Finally! A Kid's Phone That Parents Can Feel Good About

Would you hand your 13-year-old the keys to your car? Let them do your taxes? Negotiate your next raise?

It would be absurd to say yes to any of those, right? And yet, social media app ratings often identify 13 as the age when kids are allowed to use them. Just because they’re “allowed” that doesn’t mean they’re ready for unfettered access to it — and the stakes are high.

Navigating the world as a parent today isn’t easy. We’re constantly figuring out how to pay attention to *gestures broadly* everything going on without wanting to throw our devices in the ocean. That’s why we’re such big fans of the Bark Phone for kids. This thoughtfully designed device gives parents powerful insights into their children’s worlds to keep them safer online. With the Bark Phone, parents can have peace of mind while allowing kids to explore, learn and connect — safely.

Getting Older & A Little Bolder

It's normal and developmentally appropriate for kids to want more independence and privacy as they grow. For some tweens, that can mean becoming more opaque about their lives and less likely to turn to their parents for guidance on dealing with their changing worlds.

But even if your communication is open and honest and your tween feels comfortable sharing 99.9% of their lives with you, that doesn’t totally eliminate concerns. Because keeping your kid safer online is less about trusting your kid and more about not trusting the world on the other side of the screen. The very things that make the digital world so alluring — niche communities, global connectivity, opportunities for self-expression — are the same things that can enable unsafe access to your kid by people you wouldn’t consider allowing into your home. Ensuring their safety online requires constant diligence.

Not Like Other Smartphones

One of the things that makes the Bark Phone the best phone for kids is that you can control all of the features on your child’s phone through a single app you manage on your own device. You can authorize app installations, track location, manage screen time, and much more, from your phone, eliminating the hassle of multiple parental control tools. This is truly a game changer.

The Bark Phone’s advanced content monitoring actively scans online activities for issues like predators, sexual content, bullying, depression, suicidal ideation, along with dozens of other categories. Once something potentially concerning is identified, parents get an alert on their devices so they can take action to support their child when they need it most. Think of the phone as your digital ally, keeping watch and immediately alerting you to something you need to see.

Another standout feature of the Bark Phone is that kids can’t delete texts without parental permission. This capability is not just a cool innovation; it's a response to the real concerns of families Bark has engaged with over the years. Deleted texts often conceal concerning content, so it’s crucial to be able to access them.

Functionality For All Ages & Stages

The Bark Phone comes with customizable functionality, so it is perfect for young children — but also cool for tweens and teens. For younger kids, set it up as a “dumb phone” with only controlled calls and texts to approved contacts. As your child matures, you can introduce additional features like email and podcasts. Eventually, you can expand its capabilities to include fun stuff like social media and games. With both starter and advanced plans available, you can easily change your child’s plan and what they’re able to do on the phone with the click of a button. The best part? You keep the device — it’s that simple!

And in case you’re wondering, the Bark Phone for kids looks cool. We all know tweens would rather double their chore list than show their friends a phone that looks like it came out of the toy bin. No worries — the safest phone for kids and teens just looks like any other smartphone.

Easy Peasy

With some phones, you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get everything ready to hand over to your kid — buying the phone, buying the insurance, figuring out how to get cell service, and adding parental controls. Bark knows parents have quite enough hoops to jump through already. So with the Bark Phone, one simple, convenient monthly fee includes everything from start to finish.

We’re the first generation of parents raising kids with smartphones, and apparently, someone forgot to give us the instructions. With technology evolving at lightning speed, it’s critical that we stay on top of issues our kids may face, from cyberbullying and sexting to online predators and depression. The Bark Phone gives families the tools and technology to help protect their kids so they can grow up safer and smarter in the digital world.