FamilyTime vs. Bark
Creating a safer digital space for kids online seems difficult when technology is on the move. Every day, a number of apps, games, websites, content, and more flood into our kids’ lives. They interact with digital screens for more than 8 hours a day, exposing them to loads of unfiltered content,uninterrupted social connections, and addictive games.
Creating a safer digital space for kids online seems difficult when technology is on the move. Every day, a number of apps, games, websites, content, and more flood into our kids’ lives. They interact with digital screens for more than 8 hours a day, exposing them to loads of unfiltered content, uninterrupted social connections, and addictive games.
A third-party parental monitoring app like FamilyTime helps you take essential measures for your child’s safety, leading to their digital well-being. But it’s not the only app offering parental controls. You will find numerous counterparts. When we look around the options, Bark seems to be a popular and promising alternative to FamilyTime, but does it work the same?
| Feature | FamilyTime | Bark |
|---|---|---|
| Cross Platform support | ✔ | ✔ |
| Screen time limits | ✔ | ✔ |
| Downtime schedules | ✔ | ✔ |
| App blocker | ✔ | ✔ |
| Activity reports | ✔ | ✔ |
| App installation approvals | ✔ | 🗶 |
| Real-Time Alerts | ✔ | ✔ |
| Geofence | ✔ | ✔ |
| Location Tracking | ✔ | ✔ |
| Panic Button | ✔ | 🗶 |
| Web filters | ✔ | ✔ |
| Content Monitoring | ✔ | ✔ |
| App Limits | ✔ | 🗶 |
| Contacts Monitoring | ✔ | 🗶 |
| Access to SMS Chats | ✔ | 🗶 |
| Free Trial | ✔ | ✔ |
To help you with the best buy and selecting a result-oriented and powerful parenting app, here is a detailed review and comparison of FamilyTime and Bark. Both apps have their benefits and attractions. Several parents around the globe love these. However, knowing what’s special in them is essential for you.
FamilyTime Vs. Bark at a Glance
Before you dig into the detailed comparison, here is a sneak peek of the review. Both apps are good at their best and offer exceptions in features, controls, and rule adjustments for a child’s device usage.
| FamilyTime | Bark |
|---|---|
| Compatible with iOS, Android, Mac & Windows. | Compatible with Android, iOS, Chromebooks, Windows & Amazon Kindle. |
| Available worldwide for users. | NotIt is only available for users in the United States, South Africa, Guam, and Australia |
| Provides good control over app installations with limits and approvals. | There are no specifications related to app install approvals or specific limits. |
| Filter and block mature content on multiple platforms, from YouTube to browsers. | Unlimited web filters to identify and block explicit content. |
| Offer contact monitoring to keep an eye on suspicious contacts. | Scan messages and social media chats for the bully, hate speech, and harassment. |
| Offers complete access to the call & SMS logs and social media chats. | Only notify parents with explicit messages. |
| One app for all age groups, from toddlers to tweens and teens. |
Cross Platform Support
Regarding platform compatibility, there is a tie between the FamilyTime and Bark parental control app. Both apps support operating systems from Android to iOS, windows, and Mac. However, Bark also has an edge in providing coverage for the Amazon Kindle. So, the kids having Amazon devices can be monitored and controlled digitally using the app. Well, this feature doesn’t make Bark extraordinary, as it’s rare for the kids to have Kindle devices in common. But, this can be an advantage if a kid has an exception.
Screen Time Limits
One of the core reasons parents are looking for cell phone monitoring apps is to control their kid’s screen time. Your child spending too much time with their digital devices may develop screen addictions and other dangerous habits, too. Mostly, kids spend a lot of time with their device’s distractions, are unable to focus on study, have short attention spans, and face anxiety and frustration when they are unable to have their devices.
Focusing on the need for balanced screen time, FamilyTime offers you several screen time management tools and options. It starts with the daily screen time limits, where you can give your child a daily time allowance to use the device. The next in line is the device schedules. You can put the device on the block when you do not want your child to use their devices during study, dinner, or sleep hours. The feature lets you add a custom schedule to meet the daily requirements or needs for controlled device usage.
Compared to these options, Bark offers good screen time controls for parents to limit and restrict their child’s device usage. You can set a daily screen time allowance for kids to spend time using their devices. Plus, it allows you to schedule time-specific routines for device downtime and customize them for optimal device use.
App Limits
In comparison, FamilyTime has an edge over Bark with this one feature. Digital balance is not just about limiting screen time but also about helping kids make smart choices or selections. It’s pretty much common for kids to be obsessed with a specific app, which can be a game, social chat, or entertainment app. To reduce your child’s obsession with an app, you can set up daily use limits for any such app.
Doing so will allow your child to use the app for a limited time and block it afterward. When kids still have screen time, they will move toward other informative or entertainment apps.
Unfortunately, Bark does not offer a feature to limit app usage for the day. It only lets you limit screen time for the day. So, your child has the liberty to stick to one app for the whole time or use multiple.
App Blocker
Installing and using apps is not a big deal for kids. Studies show that kids between the ages of 10 and 12 are able to install and set up apps or games on devices. Well, that calls for app filters and management. Bark offers an app blocker that lets you block all the installed apps you consider not suitable for kids. These include built-in and third-party apps, too.
On the other hand, FamilyTime offers a feature similar to an app blocker.Plus, you can block games and other social or entertainment apps. You have complete control, as you can see the installed apps on your child’s device and then block all inappropriate ones.
An additional feature that FamilyTime offers is app installation approvals. Even if your child has installed the app on a device accessing the store but can’t use it without your approval, for all newly installed apps, FamilyTime leads to an approval window. Only once you approve the app and grant permission can your child use it. Otherwise, the installation is incomplete and of no use.
Web Filters
Kids and teens online are not just spending time on their apps, games, or social media. They have access to browsers for searches and exploration.It’s one of the tricky spots when your child can access any information online without any filter. But Bark and FamilyTime are offering you security.
You can enable SafeSearch filters for FamilyTime or Bark content monitoring. Both work the same. These are efficient enough to review and identify the explicit words, statements, and content online. Whenever your child searches for anything inappropriate, the settings automatically block it.
Moreover, the filters can block the results if anything suspicious exists.The feature helps to keep inappropriate and age-sensitive searches away from the kids. Most of these filters deal with adult content, drugs, fights, bullies, weapons, and more.
The features available are similar; however, the performance of these filters in both apps is quite different. FamilyTime proves to be efficient and smart when it comes to detecting sensitive search terms and issues.However, there can always be a little slip for Bark when filtering the real-time content.
Contacts Monitoring
Screen time and web searches are important for a child’s digital safety.Still, you must know everything about your child’s contacts and connections.Knowing who’s contacting your kid and what they are communicating about helps you keep them safe from bullies and cyber predators.
FamilyTime lets you keep track of all contacts on your child’s device. You can always look into the contacts lists to identify whether a new contact is in there. Additionally, you have the option to watchlist the contacts you find suspicious on the list. You will get a notification on your phone wheneve these contacts call or message your kid.
It’s not just about the notifications or contacts; you can check out your child’s calls and SMS logs anytime. You can see the call durations, times, and messages with their content.
Moving forward to Bark, contact monitoring is quite different and limited. The app doesn’t let you look at all the saved contacts or the list of calls or messages. Instead, you will receive alerts about explicit messages and chats in the child’s inbox. Following these messages, you can act to save your child from bullies or predators online.
Real-Time Alerts
Parental monitoring is not just about setting controls and rules; it does involve real-time information and alerts. You must get updates about what’s happening in your child’s life and connect with them through alerts.FamilyTime offers you an extensive range of real-time alerts for all your child’ activities, whether geofence movements or accessing prohibited content.
Whenever your child moves within a geofence, you will get a notification. Additionally, it shows you alerts when your child tries to access prohibited content or the app blocks a search query. Even Bark offers similar alert features. It notifies you when the child checks in or out from a geofence or moves out of the boundary, too. Plus, you will get alerts for explicit content detection in messages or emails.
One thing about alerts quite different in FamilyTime is the kids’ access to alerts. Like SOS and PickMeUp Alerts. Kids can use these alert tools to get their attention and help when in need.
You can plan smooth pickups and even rescue them immediately when they are in danger. Plus, you can set up a Low Battery Alert to receive and send your child an alert to charge their devices and avoid drained batteries.
Location Tracking
Both apps offer you the location tracker and geofence limits features. You can get live location updates, the history of visited places, and an alert about their movements. It helps you monitor what your child’s doing in the real world. However, the GPS accuracy and the intervals of location tracking are quite different in both apps. FamilyTime offers you precise location alerts with the nearest landmarks. Additionally, using the Family Tracker, you can look at all your family’s current locations on the map.
Social Media Monitoring
Kids socializing online with several people haunts parents a lot. If you are curious to know what your child’s doing on social media, then FamilyTime is your go-to option.
It lets you access all the chats from leading social media apps, from Instagram to Facebook, Bip, Signal, Twitch, TikTok, and more. You will get insights into what’s happening in your child’s life and keep them safe from cyber predators.
However, Bark takes a different approach to the matter. It monitors and filters social media chats and content but never shows you all of it. The app only sends notifications of messages that are not suitable for kids. You cannot see any other message earlier or later than that. It can sometimes be unclear as you need more context for the conversation. You cannot confront the child up front when any such thing happens.
Activity Reports
FamilyTime and Bark keep you up to date with the activity reports. However there is a difference in both their details and formation.
Bark gives you an overview report via email weekly and monthly. Plus, in the app, you can see a few details about the location and alerts, and that is it. There are no significant details about the activities.
FamilyTime provides a detailed daily track of activities and monthly data. You will receive reports in email offering all the stats about what your child’s been doing so far. This includes everything from location to messages, chat history, app usage, geofence, search history, and much more. Additionally, you will receive some recommendations from experts to improve parental controls for your child using different tools.
Final Verdict
Deciding which is the best parental control app between FamilyTime and Bark is relatively easy. Although most of the features offered by both apps are similar, they are different. The efficiency of each feature and the accuracy of its operations make them different.
On a performance basis, FamilyTime does have an edge in a number of matters.It happens to be the best choice that is compatible with multiple devices and operating systems. Additionally, it offers some exclusive features like Approve apps, Individual App Limits, TimeBank, and FunTime. These features make the app favorable for creating a balance in a child’s digital life.
One significant feature that sets both apps apart is the activity review reports and their details. Bark keeps the child’s privacy on edge and does not offer insights into their social chats. This is good but dangerous at times. However, FamilyTime keeps the child’s data secured but accessible to the guardian. It helps parents review their social chats and take appropriate actions to help kids deal with difficult situations.
