- 24.8LEGITIMACY SCORE
- 25.3SAFETY SCORE
- 4+CONTENT RATING
- FreePRICE
Bark Kids App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
Bark Kids app received 62 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Bark Kids? Can you share your negative thoughts about bark kids?
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Bark Kids for Negative User Reviews
✓ I absolutely hate itI believe my parents had a good reason for being concerned and wanting an app like this on my phone but it’s way too restrictive it alerted my dad because I watched a TikTok that had the word high in it and reported it as drugs and when I told my friends about this app some of them told me they didn’t want me texting or calling them till I had this app off my phone because they are worried that they might tell me something personal and the app will alert my dad and say it’s inappropriate and then my dad would know their secrets this really annoys me because I’m glad to be there for my friends and be there to listen to them whenever they have problems but they are texting ME to tell me that stuff not my parents it’s only been a few days but I feel trapped and my friendships are suffering because of this so I strongly advise that if you are a parent and thinking about getting this for your kid please don’t you may think it’s helping your kid but its really not you can tell your kids that you doing this because you love them and you want them to be safe but trust me we don’t see it that way we see it as you watching our every move and not caring about how we feel about I would have much rather have like weekly phone checks than this so you should sit down with your kid at talk to them instead of forcing this and other apps like it onto them.Version: 3.3
✓ Brent you a hooooBrent you literally are so weird for this ong ur merky merked fam we will wet up ur block kingsmere here we come we have that oppa stoppa 🔫🔫🔫🔫💨💨💨.Version: 3.4
✓ Not a FanAs a teenager and understanding my doing and also understanding why the app is on my phone. I feel that my privacy was taken away, I know Bark gives the “privacy we crave” but I feel as if I’m trapped, I can’t do or say much without being worried that my parents will punish me. I wish I had more privacy, after I got the app, I’ve been watched over almost everyday feeling like a kid being watched by an over protective parent. But I know that I can’t say much because I’m a teen and still under the rule of my parents. I understand that Bark is just trying to keep teens safe and I’m glad it does but I enjoy all my privacy and not the amount that was taken away. To any parent wanting to buy this app, I know you will say you love your child and your doing it to protect them. But they won’t feel the way you feel, I highly suggest you talk to the child first before coming to this. Maybe try and find another way to help them learn right from wrong on different platforms. This app does not make teens feel good or feel like they are loved it makes them feel worse. So please try and find another way and come to this as a last resort..Version: 3.5
✓ HorribleThis app is so so so bad it’s for Control freak parents and overprotective ones this app makes any child feel horrible and have absolutely NO privacy!!.Version: 3.6.1
✓ BUGI don’t have many problems with this app, it’s not terrible or anything. I’m fourteen and this app has been on my phone for almost a year, and yesterday a very strange bug happened when I opened my phone. I had no internet, and no matter how many times I reset network settings or shut my phone down or changed networks, nothing fixed this. To sum it up, I had access to the internet but I couldn’t use it- I was connected to my home internet but I couldn’t search on google, open most apps, send pictures on messages for some reason, and use anything requiring the internet. My family and I were really confused that it had been like this for the whole day, and when we were trying out random things to fix it I turned off the Bark VPN in settings. Suddenly my internet came back and it was really fast. I turned it on again to check and as soon as I turned it off again my internet came back instantly. So please look into this because we almost looked into buying a new phone (I use an SE btw) thanks to this bug..Version: 3.6.1
✓ Good for monitoring, but sometimes weirdI understand that this app is for monitoring unsafe behavior, and it’s really good at that. Saved me multiple times from 🌽(if you know you know) However, it has a few flaws that can make it problematic. First off, and probably the worst, there is a bug where it permanence turns off your internet connection if you don’t check in for 2-4 weeks. I understand it wants to help parents know where your child is, but there is no way to undo the damage, forcing you to delete and redownload. For me it is not a huge problem, but it recommends to parents to turn off deleting apps, so in that case it causes irreversible damage. Second off, there should be warning filters. When I was 11 and I got this app installed on my phone, (this was during 2018 don’t make fun of me) I would get fortnite videos recommended a lot. Although my parents were completely fine about them, bark still sent a warning for ‘gun violence’. I think that there should be better filtering for parents and children alike. Third and last, it SHREDS my iPhone data. I have a plan of about 160GB of data on my phone, and bark uses almost half of it. I don’t know if this is a fixable problem, but if it is, I don’t like having to spend double on my phone bills over parental controls :( There are a few minor inconveniences about this app but those were the main problems. It would be great if you could get them fixed :).Version: 3.5.1
✓ I HATEEEE THIS APPThis app is so stupid!!!!! I can’t even use half of the apps on my phone, let alone do anything about it, I encourage you to never download this app for you or your kids because it defeats the whole purpose of the app. It makes me afraid that is I do one tiny thing wrong, my parents will see it, yell at me, and then I just feel sad and depressed and alone. How would you like us to put an app onYour phone that monsters everything that you do. How would you like us to see every single text that you send and every single thing that you search that sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? A.k.a. sarcasm if you couldn’t tell This app is probably the worst thing that has ever happened to me and that makes me super annoyed. If you are a teenager then you know this chocolate because you try and go on a app like TikTok and it doesn’t even let you get on it says no Internet which is stupid because I have Internet and it makes no sense I really really hate this app and encourage no one to get it because it makes no sense and it just makes you really sad and alone also your friends can make fun of you for not having a certain app and it’s just annoying encourage no one to get this app ever..Version: 3.3
✓ I’m a 15y/o girl and honestly..I’m okay with bark. Obviously I feel like it’s kinda invasive but I understand where my parents are coming from🤷🏽♀️ The way my parents are using it, it shows them just enough where I still have some privacy. I personally was going thru some stuff and what happened during that time could have been WAY worse without bark(not to sound corny ofc) Not saying I like it,(hence the 3 stars) I feel like the older a child is there is some stuff bark shouldn’t be alarmed at. Some texts I send to my friends have a single swear and bark runs to send the report to my mom. The only reason I know this is because my mom didn’t sign out on her computer and I saw it. Other than that, bark is pretty reasonable. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.Version: 3.6.1
✓ Really bad if you want a good relationship with your kids.Kids/teens need their privacy, and if you download one of these apps, they will most likely cut you out of their life when they are older..Version: 3.2.7
✓ This app is stupid.If you want a good relationship with your child, I wouldn’t recommend using these kinds of apps with them, because all you’re going to do is lose their trust in you. This app shouldn’t even exist. parents don’t need to rely on a stupid tracking app, instead they should build a better relationship with their children by taking with them, having heart to heart conversations. this won’t make them feel very secure or happy. please don’t use this app on your child parents..Version: 3.0.0
✓ I feel like I’m on a leashEver since my mom installed this app my social life has gone down hill she gets an alert every time some time of violence or cussing etc. And personal I can’t control what my friends send me that’s their time and energy spent on the email or text not mine so I shouldn’t be the one getting in trouble for what they send I’m just a kid who wants to have a life of their own not some kid who has their social life controlled by their parent having a app that monitors your child’s phone can break trust and you’re child will try to hide even more things on their devices then they already have been hiding these past few weeks I’ve been thinking about asking my mom if she can take the bark off but I already know what the answer is going to be. “No.” That’s what the answer is going to be because she has no trust in me this makes me sad and discouraged to Ask her in the future I don’t recommend this app you destroy your trust with you’re children and I just wish my life went back to 2019 where Covid and I didn’t have these trust problems with my mom because I made a mistake..Version: 3.2.8
✓ It messed up my phoneAs a teen girl who didn’t want her privacy taken away I was not happy about getting this app. But eventually my parents made me download it and enter my passwords. After that I never noticed it. I didn’t do anything that made the vpn alert my parents so things were going fine. After about 2 weeks my phone suddenly stopped working. I hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary so I was confused. The data and WiFi weren’t working so I could only make phone calls. My min and I spend about 3 HOURS on the phone with our service provider and he wasn’t sure what else to try. We swapped the SIM card, restarted the phone multiple times, yet the issue remained. While the guy on the phone was trying to come up with another solution I went to the vpn and tried to turn it off. It kept turning back on and notifying me that bark needs the vpn in order to monitor the phone. I figured out how to disable the vpn and miraculously my phone was working again! Before my parents asked me to download this app I saw another person write that they had service troubles because of bark. I don’t know if it was a glitch with the vpn but I do not recommend the app. I understand my parents reasoning for getting the app, but the vpn problem completely stopped my service for no reason at all..Version: 3.2.8
✓ Very StressfulDear Parents, Hello, I’m a kid in 7th grade just trying to survive middle school. Some of my friends can be quite inappropriate over text (texting curse words, inappropriate messages etc.) and it’s not my fault. I’ve tried talking to my mom about this and she still doesn’t believe it’s their fault. Everything’s my fault. If you don’t want kids to spend too much time on your phone and you want to limit their screen time, turn on screen time on settings. They can ask for time on stuff and you control how much time they have… but don’t torture them with this. I understand parents want us to be safe, but if anything it’s making me feel so unsafe I delete messages my friends send me even if they have one curse word. As a kid with extreme ADHD and anxiety it’s too much for me to handle. Even breathing makes me feel self conscious and makes me feel like they are watching me. All of my freedom has been taken from me and, well it doesn’t feel great to be honest. The app really works and does what it’s supposed to but sometimes it’s too much. I’ll see Bark notifications come up on my moms phone after my friend talked about getting her Covid-19 vaccine as drugs. It monitors it too much and makes me feel uncomfortable and it’s kinda trying me insane. - Via.Version: 3.5
✓ TerribleYou don’t “keep kids safe”, if anything you make the mental health of children worse because you give them and their friends zero privacy and isolates them. I used to have this app but even my mom understand how terrible it was. This needs to be deleted from the AppStore because it is a spyware, which would technically be classified as a malware (aka computer virus) BECAUSE IT COLLECTS DATA FROM KIDS AND TEENS. I was in a terrible mental situation until I got things worked out with my family and they listened to my concerns. Most teens wouldn’t mind having something like share location or life 360 because that actually might save their life in some cases. Sometimes people just don’t want to talk about things bothering them. Mental illness is a different thing but let children approach their parents with it on their own space and time. Instead of this app just talk to your children about proper internet usage and safety and maybe take their phone away at night. This app breaks trust + relationships between kids and families. Normalize personal space, kids are people too. Literal malware. Jdí do prdele kurva 🤍.Version: 3.6.1
✓ Teenage point of viewLike all the other kids I have done somthing a-13-year old boy shouldn’t have done and I have learned from that. It’s super sensitive and I feel like I have no privacy also bc it sends the 8 of the messages. It is a great app on teaching your kids on what not to do but it makes the kids feel like the parents don’t trust them and ruins some trust. It’s just to sensitive and feel like you can’t talk to anyone. They should have a system where it slowly easys up so you don’t feel like a 4 year old or a point system that lets your parents know how you have been doing. Feel like I can’t do anything it makes me feel like I can’t do anything bad bc I’m going to get yelled at feel like a can’t learn or mature but I understand y and have Nothing againts my parents just the app needs fixed a little bit but I dislike the app but it has made me realize a lot of things ab being mature and it has stoped me from doing immature things and I agree with all the other kids on the opinions and other suggestions and I’m sure all the kids know how it feels to have this but trust me you will understand y and you’ll be thankful it’s not the end of the world I have nothing to hide but I like privacy and this app it very sensitive and yku don’t rlly get much privacy it’s annoying but rlly good and bad in ways.Version: 3.5
✓ Not the bestThis is coming from a teens prospective. I am the type of teen who wants a little privacy. I get it that parents want to make sure there kids are doing good things but let them do stuff they want. They might not do stuff you support but before you yell at them ask them why they do it. They might not honestly understand that it’s bad. Teens are figuring things out and questioning many things around this age. I have done something that I will never forget. I was learning. I didn’t know what anything meant. That’s why kids should ask there parents what it means. But if there parents are controlling they might be scared or scared that they might get in trouble. I get it. I hate getting trouble. Bark just goes to far into teens privacy. Teens can’t do what they like because parents don’t like what there doing. Just because parents don’t like it doesn’t mean you have to watch everything they do. That not really ok. Teens needs privacy. I still understand that parents want to protect there teens but you need to let them have space and teens are learning. It’s usually a phase. When parents add this to there teens phone that really show the teen that they don’t trust them anymore. That might really hurt the teen. When you download this on a teens phone your being kind of controlling. That’s not right at all. I just wanted to say that this app goes a little to far. That’s all I have to say. But thank for trying to protect the kids of the world.Version: 3.3
✓ Would Work Fine...ButToo many passwords involved, and it takes too long to set up. Would be fine other words.Version: 3.2.4
✓ To muchI think bark is a alright app for young kids but not for teens or pre teens when we get home from school we want to go on our phones but now we are being watched over like we are on a leash this is our one thing we have privacy over and how we interact with people. It’s not fair to have parents watching over us. Maybe somone sent somone else somthing on a group chat that wasn’t appropriate and what if I don’t even text on it I didn’t know it’s not my fault they are punishing me for things I didn’t type and I can’t take control of other peoples actions. I have to tell all my freinds “don’t say anything bad “ “ don’t cuss” and having to distance myself from them so I don’t get punished. My phone is mine I earned my phone and there’s nothing you can do to take that away. And being a pre teen/ teen means I need my privacy and there’s certain things I like to ask my friends before I ask my parents and I will share things with them but I want to be able to talk to my friend's about something and them not being able to see every word I say..Version: 3.2.8
✓ It reports for nothing and it is just plain up stupidMy parents downloaded this app on my iPhone and iPad to basically stalk app. It reports all my texts as bullying when they are not. It also blocks videos on YouTube that I like to watch (Ariana Grande, live performances...) and it blocks websites like Amazon, Best Buy and more. This app is stupid and dumb. It should be removed from the App Store and all other online stores. I MEAN IT!!!.Version: 3.2.4
✓ It MONITORS EVERYTHINGMy mother is so overprotective of me. This app makes it seem like I am on a leash. She actually thinks that downloading this app will make me be better and actually save me from the dangers of the internet. Funny thing is I am not dumb. I know all the loopholes in everything and I always beat her. Regardless, She is monitoring everything I send. I am turning off my location services. This app will forever ruin my relationship with my mother, which is devastating to her, I honestly don’t care because i am not even close with her anymore. But the damage has already been done. So thank you, for ruining the relationship that I have with my former best friend and the person I used to care about the most. If she reads this, I want her to know that I meant it. If you are a parent and you want your kid to get it, fine. If you don’t want your relationship to get ruined with your kid. Just tell your kid what to do and what not to do. I don’t think that I can ever make amends to the relationship thanks to my mom and the app. Honestly, she is just another person in my house. I don’t think I can even call her my mom. Get this app if you want your kids relationship with you to crumble, just like it did with my mom and I. We (teens) need privacy because we are just going out into the new world, and that’s not what we are getting with this app..Version: 3.2.7
✓ Came here from TikTok…This Is A Great Way To Ruin Your Relationship With You Child ✨.Version: 3.2.7
✓ I Don’t Like This AppMy parents installed this app sometime last year, and I absolutely hate it. It gives me no privacy, messed up my electronics, and alerts my parents to “concerns” when there are none. I honestly feel like this app controls my life because I can’t really say anything without getting flagged. My parents once got alerted to one of my friends and I talking about how people in our class were sick. And likewise, it alerted them when she swore. It blocks almost everything, gives me no privacy, and honestly, I don’t think it's a good app. I feel like instead of parents just downloading this app, that they can teach their child how to earn their trust if they don’t have it already. I’ve tried going into this app on my electronics, it’s basically pointless. I know that some parents might like that they can pause internet or give their child a select amount of minutes of internet. I feel like this might be helpful to some parents if their child is doing something they shouldn’t be, but if their child is flagged for things that they didn’t do, or having a pointless excuse to flag you. So in my opinion at least, this app is really bad and I frankly don’t like it because of the invasion of privacy..Version: 3.6.4
✓ Too Much InformationTMI. This stands for too much information, something that this app is great at doing. We’ve all heard it before, keep your child safe from anything online that could harm them. Though bark has said many times that the app provides alerts from any bad or inappropriate things to protect you, from a teen’s perspective, the app shares to much information. It gets to the point where I think someone is watching me and monitoring me all the time and has the ability to see everything I’m a saying or doing, this review included. I feel, as said in other reviews, that others can agree that the premise of the app is their, it shares too much information with others and ruins any privacy that you believed that you once had. My parents, like all parents, want good for their child, but not giving them any privacy or space to breath won’t help them grow, they have to be able to make decisions for themselves when a situation comes. Parents getting to involved in a teens life and not letting them make their own decisions won’t lead them to be able to make decisions when their parents aren’t their to shield their child. Overall, the app doesn’t provide the privacy that children need, and gives the parents to much power of children to be “free” and make their own decisions..Version: 3.5.1
✓ If you want a better relationship with your kid, it’s not through Bark.This is coming from a teen’s perspective. Me and my parents don’t always get along very well, and I wasn’t surprised when they downloaded this on my device. (The funny thing is they tried to play it off as “virus protection”, but one google search later I found out what this app really is.) And I get it, I mean, you want your child to be safe on the internet, but this app is WAY too much. It sees one word that is even mildly related to bullying and now my parents are scolding me for something I didn’t even know happened. I’ve tried to talk to them and tell them that this app made me uncomfortable and that I feel like they don’t trust me enough, but they just scolded me again and said I was overreacting and that I’m only saying that because I wanna do bad things. They don’t let me have any social media, I can’t text anybody besides them, and if I listen to a song that has the word “high” in it, they get mad at me. And now Bark makes this ten times easier for them. I want to escape them but I can’t. This app makes me feel even worse and my parents don’t listen to me. I hate it here..Version: 3.5
✓ I don’t like the appThis is coming from a teen’s perspective. This app is very overprotective. I’m texting my friends and we’re joking around, we call each other dumb, idiot, jerk, whatever. Little things like that, and the app goes, ‘bullying! Harassment! Inappropriate language!’ Or an ad comes up, talking about a deal on a massage gun, and it goes ‘inappropriate content!’. I really care about teens safety and mental health, but I do not think the app should go as far as to look into the books, videos, and music teens are watching, reading, and listening to. Like, my book says ‘sexy’ once and the app thinks I’m reading inappropriate content! Please, parents of kids and teens, do not download this app. There are lots of other good apps just like this that do not dive as deep into the teens phones/tablets and violate their privacy. You will get notification after notification of what inappropriate things it thinks your teen is doing, when all they are doing is being teenagers, relaxing, and most of the time, doing totally normal things that the app flags as “sexual” “profanity” and “inappropriate”. So, please, find another app to use. I highly do NOT recommend..Version: 3.6.1
✓ The kgb of a kids phoneIt is an invasion of privacy it stalks me and if I say anything like for example pain I will instantly be reported. If I even say something like I slammed my fingers in a door I will be reported as violence and self harm.Version: 4.0.0
✓ This app is an invasion of privacyThis app is honestly so stupid like come on there is no point of this app apart from controlling your kids like such overprotective parents I think this app should be taken down it’s so useless and stupid wish I could rate it lower.Version: 4.0.0
✓ Unnecessary and overly restrictiveI am 17. I am a legal adult in under a year. This app treats people like they are under 10 years old. I understand the need for protection, but -contrary to the boomer narrative- the world is becoming more connected. Parents will not be able to stalk their kids over their phones forever. My friends have stopped talking to me because they know my parents will read everything they say. My phone becomes a brick at 8 pm. They will probably get an alert because I posted this review. Do NOT buy a bark subscription. I also hate all the Karen’s who review this app and say, “All the bad reviews are just kids complaining.” Sorry boomer… it’s time to move into the future. Kids need to learn how to navigate technology. Blocking everything on a phone is not the way to do so. There is nothing wrong with increased phone usage. Just because you didn’t have phones or any sort of technology back in your day (and especially because you don’t understand how it works) is not an excuse to punish your children. Listen to the reviews. Don’t buy bark..Version: 3.5
✓ BadThis app is a violation of privacy and way to over the top it’s unfair to let me be able to see when my kids send silly text that they could be joking about..Version: 3.6.1
✓ BARK SUCKSBARK IS THE WROST APP IN THE APP STORE IT MAKES UR PARENTS SHUT DOWN UR WIFI AND TAKE OUT WIFI FROM APPS/ bann them I DONT EVEN RATE THIS APP A STAR IF U SEE THIS SPY SHOW MY MOM.Version: 3.2.3
✓ Just a little stupidI am a 13 year old female just trying to have fun. I don’t have a problem with my parents looking to see if me or my friends do something bad but I have a huge problem with how they can block certain apps. I have had all social media behind my parents back because they don’t believe it is ok for kids to have it. The believe that any kid that has it and gets mentioned will cause self harm or off themselves. I play games online a lot so when they ask for my number I give them a special discord that I made for that. My parents have always been strict but once I got the phone I felt like I had a little bit of privacy. But no, I was told they were going to put bark on my phone to see if I do something I’m not supposed to. Again I don’t have a problem with that it’s just that they are over protective and I had to tell them that I had Twitter and my mom freaked out and told me I wasn’t allowed to have it or to use any social media. I’m just trying to enjoy my time and not go against my parents main rules but this was something I couldn’t deal with anymore. Some of my friends don’t use their phone number so I talk to them through discord but it got blocked with everything else and it’s starting to annoy me that my parents are trying to control every little thing in my life..Version: 3.2.8
✓ No thanksThis is coming from a teen (f14). I completely understand the purpose of the app. It can be great for protecting YOUNGER CHILDREN. This seems more like an app to protect kids who haven't hit adolescence. Once you become a teenager, I don't think you need to be spied on constantly. The app honestly wasn't the end of the world, but it annoyed me quite a bit. Searching became difficult, texting no longer felt comfortable, and I felt more unsafe with my parents using it. I often use my phone to tell people things I don't want my parents' nose in. I get it, that may look suspicious, but did you as a child ever tell your parents all your secrets? Most likely not (unless you have, thats good for you). Yes, sometimes we might get into things we aren't supposed to on the internet. But does that REALLY matter? We're learning. No, the internet is definitely not the best place for that, but its still a way we can figure things out. Parents, if any are reading this, instead of using this on your adolescent child, try talking to them if you're unsure about anything they're doing. Try building your relationship with them so they'll come to you and tell you things. If your kid can trust you, they won't need to be secretive and you won't need this unnecessary privacy invading monstrosity of an app..Version: 3.6.1
✓ TerribleL.Version: 3.4
✓ Installed just so i could terrible review.This is terrible no kid should hav their privacy taken away! never use an app like this it will cause your child to have trust issues with you and others. these apps are terrible for children's mental health. rating one star take this garbage down..Version: 3.2.7
✓ Nope!Probably the worst app you could ever get. My mom downloaded this on my phone, and I didn’t even know about it until over a few months later when I got grounded a few weeks. I thought she just downloaded it because of what I did, but no it had been on there since September 25th. (It was around December or later November when I finally noticed it) Around the beginning of January, my phone stopped working. It would glitch and stopped the wifi from connecting. My mom nor I had no idea what was going on. We thought the phone was the problem, so we bought a new one. NOPE! We decided to get a new sim card— NOPE! It wasn’t until my mom finally realized that it was this stupid app that was causing it, she turned it off and I deleted it a few months later. This app is ridiculous and completely invaded your privacy. Parents, I recommend not getting this app because you will completely destroy your relationship with your child. I think this app would be perfect for kids in elementary, but pre-teens or teenagers? The app just shows you don’t trust them, and will cause them not to trust you and find other ways to sneak behind your back and hide stuff. So, build a good relationship with your child and they will most likely be able to come to you and actually talk to you..Version: 3.7.0
✓ Its okayThe app is fine. I know that it doesn’t alert everything that you do on your phone. My mom tells me not to check in on the app for whatever reason and what I don’t like is my phone is set to where apps I don’t use in awhile get offloaded and when the bark app is offloaded it shuts down my wifi and data. The first time this happened I was really confused. I also don’t know why I cant download apps- it started about a day ago and I think it’s because the bark app has to update but because of the issue it wont let me update. I know that there are individuals out there that would try and purposely shut off and delete the bark app so that’s when the little shutting down wifi tool is handy. But not everyone does that. At the same time I don’t use the app the same way parents do so I don’t know if they can control those setting or not. I trust my mom when she says that it doesn’t see everything and I trust the bark app as well, but there always seems to be an issue with my phone wether or not it’s my wifi, apps, or sending messages on social media. Overall I think the bark app is okay. I’m also only a teenager and not an adult so I don’t really know how the app works. :).Version: 3.3
✓ It screws my social life and itselfIt’s purpose will be its downfall. It deleted itself from my phone, but still works somehow. Same with my iPad. Not only that, but it reads my texts and sends the slightest little things to my parents. Last week my friend sent me a text about how his teacher told a kid to shut up and sit down. My parents got a message about “bullying.” Yes, a teacher telling a kid who can’t stop talking to shut up is bullying. <—— sarcasm* I can’t talk to my friends without my parents getting messages and needing to lock my phone down for things that aren’t even that serious. If you were walking down the street and you saw a group of friends all talking about somebody that annoys them, you don’t email there parents about there children being bullies, right? Count the characters in this review and make it a negative number to see just how little farks I give about the reasons that this exists. This is like Study Island. It barely works, but only the people who employed it actually notice. Everyone else is just too confused and angry to notice. My parents have completely given up on this app, and now don’t even read the messages it sends..Version: 3.6.4
✓ TERRIBLEThis app is so dumb. It is for parents who are so overprotective of their kids and it doesn’t let them have any privacy what so ever. Definitely do not recommend..Version: 3.6.1
✓ ⚠️Parents Read Please⚠️I’m a teenager writing this review so please listen. My parents downloaded this app on my phone so they could watch what I was doing. This app completely takes away your child’s freedom to do anything. I remember I was listening to music and it started playing the next song. It started playing the song From Now On from the greatest showman. (I was listening to Disney music because why not) Well it started playing and my father came into the room and he said he got a notification on an inappropriate song I was listening to. I told him I was listening to the greatest showman. He was surprised because it said it was talking about drinking and bad language. The only line in that song is "I drink champagne with kings and queens". Like seriously you are going to report me listening to a Disney song. This is just one example of how much this app overreacts to everything. I became isolated with my friends and I felt like I couldn’t talk to them about anything because of this app. LISTEN PARENTS: if you want to get an app that watches what your child does I wouldn’t suggest this one. There are much better apps out there. Please take my words into consideration when you are thinking about getting your child this app..Version: 3.3
✓ As a teen…Listen i don’t have much to hide and i don’t really care that they get alerts or whatever. i hate how this app was designed. every child or teen that has this app feels untrusted and violated. i personally love having my own privacy even if there is nothing to hide. it’s not fair to make me more uncomfortable because my parents have to look at everything i do and it makes me feel horrible that they are invading my privacy. yes i know that they are my parents and should be able to see stuff but as a teen with this app i know that everyone deserves privacy and if they wanna see or look through my phone they can! but it goes to far with a whole app that logs and makes a list of things on my phone that my parents get to just brows. the software is not very good either. things like “headache” and “medicine” and “anxiety” pop up on there emails from bark. and sometimes bark will block menus because it has alcohol on it. that is so stupid! it also ruins wifi and data connection. it turns on a VPN which messes with my phone and it’s annoying when i have to worry about what my parents can and will see. even when it’s nothing to worry about. as a untrustworthy girl that has this app i truly hate it. it makes my whole life so much harder and nothing can or will make it better. i get it could be beneficial to parents but for kids it’s miserable..Version: 3.5
✓ Read!! NOW (Parents, kids, teens, pre-teens, and people who made the app)This app goes to far, it send parents everything even the little things that don’t matter. Like as pre-teens and teen, we sometimes will joke with our friends like call them dumb or an idiot, but at this age we know we’re joking and so do they. But it sends those messages to parents even tho there not a big deal. It will invade to much privacy even if it’s not something big. Also this app has broken my friends phones including me. Mine would freeze and do random things and basically like broke it. It got so annoying. The weirdest part, is it would freeze and not let me get on the bark app. For my friend, she couldn’t do like anything it would always say she has no internet connection, and the reason her parents got it for her is because she’s never had social media before and she really wanted it. But it wouldn’t work when she got social media because there “was no internet connection” this app is the worst thing ever. It goes to far, sends like EVERYTHING, and will break phones. Like I get it, if u gave the app to like a young kid like 9 and under, that makes sense because parents should know what’s going on on a young kids phone/iPad. But when your a pree-teen or a teen, you need some privacy cause your older. And most of them aren't even doing anything bad, it’s the fact that is app invalids privacy that’s not even a big deal..Version: 3.3
✓ Horrible and I hate who ever made this stupid appThis is a horrible app, I cant text anyone expect of my parents and I cant download anything and I cant do anything. What was the point of a phone then? I feel like I’m on a leash and I’m a dog. (One that is not treated appropriately) parents please please hear me out, your kids will hate you and will just make things even worse. Instead use apple family because Your kids can get some privacy and you will still have control plus it’s free. This stupid app id like 80$. Parents your relationship with your kids will be horrible after this, save your kids relationship with you. My parents said this will help me from not being hacked of course it won’t help. I might as well use my old iPad to have a life and freedom. Don’t get this it will interfere with your child’s life . If you want to make sure your kids don’t do anything inappropriate make sure to teach them not to. You parents going on Facebook all day are teaching your kids so might as well get this for your self. Smh what is wrong with people today. This is not gonna help with anything because at the beginning I never did anything wrong. I hate this and don’t get it..Version: 3.3
✓ This app sucks ballsI can’t do anything it sucks and blocks almost every website so now my phone is useless.Version: 3.2.5
✓ My therapist disapproves of this app(as a 16 year old) I told my therapist about this app and she agreed that this app give us a false of privacy by tell us that “you parents may not be able to see your messages” ya they lied. Your parents can see the entire conversation that is being had and can also see who your having it with. The problem i have is, what if my friend is having a hard time and they are telling me stuff that they only want me to know, and my parents get a notification of an “inappropriate conversation” which in most cases is not even true. If my friend wanted to tell my mother their problems, then she would have told her. This app not only invades my privacy but the other person’s privacy, and they don’t even have the app. This app is just for over protective parents who don’t trust their child/teen. This app destroys relationships with your parents because it tells you it won’t invade and then continues to do so. The app makes me feel like a dog on a leash (as the name suggests). To be honest if your thinking of getting this for your teen, don’t even bother because they will find some other way to hide stuff from you because you have completely demolished the trust that your teen has for you. I am genuinely sorry to anyone who has this app because i feel your pain. Thank you for coming to my ted talk..Version: 3.5.1
✓ This app could be improvedListen, I get parents want to make sure we’re safe on the internet and that nothing bad is happening, but bark could definitely improve. For example, instead of sending alerts, it could just block inappropriate things. If a child looks something up on google and something inappropriate accidentally shows up, not only do they see the thing that is appropriate, it also sends an alert, and the child might get in trouble. Also, it does things it is not supposed to do. For me, links on safari don’t work because of it, and this makes it very hard to use safari. Also, it shouldn’t just send alerts for everything, parents should be able to choose what kind of things alerts get sent to, for example, I bet something like cursing would send an alert if someone was watching a show or video with cursing, but if the parent is ok with their child watching something with cursing , they should be able to turn off alerts for anything with cursing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful my parents don’t just go through my phone, but bark could still Do things to improve and/or give people more privacy..Version: 3.2.6
✓ Parents, save your relationship with your kidsFrom a kids perspective this would completely ruin my life. I already had it. It’s terrible. Every movement, every button you tap on your phone is recorded and sent to your parents. With this app, kids feel like their privacy is being taken away, and it makes them hate their parents. Privacy is an important thing. I get it if the child is doing not-so-good things, but for absolutely no reason or because your “Facebook friends have it” doesn’t mean their kids love them as much as they say. Parents always say things like that. Overall what I am trying to say is apps like this will ruin the relationship between you and your children. No one likes their privacy being breached. Think of it from your point of view as parents are always telling us. they don’t. Do not get unless you want your kids to hate you (if they tell their friends, more kids hate you now. Think about non technical communication. That’s a thing.) DO NOT GET UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR CHILDREN TI HATE YOU AND RUIN YIUR RELATIONSHIP FOR A LONG TIME..Version: 3.5.1
✓ I wish I could rate it worseThis app is so bad if you are downloading this app you are extremely overprotective if you are a parent downloading this you need to back off your kids..Version: 3.6.4
✓ It hacks youI am a adult and I put the app on my child’s iPad and it got hacked when the screen time was up.Version: 4.0.0
✓ It’s aight.As a pre-teen I do have something to say about this. I’m not one of those kids who are like “This is bad!!! It takes away my privacy and my parents are selfish!” Instead after a while I realized it’s not all bad. I respect my parents decision to put this on my phone compared to when I first got it, when I got it I didn’t know what it was so I tested around with it and started putting pieces together. I also searched it up if that wasn’t something every child would do but after I found out I initially thought that my parents wanted to monitor my every move. I do have to disagree that my parents aren’t all that since they won’t let me play most online games because I did something back then or so. Although getting adjusted to it I understand now. To all the kids or teen that may be reading this it’s not taking away your freedom or anything like that, all it does is tells your parents that you are on Inappropriate and drug websites (stuff your parents don’t really want you looking at)..Version: 3.5
✓ ⚠️ PARENTS PLEASE LISTEN⚠️My parents got this app for no reason, I have never done anything bad on my phone before. Sure you can say they are trying to prevent it but what it really does is make me feel untrusted. Due to this app I treat my parents differently than I used to, not in a good way. I almost never talk to my parents and I avoid them. This app blocks unnecessary stuff such as music. I was listening to my playlist of music and it skipped 3 songs that weren't even inappropriate because of bark. I don't care what your "mission" is because clearly unless your mission is to break relationships with children and parents, then you failed. My friends don't even text me anymore because they know my parents might see what they have to say. My friends used to vent to me every time they needed but now our friendships are being destroyed. You thing this app will help keep your friends from killing themselves because your parents will see it? WRONG! Now they aren't even willing to text me that they had a bad day, so who knows, maybe they will kill themselves. Bark, stop saying in every reply to talk about boundaries with our parents, IF OUR PARENTS EVEN DOWNLOADED THIS APP THATS NOT GOING TO WORK! Its going to cause me to get in trouble for absolutely no reason..Version: 3.6.1
✓ Just don’tListen to the other comments.Version: 3.4
✓ EhIt’s not very great just because it makes me feel like guilty or like I don’t know just weird even though I have nothing to hide and I feel like my dad is watching me type right now My dad doesn’t know how to change it so that it gives him notifications just for watching a video about Halloween. Apparently it’s violent? Huh? I’m just trying to get in the Halloween spirit. Also a video about washing dogs is talking about anxiety? Even if it were that stuff my parents would not care that much. It’s really annoying. Also, every once in a while I’ll be scrolling through YT shorts and there will be a video with a curse word in it. My mom doesn’t care, but my dad gets a lil eh, he thinks I know there’s a curse word in it or something. He doesn’t care really care THAT much though. It just is annoying. It scares me that every once in a while my friend will curse and if my dad found out he would think that I do it to. Then we would both get in trouble. She’s allowed to say curse words, except my dad would make it seem like she was trying to get me to curse. 😬.Version: 3.2.8
✓ Ruins everythingEven my therapist knows about this app that my parents forced me to download. i feel like i’m on a leash. if they get alerts from anything even my friends say that i don’t , it alerts them. it’s come to the point where it’s july and i haven’t hung out with ANYBODY all summer because i’m distancing myself from my friends since i don’t want my parents to argue with me about what they say. i feel so alone and my parents do not care. i’m begging you not to get this for your child. i understand wanting safety but this will make your kid feel anything but comfort. also, prents can set curfew limits on their child phone so it literally stops working. i didn’t know it was bark causing this so i spent hours on the phone with at&t trying to figure out the problem. HOURS. and when my parents told me it was bark they just laughed it off like it was funny that i felt so much stress. on top of that, i spent two weeks away from my family and traveled to a part of the country with a different time zone. i was two hours behind my family that stayed home. however, this app does not adjust to time zones so i had to stop using my phone at like 8pm. i’m a teenager, why should i have such little freedom when i already cant do or say anything on this phone that’ll alert my parents? when i tried talking to my parents about readjusting my curfew while i was out of town my dad literally just laughed at me. i felt and still feel so powerless over MY life..Version: 3.2.7
✓ This isn’t helpfulThis app has made me want to cut my mother off. I am a 17 year old and my mom made me get it bc I didn’t always talk to her. She went through my phone when ever I was acting off. She said this would be better and I believed her. However this has turned everything worse. My mom gets alerts from fictional stories I write and things my friend says. She gets angry and assumes things and blames it on the fact that she doesn’t know the whole story. I was talking to my friend about bad things she’s done. Threaten to take me to a hospital saying it was a horrible place telling me I’m not suicidal etc. I told my friend I might cut her out of my life. Her way of trying to fix this is making me stay home instead of going to a friends house to calm down. She says that we need to fix our relationship yet doesn’t try to. This app has not helped me at all and I’ve started self harming and having more mental problems and breakdown bc of it. I understand what you’re trying to do however this can be abused like it is with me. I am 17 i should have my freedom. At least make it so that 16 plus people can’t have this app. It’s not thing to make sure a kid is safe it’s completely different when the parent punishes the child for having negative thoughts about said parent..Version: 3.2.7
✓ Terrible app.⚠️KIDS AND ADULTS⚠️ first of all i am a teen and my parents downloaded this app for me to make sure i was being “good”. which was fine at first until i relized it shows your parents EVERYTHING. not just that but when bark was downloaded onto my phone it said, “your parents won’t be able to see everything just what’s potentially dangerous”. which is a complete lie. they see almost everything and 99% of the time it’s not even bad. ⚠️FOR PARENTS⚠️ yes, this helps to monitor devices but it also has downsides. for one thing it completely blows up your phone and takes away lots of storage. it also ruins the relationship between kids and the parent. not only that but it’s a complete invasion of privacy. my phone was considered a diary for me, but now everything can be seen. all my private texts, photos, and social media can be seen. it’s awful. it ruins everything. ⚠️FOR KIDS⚠️ before they download the application make sure you get rid of anything you don’t want to be seen. make sure that you act like you don’t care because then there’s a better chance they won’t download. be calm and be aware of the situation. and have fun on your device while you can..Version: 3.5.1
✓ It ruined almost all my appsThanks to my school counselor I had to download this app. I think it’s an “ok” idea to put this on your child’s phone, but it’s the best way to ruin a relationship with your kid tho. Kids hide stuff all the time from their parents, and it might not even be bad. Now kids try to do that more then ever. Back to what I wanted to say, I like to edit things on my phone and now I can’t do that anymore because of bark. This has never happened before until I downloaded bark- now I can’t even open Pinterest! I get really mad over technology issues, it’s a big Pet Peeve of mine, and thanks to this app my Pet Peeve is the only thing I can deal with. I can’t even get rid of this! I tried to power on and off my iPhone to get my many not working apps back to normal, but I can’t just get it to work. It’s always says I have no internet(I think it’s because of the VPN). But I only sort of thank this app, I’ve stopped using my phone way less. But it does no good for a Child’s mental health, but otherwise it’s a great source to *trying* to keep your child safe, just not a good way to keep a steady relationship with your kid..Version: 3.2.8
✓ Ruins lifeYesterday my mom made me download this app. and made me answer all the questions. now i feel like i’m a dog and a leash and have to beg for freedom again. like it shows the parent or guardian everything you do and it even shows them your messages which, i think is a violation in every way. with this app there’s no way i should feel this way. and now i can’t act like i’m my age. im in 7th grade and now it feels like i’m in 3rd grade. my mom also put it in my little sisters phone which i can understand because she in kindergarten but i’m in 7th grade. i’d really rather go back to her checking my phone every so offen and that be it but this app isn’t right. and now my mom feels the need to have it. if your a parent and your trying to rebuild your relationship with your child/children, this wouldn’t be the way to go because it’s only going to make it worse and there just going to feel terrible and odd so if you absolutely have to use this then use it but Life360 it’s much better in my opinion. it will make the child feel better too and can build a good relationship. with Life360, it’s always shows where they are, have been, where there going, when they turn it off and when they go off the app. you send immediately messages to them and other things. but honestly this app wouldn’t be the best resource or response..Version: 3.2.8
✓ Don’t use the appHonestly I don’t think this app should even get one star. It not only slows down EVERYTHING, but it’s also an invasion of privacy. If a friend were to say something personal and used inappropriate language or language that is medically related, it will alert them. I don’t want my friends to feel uncomfortable when they’re telling me something private. It slows down a lot of my apps; snapchat, tiktok, instagram, messages, facetime. It even slows down subway surfers. SUBWAY SURFERS! Like- come on. This app is for parents that do not trust their kids to make the right decisions. They tell us that it’s to protect us but it’s really to make sure that they are in control. I want to be able to talk to people without worrying about what is going to alert my parents. If they took the app off of my phone, I would probably be more open with them and actually tell them about things. Instead, they put this on my phone, and I’m more closed off than I was before. I haven’t expressed this to them, but they know how I feel about it just by the way I act when they bring it up. If you’re a parent reading this, keep in mind that this will only make your children angrier and it’ll only make them act out more..Version: 3.2.8
✓ Just give up barkSeriously. Who in their right mind came up with this app? It allows no privacy to any teen with it. When my friends say anything even remotely close to a cuss word, like DUMB or STUPID it gets reported for bullying. Bark deserves a 0 star review, I wish I could give it one! It’s alerts BLEEPED cusses! What is wrong with this developer??? All you respond to “critical” reviews is “our mission is to keep kids safe and give them privacy”. That’s your mission??? Fulfill it. Me and my friends tease each other? Reported. I try look up some science things for school? Reported. I look up a tutorial on how to draw Billie Eilish? Blocked. I make a cooking video showing my chopping food with a knife? Reported. If your “mission” is to monitor kids but “give them their privacy” then just give up!! It doesn’t work. You’ve made my anxiety worse, you know how many times I’ve cried because of your useless app sticking its nose in my personal information? Too many. At LEAST once a day!! Oh, and I almost forgot. It’s RUINS WiFi! Makes everything load slower. It falsely accuses me of being on websites I’ve never even heard of! Bark, thanks a lot. You’ve ruined my childhood..Version: 3.5
✓ Really?This app is horrible, honestly how un trusting of your kids are you that you feel like you need to spy on them? they need privacy too, some kids don’t feel like they can tell you things, doing something like this makes it worse. how would you feel if someone spurs on you?.Version: 3.2.3
✓ A few issuesHi, I am a fourteen year old kid, bark probably has my gender and has already sold it to china. There are a few issues with this app starting with, if you have parents that don’t know how to use the app correctly your phone will basically become a paperweight. The second reason is that there are a lot of loopholes for the app. The third problem as you have probably seen is that is leaks everything you do and probably sells your data to china. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the company that owns bark gets sued for invasion of privacy. One more thing to add, the app does not prepare you for the real world, example middle school to high school works perfect but past that is like living under a rock for the rest of your days in the classroom. Your social life is crucial to a great success in life which the creator does not want anyone to achieve. Talking to people is great for your mental health but bark will make you nervous in front of people because, you never know when that little app on your device is waiting to rat you out and ruin relationships with your parents and take all of the excitement out of having a new phone..Version: 3.6.1
✓ SucksMyNuts.comLigma.com It’s wide cause there is another app worse then this that has better reviews. I just looked at it and it’s mostly parents but still, apps like these ruin relationships.Version: 3.2.8
🙂 Bark Kids Positive Reviews
Bark Kids works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or contact Bark Kids.
⛔ Bark Kids Problems
