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A Parents favorite for tweens thanks to Bark's monitoring platform, GPS and parental controls. But Parents found the battery and camera disappointing, and Wirecutter's parent app repeatedly crashed, texts sometimes failed, and an accidental 911 call was never logged (Bark says it has fixed this).
Subscription: Required: $15/mo for talk, text and data, including parental controls and Bark Premium for the family (Bark)
Top complaints
- Buggy parent app
Wirecutter says the parent app repeatedly crashed and it struggled to find where to set up school mode. When its child accidentally dialed 911, the app never alerted or logged it as it's supposed to; Bark told Wirecutter it has since fixed this.
- Battery and camera fall short
Parents says the camera quality and battery life fell short.
- Texts don't always send
Wirecutter says its text messages occasionally wouldn't go through.
What owners love
- Bark platform and parental controls
Parents loved the Bark platform and its parental controls, naming it best for tweens.
- GPS and communication
Parents praises its GPS and communication functions.
- Plan includes Bark Premium
Bark's $15/mo plan bundles talk, text and data with parental controls and a family Bark Premium subscription.
Source: Bark support (pricing)
- You need a watch that lasts more than a day
- You want the simplest parent app
- You want a cheap monthly plan
- Families already using Bark's monitoring
- Tweens moving toward a first phone
- Parents who want detailed controls
Scores (tap for why)
What experts say
- Parents: Best for tweens, listed under other watches it liked (updated 2026-09-23): great platform, GPS, communication and controls, but camera and battery fell short.
- Wirecutter (NYT): In 'the competition' (updated 2026-08-11): the app crashed, school mode was hard to set up, texts sometimes failed, and a 911 call went unlogged. Wirecutter does recommend the Bark Phone.