Bark

In the age of smartphones, we can access countless information with just a phone. Many of them can serve to entertain and help us. Other times, however, The Internet can be a conduit for dangerous content Bullying, scams, adult videos and much more are just a button away from our children .

With the knowledge of this fear, Bark was born, an app for iOS and Android. It is a tool for parents to easily monitor their children's activity, without having to be physically on top of them.

The program allows parents to access their children's main social networks. Later, it emits notices to them when certain types of words, expressions or images are displayed. The app costs 8 euros per month, but offers a first month of free trial With this in mind, we have downloaded it to see how it works up close.

Functioning

The first thing we have to do is become a member and enter the free trial period (it is not necessary to add a credit card). From then on we enter a three-step process: include the child's data, connect their accounts and configure notifications

When including child data, age limit is 18 years old We cannot attempt to monitor older children (sorry for those parents with older children at home). Then we enter an option to include the son's phone number, so we can send him instructions, if we want.

The next step is to enter the data of your email addresses, as well as your social networks. Among the options we find, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest and many more, so the app is not short or outdated.

Notifications

When managing notifications, we can choose to receive them through the email with which we have created the account, or through SMS . In this case, we must also add a telephone number to our file.

Then we will select the type of notifications we want to receive. That is, when we want the system to recognize that there is some type of inappropriate content that needs to be reported. On the one hand, we can choose between a filter for swear words and another for inappropriate content (criminal or sexual)

We can also activate a log-in on sites or apps that are not considered age-appropriate. Also, if the child is making major changes to their account, such as name or email address changes, they are also logged.

We can do this with several accounts of different children, each with different specifications. Throughout this process we have not been able to find any option to change the language from English to Spanish, which can be a problem for many users interested in acquiring the service.

Monitoring

When we have our child account complete, we can access a record of all the connections made, as well as a system of comparative statistics . Settings can always be changed in the Children option.

In case we miss any notification, in Review Issues we will be marked all unconsulted notices of child activity.

If we are convinced by this tool, we can go to Account and include our credit card to continue receiving the service for 8 euros per month . If you have not convinced us, in the same option we can mark Cancel my account.

In any case, Bark is considered an interesting option for those concerned about problems such as cyberbullying or sexting. We only expect a Spanish version soon so that this app can be more successful in our market.