Bark vs mSpy
Learn how the Bark Premium app stacks up against mSpy, a spyware app.
Compare the Features
Set custom rules for school time, bedtime, and free time
Screen time management is only available with Family Kit
Block specific sites and apps or choose from 19 categories, including adult content, gaming, and streaming sites — all on any browser.
Block specific sites and apps on iOS and Android.
Get notified when your child downloads a risky app.
Monitor downloads and view in mSpy dashboard.
Scans activity in 30+ popular social media apps for concerning content.
13 social media and messaging apps only; jailbreak and rooting required for most apps
Scans activity in texts — including images and videos — and receive an alert for concerning content.
Review texts messages from the mSpy dashboard.
Alerts are sent using Bark’s powerful AI to detect concerning content across 45 different categories
Get notifications for issues like cyberbullying, sexual content based on keywords only.
Try Bark risk free for 1 week
Must purchase in full and then request a refund within 14 days if not satisfied
Just $14/month or $99/year to protect your entire family
Premium package for one device:
1 Month – $34.99/mo*
3 Months – $20.00/mo*
12 Months – $8.33/mo*
The price is discounted. Users will be charged the full price starting from the next subscription renewal, which are:
1 month for $69.99/mo
3 months for $40/mo
12 months for $16.67/mo
Additional tech support and installation help costs extra
Bark only alerts you to potential issues so you can save time and help protect your child while also building trust
mSpy gives you full access to everything on your child’s phone, creating a lot of work while potentially destroying trust
With Bark, you can:
Monitor content
Get alerts for issues like bullying, predators, sexual content, and more.
Manage screen time
Create custom daily screen time schedules for your child’s device.
Block websites
Block access to specific websites or even whole categories.
Track location
Stay on top of your child’s location with our real-time map, location alerts, and check-ins.
Pricing & Details
- Monitor texts, email, YouTube, and 30+ apps and platforms
- Monitor web searches and saved photos & videos
- Receive parental monitoring alerts for issues like cyberbullying, online predators, suicidal ideation, and more
- Get insights into your child’s digital activities
- Learn how to address issues with child-psychologist advice and tips
- Manage screen time
- Block website and apps
- Keep up with kids with location alerts and check-ins
Ready to get started?
Bark was created by parents, for parents, to offer a better, easier, and more effective way to help families create healthy digital habits.
FAQs
Bark's content monitoring, website blocking, and screen time features offer more comprehensive protection. Plus, mSpy requires you to jailbreak your child's phone, while Bark does not.
Bark is just $14/month or $99/year to protect your entire family, and you can try it out with a free 7-day-trial.
You cannot try mSpy — only purchase in full and then request a refund within 14 days if not satisfied. Also, mSpy is $69.99/month for 1 device only.
If your parents ever looked through your pen-and-paper journal growing up or secretly listened to one of your phone calls, you know how spying can breed resentment. And while parents are responsible for their child’s safety — and phones can be extremely dangerous — there’s a happy medium between outright spying and making sure everything’s okay. Spyware programs simply encourage kids to find alternate ways to talk to their friends, which can cause problems in another way.
Bark helps you build trust by allowing your child to learn how to safely use their phone while also giving them a digital safety net that centers you as the go-to person for help.
Bark strikes the perfect balance between monitoring your child’s phone and giving them privacy to learn about growing up with a digital device. You don’t get unfettered access to everything on their phone, but you will get alerts about potential dangers like online predators, sexting, depression, and more. This way, you can see the concerning message, but you won’t have to wade through hundreds of Fortnite memes or texts about baseball practice.
Bark monitors 30+ social media apps, texts, images, emails, and more and sends alerts when kids encounter issues like sexual content, online predators, suicidal ideation, and cyberbullying.
mSpy requires you to jailbreak your child's phone if they have an iPhone, and only sends keyword alerts.
