As part of the deal, Bark Jr is free for life to eligible Cricket customers. Usually $5 per month or $49 annually, this entry-level plan lets parents and guardians manage their children’s screen time, filter the websites they can browse, and look up their current location. As the company says, it is suitable for younger kids. Bark Premium, meanwhile, adds app monitoring including texts, email, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and dozens of other platforms. Parents will also receive alerts for issues like cyberbullying, online predators, suicidal ideation, and other potentially concerning content. The company offers expert advice to help you handle each issue. This plan is available to Cricket customers at $9.99 per month for one year. Post that, you’ll have to pay the full price (currently $14 per month or $99 annually) unless you cancel the subscription. You do get a 7-day free trial with Bark Premium. You can add unlimited children and devices to either plan. Note that only new Bark customers are eligible for this deal from the AT&T-owned prepaid wireless service provider. Existing users cannot take advantage of the discounted rates.
Cricket Wireless and Bark make the online safety of kids more accessible
Bark Technologies is an award-winning online safety and parental control service. According to recent findings from the company, alerts for “self-harm and suicidal ideation” among children aged 12 to 18 grew 143 percent in Q1 2021 from the same period last year. Suicide attempts, sexting, hate speech, and cyberbullying are also seeing an upward trend among children. The company reportedly analyzed 2.1 billion messages in 2020 and found that 87.9 percent of teens encountered nudity or sexual content online. Two-thirds (66.6 percent) of teens also found themselves in a self-harm/suicidal situation. Moreover, 82 percent of teens experienced bullying last year. These numbers are worrisome. As such, Bark is making its online safety tools for kids more accessible to parents. The latest collaboration with Cricket Wireless is another step towards it. “For the past six years, Bark has created a roadmap for families to successfully navigate the digital world while protecting more than 5.7 million children online,” said Brian Bason, Bark CEO. “We are excited to expand this safety coverage to reach even more families by collaborating with Cricket Wireless.”
