Bark Vs LivingRoom

If you are a parent trying to ensure a child is using an iPhone safely, you might have considered using an app to monitor and proactively restrict inappropriate content on iOS. We've closely examined alternatives to LivingRoom on iPhone in an effort to help you decide which solution is the right fit for you. In this comparison, we'll focus on the Bark iPhone app.

About Bark on iOS

Bark attempts to monitor as many apps as possible to catch concerning behavior so that a parent can be notified. It uses a fairly sophisticated approach that involves analyzing device backups and connecting a child's app accounts to get as much information as possible for monitoring. It uses a VPN to block websites and to collect traffic logs of websites visited on the device. Bark has quite a few other features that are useful for parents, such as location tracking.

Why was LivingRoom created when there are apps like Bark?

With all of the features and sophisticated technology behind the Bark app on iOS, why even bother making an app like LivingRoom?

As parents ourselves, we realized that many of these apps don't provide a clear picture of what kids are actually seeing. Bark does their best to piece together a trail of activity so parents know about concerning behavior, but there are gaps in what it can truly see and there's a good bit of leg-work required to monitor the maximum amount of activity. Extra features come at the expense of a more time consuming setup process and troubleshooting down the line. Bark on iOS ultimately feels overcomplicated when parents are looking for simplicity.

For Bark on iPhone, these are our main concerns with the app:

Monitoring Lacks Clarity

Bark's monitoring techniques involves backup analysis, application integrations, and DNS log analysis. Although it's complex, it doesn't provide the same level of clarity and simplicity that screenshot-based monitoring provides. Furthermore, the backup analysis approach assumes that a child doesn't delete material before it can be captured by a backup. This has been a serious challenge for Bark, leading them to create their own iPhone charger designed to increase the backup frequency.

In our opinion, the best way to monitor a child's iPhone is through full screenshots of what is actually on the screen at a given time. That way, there's no ambiguity about what's being looked at — a parent sees exactly what the child was viewing on their screen.

Monitoring Gaps with Unsupported Apps

Similar to Covenant Eyes, Bark monitors Safari, but does not support other browser apps like Chrome.

Apps like Snapchat, Instagram, Roblox, TikTok, and Discord aren't supported according to Bark's list of unsupported apps.

A parent must make sure to control which applications are installed on the device to prevent monitoring from being bypassed.

Monitoring Complexity

In order to activate monitoring for many apps on iOS, a parent needs to link their child's app accounts to Bark. This increases the initial setup complexity and can lead to frustration when parents discover that they occasionally need to re-link application accounts.

Since Bark depends on backup analysis for monitoring, they need to ensure that they constantly get up to date backups throughout the day. If a child is off the home WiFi network, there may be a delay in discovering concerning behavior. Bark has released their own smart charger that automatically backs up data for analysis while charging in an attempt to cover these gaps. However, this just adds more moving parts to the overwhelming task of properly monitoring a child's iPhone.

DNS-based website blocking is far from perfect

Bark uses DNS-based blocking to restrict access to inappropriate websites. But as you'll quickly discover, this system is far from perfect. Some websites will inevitably slip through detection and not be blocked. There are also “mixed content” and social websites that have subsections dedicated to inappropriate content, but are categorized as “Message Boards & Forums” or “Social Networking” by DNS blocking services. But to be fair, Bark's backup analysis will likely detect inappropriate content being viewed by a child as long as a child doesn't delete cached app data before it's synced.

Why LivingRoom?

The LivingRoom app has a simple, but incredibly effective design: all apps on the devices (other than always allowed apps) are blocked until the LivingRoom screen recorder is started. Then, the LivingRoom app records the full screen and periodically takes screenshots of what is being looked at, no matter what app is being used.

Simultaneously, the LivingRoom app prevents the creation and viewing of nudity on iOS by detecting any nudity on the screen and blocking the responsible app. LivingRoom's screenshot monitoring and nudity detection works across all apps.

The on-device nudity detection and blocking is more comprehensive and flexible compared to the DNS-based blocking Bark uses. This approach handles mixed content websites and other browser apps, not just Safari.

One aspect of Bark that parent's might prefer is the ability to track their child's location. LivingRoom does not have this feature, but we felt it wasn't needed since location tracking is already built into iOS and can be locked on for a child.

Compared to Bark, LivingRoom might not have as many features and customizations, but it removes the complexity around making an iPhone safe for a child and gives parents a clear picture of their child's activity.