No camera, no browser, no social media apps, no mobile games. That is the pitch for the newest Bark Watch, and it is as much about what the wrist leaves out as what it carries.
Bark Technologies has rebuilt its kids’ smartwatch on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch8 architecture, and Samsung announced the partnership. The company calls it a major step forward for Bark’s parental control lineup: parents get stronger tools, children get more freedom to explore safely.
How it works
Samsung supplies the body of the watch. It has a modern round design, durable Armor Aluminum construction and an IP68 rating, which Samsung says means water resistance in up to five feet of water for up to 30 minutes. Bark supplies the part parents are really buying, an AI platform that runs quietly in the background. It scans media sent and received by text and alerts parents to cyberbullying, digital threats or explicit content before a problem grows.
Calls and messages get a big upgrade over the earlier Bark Watch. The new model supports standalone LTE calling, though only on Galaxy Watch LTE models, along with group texting and speech-to-text dictation. Received messages can be read aloud, which helps children who need extra reading support.
Parents can schedule text and calling controls by time of day, and loosen them as a child shows maturity and responsibility. There is built-in Emergency SOS, which needs a network connection to notify an emergency contact, and GPS location tracking. Buildings and other obstructions can blunt GPS accuracy.
The watch also tracks fitness activity and step count, and it supports Bluetooth headphones. Eight interchangeable band styles are sold separately.
Price
The device costs $10 a month for 24 months. A cellular and parental controls plan adds $15 a month. Bark also offers optional protection against accidental damage, loss or theft for $4 a month.
Orders and full specifications are on the watch page at bark.us/bark-watch.
