Are you seeing new devices appear under the Unmanaged or Anonymous profiles in your parent app / dashboard that you thought you'd already assigned and set up? We'll break down why that's happening and how to resolve it below.
Reason 1: The device is connected via both the Bark Kids app and the Bark Home.
If your kid's device was set up both with the Bark Kids app and the Bark Home, then you may see it listed twice.
- Turn off the Randomized MAC setting on your kid's device, if applicable.
- If you like, you can merge the duplicate devices into one device for easier management.
Reason 2: The device is connected via both Wi-Fi and ethernet.
You might see two devices for your kid's computer or gaming console on your dashboard because Bark recognizes wireless (Wi-Fi) and wired (ethernet) connections as slightly different, even though they belong to the same computer or gaming console.
If your kid's computer or gaming console connects to your home network using both a cable and Wi-Fi, you can merge the duplicate devices into one device for easier management, if desired. If it's a Windows computer, turn off the Randomized MAC setting on your kid's PC, if present.
Reason 3: Device is using a private address or a randomized MAC address.
Is your Bark dashboard showing new "Unknown Devices" regularly? This is likely due to a setting on newer devices (like iOS 14+, Android 10+, and Windows 10+). These devices will generate these unknown entries in Bark until you adjust the setting on your kid's device(s).
Learn about this setting and take care of it below: