Who can change Contact Approval
Your ability to customize Contact Approval depends on your Bark Phone plan.
How to change Contact Approval
Open up your parent app / dashboard.
Tap your child's name.
Scroll down and tap Other.
Enable or disable Require contact approval.
Optionally enable contact requests to let your child request approval for new contacts. If they call, text, or are contacted by a number you haven’t approved yet, they can send it to you for review with a short note.
Manage contacts
You can always edit contacts you've added by tapping your child's name and scrolling down to Contacts.
Types of contacts
✅ Approved Contacts — Allows calls and texts to and from this number (unless blocked by your routines).
Emergency Contacts — Always allows calls and texts to and from this number (unless the text app is blocked).
🚫 Unapproved Contacts — Blocks calls and texts to and from this number.
Schedule what types of contacts can call with routines
On your Bark parent app / dashboard, tap your child's name.
Scroll down to Who can be contacted.
Under Settings, make your changes:
Tap Emergency only if you only want your kid to be able to text and call emergency contacts during this current routine.
Tap All contacts if you want your kid to be able to text and call any approved contacts during this current routine.
Repeat for any other routines you've scheduled.
When an unapproved contact reaches out:
Text messages from them won't show up for your child.
If an unapproved contact is part of a group chat, the entire conversation is hidden from your child.
Their calls to your child will go straight to voicemail (if voicemail is enabled).
Your child will be able to see their phone number(s) and request approval.
Don't want your kid to send you contact requests at all? You can turn them off in your parent app / dashboard. Tap their profile > scroll down and tap Manage Bark Phone > Make sure "Require contact approval" is set to YES and "Allow contact requests" is set to NO.
When your child requests approval:
You will get a notification.
Texts sent or received while the contact(s) was unapproved are not saved.
A task for you to review the contact request(s) will appear on your dashboard.
You can see whether the request came from a 📞 call or a 💬 text, whether it was incoming or outgoing, and if it was a text, the original message.
When you approve a contact request...
Your kid can now send and receive texts and calls from that contact (unless blocked by the routine).
Your kid will get a push notification.
Your kid will see an option to add the contact.
Kid doesn't see the option to add the contact? That's okay! They can just add the contact manually via the Contacts app.
How you can proactively block or allow numbers
Prefer not to wait for a contact request? You can block or unblock contacts on your parent app at any time.
Open up your Bark parent app / dashboard.
Under your child's name, tap Add contacts.
Enter in the phone number you'd like to block or unblock.
Kid doesn't see the option to add the contact? That's okay! They can just add the contact manually via the Contacts app.
How your kid can block numbers themselves
If your child wishes to block phone calls and texts from a specific individual, they have the ability to do so directly from their Phone app, Contacts app, and/or Messages app. It's important to note that this action is independent of the settings within your Bark dashboard for Contact Approval. These built-in tools are designed to empower your child in managing unwanted calls and texts on their own.
How your kid can block a number from the phone app
If the number you'd like to block called the phone, your kid can follow these steps to block future calls and texts from them:
On the Bark Phone, open the Phone app.
Tap Recents on the bottom.
Find the recent caller and tap on the number.
Tap (ℹ) information.
Tap 🚫 Block.
(optional) tap 📝 Report to submit a report about whether that number is spam, not spam, telemarketing, or similar.
That's it! When the number is blocked in this way, it automatically hides any text conversations between your kid and that particular number.
How your kid can block a number from the texting app
If the number you'd like to block texted the phone, your kid can follow these steps to block future texts and calls from them:
On the Bark Phone, open the Messages app.
Tap the conversation with that number.
Tap the three dots on the top right.
Tap Block number.
That's it! When the number is blocked in this way, it automatically hides any text conversations between your kid and that particular number.
How your kid can block a number from the contacts app
If the number you'd like to block is already a contact on the phone, your kid can follow these steps to block future texts and calls from them:
On the Bark Phone, open the Contacts app.
Find the contact and tap on it.
Tap More on the bottom right.
Tap Block contact.
That's it! When the number is blocked in this way, it automatically hides any text conversations between your kid and that particular number.
How to stop blocking a number
If your kid blocked a number by mistake, they can undo it with these steps:
On the Bark Phone, open the Messages app.
Tap on the ⚙ Settings on the top right.
Tap Manage blocked numbers.
Find the number in question and tap the three dots next to it.
Tap Delete.
All done. Texts that were sent by the number while they were blocked will not re-appear, but texts going forward should appear in the Messages app!
How your kid can block spam themselves
Not only can you use contact approval to block or allow contacts your kid can call or text, your kid also can also block spam calls and texts by following this guide: