To learn more about Bark's Screen Time & Web Filtering see here.
Overview
You can find the following topics in this article. Click on one to jump right to it:
- How to block an app / site
- How to allow an app / site
- How to pause the internet for a child or profile
- How to manage a child or profile quickly
- How to manage a child or profile's settings
- How to set schedules for a child or profile
- How to enforce SafeSearch for a child or profile
- How to add exceptions for an app / site
- How to review recently blocked activity for troubleshooting
- How to report a miscategorized app / site
How to Manage a Child or Profile Quickly
STEP 1: Log in to your Bark dashboard on your mobile parent app or via bark.us on a browser.
STEP 2: Scroll down to the child or profile you'd like to manage settings for.
Here, you will see an option to Pause the child on the top right. This blocks all internet activity on all of the child's devices.
NOTE: Even when paused, the VPN on your child's device still allows communication over the local network, meaning Wi-Fi backups to a computer and Wi-Fi printing are still able to happen uninterrupted.
You can also select the ... menu and quickly add a Screen Time device, add a monitored app, add an exception, or request a check-in.
How to Manage a Child or Profile's Settings
When clicking into an individual child's Settings, you will see the following screen. Below we will go over each option.
Monitoring Sensitivity Settings
Here you can adjust the sensitivity of alerts for things like Cyberbullying, Profanity, Violence, and more. Click here to review a guide with more information.
Devices and apps
Here you can see all of the devices and apps you've set up for monitoring for this child.
Parental controls
This is where you can set a schedule, rules for particular times of the day, and more.
Schedules
You have the ability to customize the child's Weekday (Sun-Thurs) and Weekend (Fri-Sat) schedule with categorical blocks that have unique rules.
- Default rules -- previously known as “Daily Rules,” the default app and web filters when another rule isn’t currently applied.
- Bedtime -- Limit device usage when it’s time for lights out. You can also customize what kids can access during Bedtime.
- School time -- Limit what can be accessed during the school day. You can even schedule this block to fit your use-case as well as what apps/sites they need to access during school, like Zoom.
- Free time -- Dedicated time to use devices just for fun. Example use cases:
a) “I only want my child to have access to social media for an hour a day.”
b) “I only want my child to access social media after he’s done with his homework.”
Rules
When you set the rules, you have the option to allow or block whole categories (e.g. Social Media) or particular apps (e.g. Zoom).
SafeSearch
We also offer Safe Search at the bottom of the rules list.
- When enabled, this feature gets locked in on your child's Screen Time device and filters explicit search results on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo search engines. You can also enable Safe Search (known as Restricted Mode) for Youtube search results.
Exceptions
Instead of the categories and apps, you may need to add specific Exceptions.
- Here you can further allow or block specific websites for this child. This supersedes the rules you've already set for categories. In other words, if you block the Games category, but go into Exceptions and allow game123.com specifically, then all games will be blocked except game123.com.
Recently Blocked Activity
We also have the Recently Blocked Activity section for troubleshooting.
- For example, if your child asks "Why is Bark blocking this site?", you should navigate to this page, click on the site that was blocked and review why it was blocked. You can even allow it right away if needed.
Report Miscategorized Site / App
To report a miscategorized site or app, select More info under the recently blocked site/app. You will then see something like this, explaining why it was blocked:
You can then click on Tell us where you think it belongs, add a comment, and pick what category you think it should be:
Need additional assistance?
Don't hesitate to reach out to us at help@bark.us.