Updated on: October 13, 2024
Short on time? Here’s the final verdict:
- 🥇 Bark — Winner in Screen Time Management, Location Tracking, Activity Reports, Plans & Pricing, and Customer Support. Bark has a more flexible scheduling tool, tracks your child’s location history, and provides better value. It also monitors for more potential issues and has superior customer support.
Canopy and Bark protect your kids from inappropriate content online. They share essential parental control features, like web and app filtering, location tracking, scheduling, and activity reports. Both parental controls offer intuitive apps for all major platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS.
When I compare the two parental controls head-to-head, Bark comes out on top. It has more flexible screen time management and location tracking, and it scans for 15+ potential issues, including anxiety, bullying, depression, and drugs, whereas Canopy only detects sexually inappropriate content. Bark also offers cheaper plans and can monitor more apps, such as SMS and YouTube.
To be honest, there are only a couple of things about Canopy that stand out — its Smart Filtering feature can selectively censor sexually explicit images on the web in real time, its Sexting Prevention feature stops your child from taking and sending naughty pictures, its apps are simple to set up, and you get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
While I recommend Bark, it’s still worth reading the whole article — Canopy’s unique capabilities may appeal to you.
Canopy vs. Bark: Quick Overview
Web Filtering — Both Parental Controls Have Good Web Filtering
Canopy and Bark have good web filtering capabilities. Both work on popular browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, as well as in a private browser window/incognito mode. Each app lets you filter websites by predefined categories or by typing in the specific URL that you want to blacklist. They also allow you to create custom exceptions — for example, you can block all websites in a category except for one you feel is safe for your child to access.
Additionally, your kids won’t be able to get past either parental controls’ web filtering by using a VPN — I tested both with top VPNs and still got blocked when searching for prohibited categories on my test device.
Canopy’s web filtering is better in certain areas: it offers a slightly larger number of predefined categories and conveniently blocks unsupported browsers by default, like Brave and DuckDuckGo. Bark requires you to block unsupported browsers manually by changing some settings on your account.
However, Bark is a step above in keeping you informed. Bark notifies you immediately if your child tries to visit a blocked website, whereas Canopy doesn’t, unless your child sends you a request asking for permission to access it.
Winner (Web Filtering): It’s a tie
It’s hard to pick a winner for this one because Canopy and Bark have solid web filtering capabilities. The differences between them are pretty minor — Canopy offers more predefined categories to choose from and blocks unsupported browsers by default (with Bark, you have to do this manually), but only Bark will notify you if your kids attempt to access a blocked site.
Screen Time Management — Bark Offers More Control
Bark is the superior parental control app for screen time management. Both apps allow you to remotely lock your child’s device, preventing it from accessing the internet (note that this doesn’t prevent them from using offline apps), but Bark’s scheduling tool provides extra flexibility.
With Bark, you can customize 3 rule sets (school hours, free time, and bedtime) with different web and app filtering rules and schedule when each rule set is active. You can also manually switch your kids to a different rule set. So if your kid isn’t done with their homework by the end of the scheduled “school hours” period, you can extend it by another hour.
In comparison, Canopy’s scheduling tool is very basic — it only allows you to set up downtimes when your child can’t access the internet on their device.
Unfortunately, neither app allows you to set daily screen time limits (Qustodio is a good alternative) nor do they allow your child to request extra screen time in the kids app.
If you get a Bark Phone, a Samsung smartphone that’s preinstalled with Bark, you get a few extra screen time management features. These include setting time limits on individual apps and completely locking their device (rather than just blocking the device’s internet access).
Winner (Screen Time Management): Bark
Bark easily wins this round. You can set different web and app filters for different times of the day and different days of the week, whereas all Canopy can do is set down times when your child’s device is automatically blocked from using the internet.
Location Tracking — Bark Is Better for Tracking Your Child
Both parental control apps have accurate live location tracking, so you can see where your child is at any time on Google Maps, and allow you to create geofenced zones (when your child enters or leaves a geofenced zone, you’ll receive a notification). That said, I prefer Bark’s in-depth tool.
Bark frequently updates your child’s location (every 4–5 minutes), lets you get directions to your kid’s current location, and you can adjust the size of geofenced areas (up to 0.12 miles or 200 meters). In addition, it keeps a record of where your child has been in the past 7 days, including when they arrived and left a location and how much time they spent there.
Moreover, Bark has an option for parents who want a less invasive method of location tracking. Rather than using live location tracking, you can request a check-in from your kids, which prompts them to share their current location with you.
On the other hand, Canopy’s location tracking updates a little too slowly for me (every 10–15 minutes). Plus, it doesn’t allow you to adjust the size of a geofenced zone — all you can do is set an address, and the app won’t keep track of where your child has been. It also doesn’t have a check-in feature.
Winner (Location Tracking): Bark
Bark is better for location tracking compared to Canopy because it updates more frequently and comes with additional features. It lets you adjust the size of geofenced areas, keep track of where your child has been recently, and offers the ability to request a check-in from your child (rather than use live location tracking) to respect their privacy. Canopy has none of these things.
Games & Apps — They Have Different Strengths & Limitations
Canopy and Bark allow you to block games and apps, either by filtering out apps that fall into certain predefined categories or by blacklisting a specific app.
Canopy’s can filter out apps by 20+ predefined categories, including Games & Gambling and Social Media, which covers the most popular apps used by kids. It’s also easy to make exceptions for specific apps, for example, you can block Games & Gambling apps in general but allow a specific educational or kid-friendly game. Additionally, I like that Canopy’s app filters work on all major platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS, and the fact that it can block offline apps.
Bark lets you filter apps from 15+ predefined categories and blocks popular apps like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, and Reddit. It’s more flexible than Canopy, since you can have different app filtering rule sets for different times of the day and different days of the week (Canopy only has 1 app filtering rule set).
However, Bark can only block and monitor apps on mobile devices — it doesn’t work on Windows or macOS unless you purchase Bark Home (a physical device you connect to your router to enforce parental controls on all devices on your home network). Another downside of Bark is that it can’t block offline apps, so your kids can still play offline games or watch videos that they’ve downloaded to their devices.
Winner (Games & Apps): It’s a tie
It’s difficult to call a winner on this one because Canopy and Bark each have different features. For instance, only Canopy works on desktops and can block offline apps. But only Bark allows you to have different app filters working at different times of the day.
Activity Reports — Bark’s Activity Reports Are More Useful
Neither Canopy’s nor Bark’s activity reports provide a thorough breakdown, but Bark has a slight edge.
Canopy’s activity reports only give you very basic information about how long your child spent on an app each day. It doesn’t record when your child used an app nor does it provide a summary of your child’s app usage over a period of time, so you can get a better sense of your child’s device usage habits.
It also won’t track your child’s web activity, searches, calls, or SMS messages. Additionally, it doesn’t alert you if your child attempts to access a blocked site or app unless they request permission from you to do so.
On the other hand, Bark’s activity reports keep track of any activities that triggered an alert, including attempts to access blocked websites, and it provides a general overview of the apps and sites your child has used the most each week.
That said, most of the information you get is pretty vague compared to the activity reports of other top parental controls, like Qustodio. It won’t, for example, show you your child’s whole app or browser history or log the exact time of each activity.
Winner (Activity Reports): Bark
Bark’s activity reports give you extra insight into your child’s digital habits. It keeps a log of any activities that triggered an alert and summarizes your child’s web and app usage in a weekly report. Canopy’s activity reports are minimal and only tell you how long your child spent on an app each day.
Extra Features — Both Have Unique Extra Features
Canopy and Bark have very unique extra features and come with uninstall protection, so it’s hard to say one is strictly better than the other.
Canopy’s Smart Filtering feature filters out inappropriate images in real-time using AI technology — any pictures on websites that depict full or partial nudity are replaced by a blank white square. This means that Canopy can block sites known to host explicit content, like porn sites, and removes problematic images from otherwise innocent sites that most parental controls would miss.
Another cool feature of Canopy is Sexting Prevention, which prevents your child from sending explicit photos. When it detects that the camera has captured an inappropriate photo, Canopy will flag the image and force your kid to delete it (or to request permission from you to send it).
Bark can monitor many things that Canopy can’t, though. Its Content Monitoring uses AI to scan SMS messages, emails, photos, videos (including YouTube), and 30+ social media sites and apps, such as Discord and Snapchat, for problematic content. Once a piece of content triggers its filters, Bark will show you a snippet of the content in question for you to review.
In contrast, Canopy’s Smart Filtering only monitors websites and doesn’t send you any alerts.
Content Monitoring also detects a much wider range of potential issues (15+), including anxiety, bullying, depression, hate speech, profanity, violence, and more, in addition to sexual content.
That said, rather than blocking sexually explicit images, like Canopy’s Smart Filtering does, it’ll only send you an alert. This allows you to intervene but doesn’t prevent your child from seeing the image.
Lastly, one thing that Canopy is missing that Bark offers is a Driving Summary report. Bark shows you the total miles your kid has driven, the number of trips they take, and the maximum speed reached on every trip.
Winner (Extra Features): It’s a tie
Canopy and Bark each have something unique to offer. If your primary concern is ensuring that your child doesn’t see sexually explicit images online or send inappropriate photos, Canopy is the best choice. If you want to monitor more mediums, including SMS, emails, YouTube, and social media, for a wider range of problematic content (not just sexual content), Bark is superior.
Apps & Ease of Use — Canopy Is More Straightforward to Use
Canopy and Bark are compatible with major platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS, and they both work with Chromebook. However, Bark also has apps for Amazon Fire tablets and routers via Bark Home.
The two parental control apps are easy to use. Their features are intuitive and come with good explanations, so you know what each function does. Additionally, I didn’t experience any bugs or glitches while using either one.
However, I found Canopy to be more straightforward to set up — it took me only 5 minutes or so to get both the parent app and the kids app configured on my test devices, and all of its apps work more or less the same.
In contrast, Bark takes a bit more time to set up. to use its comprehensive Content Monitoring feature, you have to log into every one of your child’s accounts. Plus, it doesn’t have a native app for monitoring Windows and macOS devices (you have to use Bark Home). If you want to monitor iOS devices, you have to follow a convoluted setup process that requires you to connect the device to your desktop. Even after that, it’ll only monitor the iOS device when both are on the same network.
Winner (Apps & Ease of Use): Canopy
While both parental controls are easy to use, Canopy is more straightforward to set up because the process is the same for all of the platforms it supports. Bark’s setup process is different depending on the device you want to monitor and isn’t as intuitive because you have to log into all of your child’s accounts
Plans & Pricing — Bark Provides Better Value
Canopy and Bark offer monthly and yearly plans, and while both come with a 7-day free trial, neither has a free plan.
Canopy’s plans all include the exact same features. The only difference between its Individual, Duo, and Family plans is the number of devices you can monitor (3, 5, and 10 respectively).
Bark has two different plans, Bark Jr. and Bark Premium. The only difference between these two plans is that Bark Jr. lacks the content monitoring feature. Since Content Monitoring is one of the major ways that Bark stands out from its competition, I recommend getting Bark Premium.
Overall, I think Bark gives you more for your money. It’s one of the few parental control apps out there that allows you to monitor an unlimited number of devices. It also just comes with more features and still costs less per month than Canopy.
That said, Canopy has a free trial and covers all plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee. This means you can test out all of its features and get a full refund if you feel like it doesn’t suit your particular needs. Bark has a free trial but is missing a money-back guarantee.
Canopy and Bark both accept credit/debit cards, but Canopy also accepts PayPal.
Winner (Plans & Pricing): Bark
Bark comes out on top because it allows you to monitor more devices, comes with more features, and offers cheaper plans. Both parental controls come with a 7-day free trial, but Canopy is the only one that backs its plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Customer Support — Bark’s Support Is More Helpful
Both Canopy and Bark provide support to users via email, a knowledge base, a virtual chatbot, and phone support. However, only Bark provides live chat support, which allows you to get help instantly if you encounter any problems.
I found Bark’s knowledge base better than Canopy’s. Bark’s support library has answers to 100+ FAQ questions, while Canopy has just over 50 articles in its support library. Additionally, some of Canopy’s article layouts are unorganized — for example, in some step-by-step guides, the images are piled up at the end of an article rather than being placed next to the relevant step, and a couple articles on the site contain out of date or inaccurate information.
I also prefer Bark’s virtual chatbot over Canopy’s. Bark’s chatbot answered a lot of my trickier questions, and when it didn’t have an answer, it sent a ticket to their email support team. With Canopy, the chatbot only really sent me links to vaguely related topics.
I had a good experience with the email support of both parental controls though — both teams got back to me in less than a day and addressed my questions and concerns.
Finally, I like that Canopy and Bark offer phone support. Canopy’s phone support is only available to US customers, and for Bark, you have to schedule a call first (there’s no phone support line that you can call at any time if you experience any issues).
Winner (Customer Support): Bark
Bark is easily the better choice for customer support. It offers more support channels, including live chat support, its knowledge base is more accurate and comprehensive, and its virtual chatbot is more useful than Canopy’s. Plus, Canopy’s support library doesn’t have as many articles and a lot of them are disorganized or contain mistakes.
Canopy vs. Bark: Overall Winner
Bark is great for monitoring your child’s texts, emails, images, videos, and social media. It scans all of these for potential issues in 15+ categories and shows you a snippet of the content that triggered its alerts. It also offers flexible screen time management and location tracking tools.
Canopy has some very unique capabilities, like the ability to censor sexually explicit images on the web in real-time and to prevent your child from taking or sending inappropriate photos.
Both parental controls have their strengths and weaknesses, but my top pick is Bark. It has better core parental control features, such as screen time management, location tracking, and activity reports. It can monitor YouTube and SMS, and its Content Monitoring feature can scan for more things (not just sexual content). On top of all that, it comes at a cheaper price and allows you to monitor an unlimited number of devices.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Canopy or Bark?
I think Bark is the better parental control app overall. They both include core parental control features, such as web and app filtering, screen time management, location tracking, and activity reports. However, many of Bark’s core features are better.
Which has better sexting prevention tools — Canopy or Bark?
Canopy and Bark can help you prevent your child from sexting. Canopy’s aptly named Sexting Prevention feature stops your child from saving or sending inappropriate photos at all. If they try, the app will block them and ask them to delete the photo (or to request permission from you). Bark won’t stop your child from taking or sending a naughty photo, but its Content Monitoring feature will detect that they did and send you an alert, so you can talk to your child about it.
Can kids bypass Canopy or Bark?
Canopy and Bark come with uninstall protection. When Canopy’s Removal Prevention feature is active, your child won’t be able to uninstall the app without your permission, and you’ll be alerted if they try. Similarly, if your kids want to disable Bark’s VPN (which it uses to do its monitoring), they’ll need to input a device code, which is changed frequently and is only available on the parent app.
Do Canopy and Bark have free plans?
No, neither Canopy nor Bark have free plans. However, both parental controls offer a 7-day free trial, so you can test out their features risk-free. All Canopy’s subscriptions also come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out for longer and get a full refund if you’re not happy with it.