The Best Parental Controls for Androids

Bark's parental controls for Androids give you the power to monitor your child’s online activities in a groundbreaking way. 

Our content monitoring uses advanced AI to scan messages, posts, comments, replies, web searches, and so much more to find potential dangers. If something concerning is found, you’ll get a timely alert so you can check in and make sure everything is okay. Learn more about what Bark monitors on Android devices here.

In addition to monitoring, Bark also lets you manage screen time, block websites & apps, and track location 24/7.

These key features work together to build a powerful digital safety net to help you protect your child online and in real life.

Bark is the best parental control app for Android devices because it provides the most comprehensive coverage of all the options on the market. Some tools focus on website blocking or on screen time management, but Bark does it all for ultimate peace of mind.

Managing a Bark account as a parent is independent of the monitoring we do for the child's connected accounts, so using different types of devices has no effect on our ability to detect potential issues.

To monitor a child’s iOS device, parents can use the Bark Parent iOS app, Bark Parent Android app, or the Bark website to manage their account.

In order to monitor a child's Android device, the Bark for Kids app will need to be downloaded to their device.

Devices like Pixels, Galaxies, and Palms have limited built-in controls. Google Family Link provides a free set of parental controls. Bark is a more comprehensive parental control app for Android, but we'll go over that next.

Built-In Android Controls

Family Link 

To kick things off, download the free Family Link app onto your own device (Android or iPhone). If your child already has a Google account, Family Link will walk you through linking both of your accounts. 

Now, you can get started. Let’s go through what you can do:

View activity
Here you can see how much time they’ve spent on their favorite apps. It’s updated daily.

Manage screen time

You can set daily total limits for how much time they spend using their device, as well as when it gets locked for bedtime.

App limits and blocking

This is where you can set time limits for specific apps. You can also block them entirely.

Content restrictions

This category is kind of a catch-all, and you can manage all sorts of things — including blocked websites and app download approvals. Here’s where you can also turn on Google and YouTube Safe Search and Restricted Mode.

Location

When you toggle on this feature, you can see where your child and their device are on Google Maps.

Bark's Parental Controls for Android

Bark can help you set up content monitoring, website blocking, screen time management, and more on your child's Android devices. Here’s an overview of what all Bark can do.

Screen time

Bark has screen time features you won’t find anywhere else. From the dashboard, tap Screen time. 

Here, you’ll find our approach to creating a healthy balance centers on the idea that different times of day call for different screen time rules. 

For example, when your kids are in school, you can block access to everything but educational sites. 

At bedtime, you can only allow apps that help them wind down for the evening. And because all kids deserve to blow off a little steam, you can designate free time hours just for the fun stuff. 

Blocking

From the dashboard, tap Screen time again, then Rules, then Default rules. This is where our world-class web filter lets you select exactly which websites and apps your child can access on their devices. 

You can block specific sites — or even whole categories like streaming services, online gaming, sexual content, and more.

Content monitoring

From the dashboard, tap Monitoring. Here’s where you’ll connect your child’s device and accounts to Bark. 

Our advanced technology can then scan for potential dangers like bullying, online predators, depression, sexual content, and more.

If something concerning is found, Bark sends you an alert so you can check in and make sure everything is okay. 

Content monitoring not only helps keep your child safe, it gives you greater insight into their world and what it’s like to grow up in the digital age. 

Location alerts

Bark also helps you keep up with your kids no matter where they roam.

From the dashboard, tap Locations. Here, you can add frequently visited locations (like school, home, or a friend’s house). 

Whenever your child arrives at or leaves a spot, you’ll get an alert! No more opening up apps and zooming in on maps to check their location.

You can also request a check-in from your child whenever you need to get an exact update on where they are.