detect my son’s. I used the chat bot and jumped through hoop and hoop but it wouldn’t work. Device showing in Finder- check. App running on Mac - check. iOS app and web browser to find it - fail. 2 hours of my life gone trying to set this up with like 8 more devices to go. It would take me 3 days to have it running even if it was working right. Every app has its own hoop: custom password for iCloud email etc. And yet only protects like 5 email types, if you use something beyond Gmail, yahoo etc basic emails, you’re out of luck.
Support kept asking the same questions over and over, it was clearly just some guy reading the same material available to users which I had already done.
Returning the Bark Box, cancelling subscription.
Support kept asking the same questions over and over, it was clearly just some guy reading the same material available to users which I had already done.
Returning the Bark Box, cancelling subscription.
Not for Apple products
What a pain to install on Apple iPads and phones. Then one day later they are disconnected and have to be plugged into your computer again. The alerts were nonsense and I realized it was much easier to just look at my kids text messages. Doesn’t monitor Roblox and doesn’t do anything for a regular computer. I’m looking for another solution. Very disappointed as the advertising had me fooled into thinking bark was going to work.
Terrible
Terrible don’t do this to your child
Horrible app and product
I have had nothing but trouble with the app the website in the support team. It will only monitor messaging if your computer is plugged in hopefully. We can never get it to scan and connect despite is following all the advice from their support team. Does not work as advertised
Parents beware
Parents, if you want your kids to hate you, please, install this app. Nothing says “I love you” more than being a helicopter parent wanting to see what their kid is doing 24/7. This is honestly creepy. Don’t be the parent that doesn’t let their kids have any independency.
Useless for iPhone
Can’t connect to iPhone. It says it’s waiting for the device passcode “and we’re still waiting” but there’s never any prompt on the iPhone to enter the passcode. And on the off chance a scan does work, it gives the dumbest recommendations for concerning content.
Terrible UI
So if you don’t get the sign up completed right the first time, you get stuck in an empty cart and can’t escape. They almost made a sale. Almost.
Parent Interface is Trash
The worst is when I approve an app but it still won’t let the kid use it and won’t tell me why. Just tells him to ask the parent and it’s up to me to dig through all the scattered settings to find which one is blocking it.
Next thing, Screen Time extension for the day is most used action. But you have it buried below the fold 3 pages in.
You are the only real player in an essential market, so we all begrudgingly stick around. But I swear you’ve never met a real parent.
Next thing, Screen Time extension for the day is most used action. But you have it buried below the fold 3 pages in.
You are the only real player in an essential market, so we all begrudgingly stick around. But I swear you’ve never met a real parent.
Don’t get it
The app stopped showing me location. Supports is completely useless
+ 34 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
80%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
16%
Negative (1-2★)