Canopy vs Bark: How To Choose Which One Is Best For You

Which Is Better, Canopy or Bark?

Canopy and Bark both offer similar parental control features, including screen time management,  explicit content blocking, online threat alerts, location tracking, and more. However, there are differences in their approach to online child safety and functionality that parents need to be aware of.

The main differences between the two providers are that:

• Canopy uses AI to block explicit content online in real-time and prevent your child from sending or receiving intimate photos. However, some users have complained that it’s hard to install and operate and causes device performance issues.
• Bark offers deep monitoring to protect your kids from online threats, including SMS, photo, video, and app monitoring with online bullying, depression, and anxiety alerts. However, multiple users have complained that alerts showed up days late and that customer support is hard to reach.

Both apps are also missing online safety and cybersecurity features that are necessary for families in 2025.

If you’re considering a parental controls app, you want to know that it will work as promised. We did the research for you, digging through company and product information and analyzing real customer reviews to help you make the most informed decision possible.

The bottom line: Kids will almost always find a way around parental controls. Aura is an alternative to Canopy and Bark that helps you gain deeper insights into your child’s online activities and relationships and provides personalized, science-backed recommendations for parents. Learn more about how Aura helps keep kids and families safe online.

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Canopy vs. Bark: The Parental Guide for 2025

For families looking to monitor and control their child’s online activity, Bark and Canopy both offer premium parental control features for iOS and Android devices. Bark also offers a dedicated Bark phone and watch that come preloaded with its parental control apps.

Like other options — such as Qustodio, Net Nanny, Family Link, and Norton Family — both providers include fundamental features, including screen time limits, website blocking, content monitoring, and location tracking.

They both also offer features that attempt to tackle more complex online threats, such as cyberbullying, sextortion, online predators, and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidal ideation — with varying degrees of success.

It’s important to note that Bark and Canopy are exclusively parental control apps. They won’t help protect your family from hacking, online scams, or child identity theft.

Here's how Canopy and Bark compare head-to-head on features, pricing, and reviews:

On paper, both Bark and Canopy offer powerful ways to protect kids from common online risks. But how do they work in practice? Let’s dig into the specifics of each product’s features, plans, pricing, and pros and cons.

Note: No app or tool can replace an honest conversation about online safety and proper behavior with your children. Consider having the Digital Talk to help your kids stay safe online.

Canopy Review: Features, Pros & Cons, and Pricing

Canopy is a parental controls app that helps parents protect their children from online threats — specifically explicit content. It claims to be the only parental control app with real-time internet filters that can identify and block adult images in texts and on certain web browsers before your child sees them.

Canopy also offers a product for adults who are dealing with excessive phone use and want to control which and how often they can use certain apps.

Here are some of Canopy’s standout features:

• AI-powered explicit content blocker. Canopy’s patented SafeSmart internet filter blocks inappropriate content, including images and videos in real-time and replaces them with white blocks. This feature works across text messages, supported web browsers and some apps.
• Remote parental approval. Review and approve access requests for specific websites on your child’s devices (Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS). For example, if your teen wants to watch a movie during a scheduled screen time downtime.
• Screen time schedules. Choose when your child can use the internet — for example, turning off internet access during homework time or at night.
• Removal prevention. The company claims to have technology that prevents children from disabling or removing the app. However, there is no further information on how this works.
• Location alerts. Keep tabs on your child’s location and get updated location data whenever they use the internet on their device.

Canopy places a lot of emphasis on its real-time detection of inappropriate content. They claim this can be used to prevent your kids from sending or receiving sexually explicit images and videos.

However, one of the major downsides of Canopy that users have complained about is speed issues on the devices that Canopy is installed on. Even the company’s own FAQs state that “Canopy shouldn’t slow down your device", but provides an email for those experiencing performance issues.

Here are the pros and cons of Canopy:

What are Canopy’s pricing and plan options?

Canopy offers two pricing plans, based on the number of devices on which you want to install the product.

Here’s a breakdown of Canopy’s pricing as of April 2025:

• Individual (up to 3 devices): $9.99/month or $95.90/year‍
• Family (up to 10 devices): $15.99/month or $119.90/year

What are real customers saying about using Canopy?

While Canopy offers some innovative features, the consensus on third-party review sites is far from perfect. Here are a few things to consider based on what customers are saying on Trustpilot [*] :

• Customer service is not responsive. "I had a bad experience with them not replying to emails after five days and the phone not being answered after problems on my PC."
• Too complicated and demanding to install. “It wouldn't install on my laptop, so asked customer service, who told me I needed to uninstall a VPN and an antivirus if I wanted it to work, even though I didn't need to do that on my smartphone. Spent more than one hour to be told I needed to uninstall programs from my laptop. Very disappointing.”‍
• Glitchy functionality. “This is an incredibly difficult app to use. It is quirky, interrupts my normal web access, it often interrupts my phone calls or mimics an incoming phone call.”

Bark Review: Features, Pros & Cons, and Pricing

Bark provides both parental control software and dedicated devices that include extensive monitoring features, screen time limits, location tracking, and safety alerts about dangerous or inappropriate searches or messages.

While Bark’s app is available for iPhones and Android smartphones, the company also offers a dedicated Bark Phone and Bark Watch with built-in parental controls, as well as a home router to control internet access on your Wi-Fi network.

Here are some of Bark’s standout features:

• Deep monitoring of texts, emails, social media, and more. Bark scans different forms of communication for worrisome content, including photos, videos, and even emojis. You’ll receive alerts if your kid encounters bullying, sexual content, scammers, or predators.‍
• Customizable screen time schedules. You can create custom daily schedules for each child or each device in your household. This flexibility lets you set different age-appropriate limits for teens and young children.‍
• “Check-in” requests. Along with alerts when your child arrives at or leaves frequently-visited spots (school, home, etc.), Bark allows you to request their exact location at any time.‍
• Social media monitoring. With a view of over 30 platforms, Bark helps parents stay ahead of con artists and threat actors that prey on vulnerable young people on the internet.‍
• The Bark Phone and Watch for Kids. Bark’s own branded Android phone and smartwatch limit device functionality to kid-friendly apps only.

While many users have found Bark’s products to be useful, some of the downsides of Bark as reported by real users include receiving delayed notifications and poor customer support — including AI-generated emails and chat messages.

Here are the pros and cons of Bark:

What are Bark’s pricing and plan options?

Bark offers different methods and tools for protecting your children online — each with their own pricing plan.

Here’s a breakdown of Bark’s pricing as of April 2025:

• Bark App: Starts at $14/month
• Bark Phone: Starts at $29/month plus device fee
• Bark Watch: Starts at $15/month plus device fee‍
• Bark Home (router): Starts at $6/month

What are real customers saying about using Bark?

Bark’s social media monitoring is among the best in the market. The Bark Phone and Watch are also unique offerings that could be a great choice for young kids. On the other hand, there are some concerning reviews from customers on Trustpilot:

• Flat out doesn’t work. "Tried to use this app for two years. It would constantly disconnect from my daughter’s device and the reporting and monitoring never seemed accurate to me. It today’s day and age when most tech is designed for ease-of-use, this one fails."
• Frustrating AI service. “Purchased Bark Home because I was told they would help me troubleshoot it if I had any issues installing with my router. It turned out that customer service meant AI emails and no real person to ever help. It was exasperating.”
• Monitoring issues. “Their iOS monitoring is a joke as it requires the computer monitoring the device to be connected to the same wireless network for any of the features to work. Children can too easily circumvent monitoring by making minor changes to phone settings outside of Bark.”

💡Related: Aura vs. Bark: How To Choose the Best Parental Control App →

Why You Should Consider Aura as Your Family Safety App

While Canopy and Bark are worth considering if you want basic parental controls, their shortcomings are hard to ignore. For parents who don’t want to compromise their children’s safety online, Aura offers a much more comprehensive level of protection.

Aura recently launched a suite of online balance features designed with child psychologists, parents, and kids that give deep insights into your child’s online life, with personalized insights and recommendations for parents.

In addition to its award-winning parental controls, Aura is an all-in-one digital safety platform that protects your entire family, from kids to grandparents — even if they don’t live in the same household.

Here are a few reasons to choose Aura:

• Non-invasive monitoring. Aura gives parents deep insights into how their children act and interact with others online, without acting as “spyware”. Instead, Aura provides personalized reports on your child’s web browsing activity patterns, social trends, and even the tone of their interactions.
• Science-backed recommendations for parents. Based on your child’s device usage, Aura provides science-backed recommendations, tips, and conversation starters to help you guide their online actions and keep them safe.
• Advanced content filtering. Aura also includes some of the strongest web filtering and content blocking, including website and app blocking.
• Safe Gaming features with cyberbullying alerts. Aura has 24/7 in-game voice and text monitoring for over 200 popular PC games, and sends alerts if it detects bullying or harassment.
• Pause the Internet® whenever you need. Eliminate the hassle of trying to get your kids to bed or put their devices away at the dinner table. With Aura’s Pause the Internet® feature, you can instantly switch off access across all devices, including your child’s iPad.
• Better support (that’s available when you need it). Aura makes it easy to get assistance with 24/7 U.S.-based customer support via phone, email, and live chat options.
• Full-family protection against hacking, scams, and identity theft. Unlike Bark or Canopy, Aura has a comprehensive family plan that protects everyone, even if they live in different households. You can get peace of mind knowing grandparents aren't vulnerable to phishing scams, and kids of all ages are safe from online predators.
• Digital security for all of your family’s devices. Aura's advanced digital security tools include antivirus software, a military-grade virtual private network (VPN), and an optional AI-powered spam call and text blocker. Family plans include protection for up to 50 devices.
• Up to $5 million in identity theft insurance. Aura’s family plans offer generous insurance coverage to protect against eligible losses due to identity theft — including stolen money, credit cards, and legal fees.

The Bottom Line: Choose Aura for All-In-One Family Safety

The internet has become a more dangerous place for families. From adult content to cyberbullying and predators, online threats against kids and teens are only growing.  Unsurprisingly, 51% of moms say they’re very worried about the risks of the internet.

Bark and Canopy offer protection and insight into what your child is doing online — but at a cost. Both providers have widely reported issues with functionality and customer service. Canopy is limited to protecting a small number of devices, while Bark's invasive monitoring can potentially damage family trust.

Aura provides the best choice to keep you and your entire family safe, offering comprehensive protection for kids — without the limitations of other apps.