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Bark vs Qustodio: Which Parenting App Is Better?

Bark vs Qustodio: Which Parenting App Is Better?

Allowing your children to use social media, video hosting platforms like YouTube, or to play video games online can expose them to people with ill intentions and impact their performance at school.

Parental control apps are designed to give you a complete insight into your child’s online activities and notify you each time a risky behavior pattern is detected. Both Bark and Qustodio are among the best parental monitoring apps in the industry that make your children safer in cyberspace.

Today we are comparing Bark VS Qustodio, in order to help you decide which of these parental control apps is the safest option for your children.

I Prefer Qustodio

I really like Qustodio because they offer a robust FREE version that is actually usable AND offers best in class emergency alerts, geo-tracking, and social media safety tools.

Try Qustodio First
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
 

What are parental control apps used for?

Cyberbullying or sexting are the most common forms of online harassment that can put your child’s well-being at risk. In fact, 34% of children in the United States have experienced cyberbullying, while factors like ethnicity or skin color are often cited as the reasons for online harassment.

Suicidal thoughts or the early signs of depression can be easily detected by monitoring your children’s online interactions and conversations. Parental control apps like Bark or Qustodio allow you to keep a watchful eye over your children’s browsing patterns and notify you every time they detect a risky behavior pattern.

In addition to preventing your children from visiting websites that host explicitly violent or sexual content, Qustodio and Bark also monitor their text messages and emails which can help you discover early signs of drug and alcohol abuse as well as other forms of behavior that can put the lives of your children at risk.

These parenting applications can be used to monitor all activities on desktop computers, laptops, iPhones, Android devices, or tablets. So, by acquiring either Qustodio or Bark, you will be able to monitor each device your children use to text their friends or browse the Internet without them knowing that you are watching every move they make.

Bark Parental Control

What are the main differences between Bark and Qustodio?

The main differences between Qustodio and Bark are:

  • Qustodio lets you monitor the calls your children receive on Android devices, whereas Bark only lets you monitor text messages.
  • Qustodio limits the amount of time your child can spend playing an online video game, whereas Bark can only be used for text, social media, and email monitoring.
  • The bark doesn’t limit the number of devices you can monitor, whereas Qustodio allows you to track the maximum of 15 devices if you choose one of the Family packages.
  • Qustodio lets you block all inappropriate content on a device, whereas Bark can only detect and alert you each time a child attempts to view inappropriate content.

Is it against the law to use Qustodio or Bark?

Even though using either of these parental control apps is not prohibited by the law, there are certain legal restrictions you must follow. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act prevents digital brands in the U.S to target children under the age of 13. This means that you won’t be able to use Bark if your children are younger than thirteen years old unless you can provide verifiable parental consent.

There are no legal restrictions to using Qustodio, but all responsibility on how the app is utilized remains with the parents. You can customize the app’s Dashboard freely, but you must make sure that all data acquired through the app is used responsibly and in compliance with the law.

Furthermore, you must familiarize yourself with the Bark’s and Qustodio’s Terms and Conditions before you activate them on different devices, as any breach of the Terms and Conditions can result in exclusion without a prior warning.

Invasion of privacy can be considered a tort, which is why you must handle all the information you gather about your child’s online activities through Bark or Qustodio with the utmost care and keep it confidential at all times.

Can parenting apps monitor the time my child spends on different websites?

The Internet is full of distractions, and spending too much time on social media, watching videos on YouTube or playing video games online can prevent your children from leading a healthy life.

Being able to know exactly how much time your children spend on different websites can give you a clear overview of their online activities and makes it easier for you to detect early signs of behavior that can be dangerous for them. Monitoring all home media and restricting access to social networks, apps, or websites can assist you in creating a safer environment for your children.

monitor detect alert parental control

Having a neatly organized schedule is an important part of growing up, and with an app like Qustodio, you can allocate a certain amount of time a child can spend on a social media network or playing a video game from his or her device. In fact, you can use Qustodio to balance the screen time your child spends on the Internet and organize their weekly browsing schedule.

Bark parental control app doesn’t offer a way of restricting the amount of time your children can spend browsing or gaming on a computer or Smartphone. Even so, Bark will alert you every time its algorithms detect text messages or activities on social media that can indicate cyberbullying or any other form of potential threat.

Moreover, Bark doesn’t allow parents to block content on a particular device, which can limit your options in certain situations.

Which parental control app in more affordable, Bark, or Qustodio?

Money shouldn’t be an object when it comes to the safety of your children, but there is no need to spend vast amounts of money each month on parental monitoring apps that offer features you have no intention of using.

On the other hand, investing in a powerful application that grants you access to a broad spectrum of monitoring tools can be a good idea if you would like to have a complete overview of your child’s online activities.

The differences in features Bark and Qustodio offer also reflects on their prices, since Bark is the more affordable option that also provides less monitoring tools. Different packages of Qustodio are available for:

  • Families
  • Schools
  • Businesses

There are three different pricing options you can choose from within the Family package so you can opt for a Small, Medium, or Large Plan.

 

The only difference between the plans is the number of devices you will be able to protect. So, if you only want to monitor the activities on less than five devices, you should opt for the Small Plan, while choosing the Large Plan is better if you want to monitor a large number of devices.

The price of Qustodio’s School or Business packages also depends on the number of devices, so you can monitor fifty, a hundred or even more devices with a single app.

Bark, on the other hand, doesn’t limit the number of devices you can monitor, even though its monitoring capabilities are much less powerful than those provided by Qustodio. Both of these parental control apps let you choose between monthly and annual subscription models, but Bark has only one pricing package.

You can either choose a monthly subscription model that costs $9 per month or purchase the annual plan for $99. Click here to start the one-week free-trial period that allows you to test the Bark app before opting for a pricing package you like. Follow this link to create an account on Qustodio for free, and enjoy all of the app’s premium features for three days.

I Prefer Qustodio

I really like Qustodio because they offer a robust FREE version that is actually usable AND offers best in class emergency alerts, geo-tracking, and social media safety tools.

Try Qustodio First
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Bark VS Qustodio Compared: Which app should you use to monitor your child’s online activities?

According to the World Health Organization, 43% of all homicides that occur each year globally are committed amongst young people aged between 10 and 29.

Parental monitoring applications like Bark and Qustodio assist parents in detecting early symptoms of depression, any sign of suicidal behavior, or drug and alcohol abuse.

Even though both of these apps offer a broad spectrum of monitoring features, Qustodio is a more powerful option for parents who want to have control over their children’s online activities and interactions.

Besides supervising how your children are using social media, you can also use Qustodio to block pornographic and all other types of content that is inappropriate for children.

Additionally, you can also track and block incoming calls on Android devices or receive daily or weekly reports that show you a complete analysis of your child’s online activities.

In case you decide to use Bark to supervise your child’s browsing patterns, you will be alerted every time a threat is detected by the app’s algorithm. However, the app doesn’t generate daily reports, and you can’t use it to block content or restrict access to websites from different devices.

Both Bark and Qustodio utilize advanced data encryption algorithms that protect the privacy of all information you acquire through these parental control apps. If you would like to learn more about how firewalls you set can be breached, you can read more about it here.

How difficult is the setup process for Bark and Qustodio?

Even the parents who don’t consider themselves to be tech-savvy can setup Bark or Qustodio effortlessly. Creating an account is a mandatory and free step on both platforms that doesn’t take much more than a few minutes of your time.

Once you’ve created an account, you will have to download the version of these apps that is compatible with the operating system you’re using. If you would like to install these apps on devices that use Android or iOS operating systems, you can do so from the AppStore or GooglePlay.

Furthermore, after the installation process is completed, you can decide if you want your children to know that Bark or Qustodio are installed on the devices they use to communicate with their friends.

Furthermore, you won’t be able to connect any of your child’s social media accounts or emails to Bark unless you can provide the login data. That’s why it is important to talk to your children and ensure they feel comfortable with your decision before you install parenting apps on their computers, Kindle devices, or Smartphones.

Qustodio’s dashboard is one of the app’s most appealing features because it is both beautifully designed and intuitive, so you can easily view all questionable activities or see exactly how much time your children spend on different social media platforms.

qustodio parental control app

Sadly, Bark doesn’t give such a thorough activity summaries, although the app notifies you each time its algorithm detects a potential threat. The setup process with these two apps is easy, but Qustodio is clearly a much better option because it offers more monitoring features.

Can Bark or Qustodio monitor a child’s activities on social media?

As much as 15% of teens say that they were targets of online cruelty, while the number of sexual assault cases related to social media platforms has been rising over the course of the last decade. Bark and Qustodio make supervising a child’s activities on social media simple since they analyze the content and behavioral patterns for you and inform you in case questionable activities are detected.

Qustodio allows you to monitor your children’s activities on Facebook even if you don’t know the username and password, and they won’t be able to access their profile until they accept to connect Qustodio with their Facebook account.

Moreover, you can use Qustodio to oversee every step your child makes on YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, or WhatsApp, and this parental control app also allows you to block or restrict access to any of the social media platforms it supports. The Social Activity tab that is located on the Qustodio’s dashboard grants you a clear overview of how much time your child spends on different social media networks.

Unlike many other parenting apps, Qustodio encourages you to let your children behave as they normally would on social media for a few hours or a few days and then use the data you acquired to set up the rules.

The only downside is that Qustodio doesn’t support a broad range of social media platforms, and you need to check if this parental control app can be used to monitor your children’s activities on the social media platform they are using.

qustodio social media support

The bark is compatible with 24 social media platforms, four times more than any other app that offers parental controls. The number of social media accounts you can monitor with Bark is not limited, which enables you to keep track of all accounts your children have on social media.

Qustodio supports fewer social media platforms than Bark, but its social media monitoring tools are much more advanced since you will be able to view all your data as charts and know the exact amount of time your child spends on social media if you opt for this parental control app.

Do Qustodio and Bark offer email and text monitoring tools?

As your children become teenagers, it becomes necessary for them to communicate through email and SMS, which makes them vulnerable to sexting and other inappropriate forms of communication. Bark and Qustodio enable you to keep a watchful eye over all text or email messages your children receive.

The iOS and Android versions of the Bark app work with the operating system and look for all photos, videos, and texts that can indicate a particular interaction should be considered a safety concern. Moreover, its email monitoring tools can be utilized to analyze emails Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and other popular email services.

However, Bark only notifies parents once a questionable activity is detected, but it doesn’t allow you to prevent your child from receiving messages from an email address or a phone number. Qustodio’s iOS and Android apps enable you to monitor all text messages your children receive and filter out those conversations you find harmful.

However, you can only see who your child contacts frequently and block the telephone numbers you consider dangerous for your child on the Android version of Qustodio. Even so, supervising the email messages your children receive is not possible on either iOS or Android versions of the app, and you must ensure that the Qustodio app is compatible with the OS that is installed on a device you want to monitor.

Despite the fact that Bark is equipped with better email tracking tools than Qustodio, the lack of blocking features makes Bark a less powerful option. Choosing Qustodio can help you supervise all interactions that take place through SMS and select who your children can be in contact with.

Is it possible to use Bark or Qustodio on multiple devices?

Gaining access to the Internet and harmful content is equally easy from laptops, Smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, or Kindle devices. That’s why it is necessary to monitor your children’s activities on all devices they are using to access their social media accounts or send private messages.

The number of devices you can monitor with Qustodio depends on the subscription model you choose. Most families don’t need to supervise activities on more than five devices, which is why the Small subscription plan is the best option if you only want to use Qustodio to monitor a few devices.

The School and Business versions of Qustodio let you choose from a variety of pricing plans that allow you to monitor just five or more than a hundred devices.

As soon as you purchase a subscription to Bark, you can start monitoring activities on an unlimited number of devices, as well as an unlimited number of email and social media accounts. Furthermore, you can easily add or remove the devices you’re monitoring from the Bark’s dashboard and switch quickly between different devices.

In case you are looking for a parenting app that lets you monitor a large number of devices, then Bark is a more affordable solution because Qustodio’s School and Business subscription models that let you supervise a hundred or more devices are expensive. Make sure to check out our iDrive review if you are looking for a reliable cloud storage service you can use to store all your data.

Which app makes it easier to supervise a child’s online activities, Qustodio, or Bark?

You don’t have to be tech-savvy to use Bark or Qustodio, because installing the app or setting the rules is a quick and intuitive process. However, which app is going to make it easier for you to monitor your child’s behavior on the Internet, depends on a broad range of factors that vary from the number of devices you want to monitor to the app’s content blocking capabilities.

Qustodio’s dashboard is well-organized, and it gives you access to the following tabs:

  • Activity Summary
  • Social Activity
  • Web Activity
  • Activity Timeline
  • Rules

Each of these tabs displays the total amount of time spent on social or web activities and shows you the exact amount of time spent on websites or social media platforms. Qustodio also generates daily or weekly reports and saves your time on going through all the data you acquire through this app.

The bark doesn’t offer parents such deep insight into their children’s online behavior or their interactions, even though it efficiently detects all questionable activities. This parental control app doesn’t grant you access to all the data it acquires, and you won’t be able to view each message your children send from their computers or Smartphones.

Pros and Cons

Bark

Pros

Cons

Compatible with 24 social media platforms

Blocking access to websites isn’t an option

Offers a broad range of monitoring features at an affordable price

Doesn’t allow parents to set the maximum amount of time their children can spend on a website

Supports email monitoring on Gmail, Yahoo, and other mailing services

Lacks reporting features

Monitors all direct messages, videos, images, and searches on Instagram

You must have the login data for all accounts you want to monitor

All data Bark acquires is kept secure by the SSL encryption

 

Bark detects harmful messages and risky behavior patterns automatically.

 

Supports monitoring on an unlimited number of devices

 

A free trial is available.

 

Qustodio

Pros

Cons

Utilizes smart filters to block inappropriate content

More expensive than most parental apps

Allows parents to limit screen time on multiple devices

Limited email monitoring features

Restricts and blocks access to video games and apps

The number of devices parents can monitor depends on the pricing plan they choose

Offers call blocking features

Compatible with a small number of social media platforms

Functionally designed dashboard

 

Extensive reports delivered daily or weekly.

 

Provides location tracking features

 

Retrieves data from Facebook even if parents don’t have the login information

 

The Verdict: Which parenting app is the safer option for your family, Bark, or Qustodio?

Qustodio is clearly a better choice for all parents who want to know exactly what their children are doing while using their computers or Smartphones. The app’s dashboard allows you to monitor your children’s web and social activities and use that data to decide if you want to restrict their access to an app or a video game.

Moreover, you can set the maximum amount of time a child can spend on a website or a social media network from different devices.

The bark is a more affordable option than Qustodio, but it is only suitable for email, text, and social media monitoring. The app analyzes the data it gathers automatically and informs you every time it discovers a potential threat to your child. Even so, Qustodio’s monitoring features make this app a better choice for all parents who want to have a clear overview of their children’s online interactions.

Follow this link if you want to find out how Qustodio compares to other parenting apps, or click here to find out more about the other apps you can use to monitor your children’s activities on the Internet.

Conclusion

Protecting your children from all forms of violence, and people that can endanger their safety is paramount because harassment over the Internet is not something you should take lightly. That’s why you should opt for a parental control app that lets you detect even the slightest dangers promptly and react to them in a timely manner.

Bark and Qustodio offer excellent monitoring tools, but we recommend choosing Qustodio because it allows you to see all the data the app gathers. Are you doing to choose Bark or Qustodio to monitor your children’s online activities? Leave a comment below and share your opinions with us.

I Prefer Qustodio

I really like Qustodio because they offer a robust FREE version that is actually usable AND offers best in class emergency alerts, geo-tracking, and social media safety tools.

Try Qustodio First
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Qustodio discreetly?

You don’t have to tell your children you installed Qustodio on the device they are using to browse the Internet or call their friends.

Does Qustodio block harmful content automatically?

Once it is installed on a device Qustodio will automatically block access to websites that show adults and all other types of inappropriate content.

Is it possible to track a Smartphone’s location with Qustodio?

Location tracking is supported on both iOS and Android versions of the app. Moreover, your child can use Qustodio to send you a Panic Alert in case of an emergency.

How can I block websites with Qustodio?

In order to blacklist a website, you just have to go to the Qustodio’s Rules tab and select the Block option from the drop-down menu next to the Add Website Exception feature.

How many accounts and devices can I connect to Bark?

The number of devices and accounts you can monitor with Bark is not limited, and you can add a new account or a device you want to supervise in just a few clicks.

Which types of messages can Bark monitor?

Bark analyzes all email, text, and social media messages your child sends or receives.

Can I use Bark to restrict my child’s access to suspicious websites?

Bark will alert you every time your child attempts to access a website that hosts harmful content, but you can’t use this app to block websites.

Is Bark capable of detecting deleted messages?

The Android version of the app can see all deleted messages, while the iOS version of Bark can only detect and analyze deleted messages if the device was recently backed up

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