Brian Bason, a dad of two, founded Bark in 2015 so parents could see what their kids meet online without reading every message.^1 The parent app watches texts, email, YouTube, browsers, search, and 30+ social apps, then alerts on more than 29 categories—cyberbullying, adult content, predators, suicidal ideation, and more—only when something looks harmful.^2 Families can also set screen-time schedules, filter the web, and follow GPS check-ins.^2
The same team builds the Bark Phone and Bark Phone Pro with monitoring already on the device, the Bark Watch for younger kids who need talk, texts, and location without a browser or social apps, Bark Home for other Wi-Fi devices, and Bark Sync, a charger that scans an iPhone or iPad when it plugs in.^4 A parent Assistant answers plain-language questions about settings and alerts.^5 Coverage is subscription-based in the United States, South Africa, and Australia. After Parkland, Bark for Schools offered that monitoring to U.S. K–12 districts at no cost; more than 3,400 districts and 7 million children are covered today.^1
Bark partners with the CDC and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Twenty percent of each Bark Phone sale supports the Tim Tebow Foundation.^5
