Vilo has officially partnered with Bark to bring the Bark In-Home Parental Controls free to Vilo users, including regular customers and ISP subscribers. Bark Home Parental Controls is a feature embedded in our Vilos that helps to manage screen time and filter websites on all internet-connected devices in your home once activated. This includes gaming consoles, TVs, and more. There is no additional app required for setup. At this time, Bark In-Home is currently only available to Vilo users in the US, South Africa & Australia. Vilo For ISP Customers: Bark will only be viewable from end-user accounts in the Vilo App. ISP accounts will not see this feature when logged in.
Bark In-Home Features
- Multiple Device Coverage
- Bark Home lets you manage when your kids can access the internet across all devices in your home: including Smart TVs, gaming consoles, and mobile devices.
- Set Custom Profiles
- You can set custom profiles with different screen time rules. For example, you can limit distractions during the school day by preventing the use of gaming or streaming apps until a designated time of your choosing. There are two profile types:
- Child profile - for monitoring and implementing screen time rules on devices that belong to an individual child.
- Home profile - for screen times rules on devices within your home that are shared among family members.
- You can set custom profiles with different screen time rules. For example, you can limit distractions during the school day by preventing the use of gaming or streaming apps until a designated time of your choosing. There are two profile types:
- Pause Internet Usage
- While setting custom schedules is great, you can also pause internet usage anytime with Bark In-Home Parental Controls.
- Create Automatic Bedtimes
- When it’s time for bed, you can decide which screen time rules will be applied. This can range from no internet at all to minimal access (this can help promote the use of apps designed to help children relax before bedtime).
- Block Apps and Games
- Turn off access to apps and games with the tap of a button. Whether it’s popular streaming apps like Netflix or YouTube or multiplayer games like Fortnite - Bark Home makes it easy to place restrictions when necessary.
- Filter Websites
- You can allow or block specific websites — or choose from 19 different categories like streaming services, online gaming, sexual content, and more.
- Mandatory SafeSearch
- By setting up your kids with a Child profile, they won’t be able to turn off SafeSearch on YouTube, Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo across all home devices.
How To Set Up Bark In-Home Parental Controls
Please follow these steps to set up Bark Home Parental Controls for the first time in the Vilo App.
- Before you begin, please make sure the Vilo App and firmware are on the latest versions. Next, please ensure your Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi system is online and your Vilo App is connected to the Vilo network. (The device you use to control the app must be on the Vilo network)
- Choose the network you‘d like to enable parental controls on from the home screen of the Vilo App, followed by clicking on “Parental Controls”.
- You will see an introduction page providing you with an overview of Bark In-Home's key features. By clicking “Get Started With Bark”, you will be taken to the “Bark Parental Controls” page. From here, you will see the “Enable Bark” button.
- Toggle on the ”Enable Bark” button. It may take 5-15 seconds to load.
- Click the “Go to Bark Home” button on the dialogue box and you’ll be redirected to the Bark Home login page after a few seconds of pairing.
- If you already have a Bark account, you can select “Yes, I‘m already a Bark parent”. And log in with your account information. If you do not have a Bark account, please select the “No, I’m new to Bark” option. Reminder: Bark accounts are not associated with Vilo App accounts. You may use any email address that you have access to.
- After logging in, you will be presented with information on how Bark Home works, followed by the “Create a new profile” page where you can choose to create a Child profile or a Home profile. Once the profile has been created, you can begin setting up screen time as well as any associated rules for a child. Reminder: Devices that you would like to monitor must be connected to the Vilo network. You can also add more devices or set up new rules at any time.
Once activated, you can manage your Bark In-Home Parental Controls as long as you have an internet connection. When revisiting “Parental Controls” from the Vilo App, you will see one of the following:
- The Bark In-Home Parental Controls dashboard if you did not log out
- The Bark login page. You can use your Bark account to log in (your settings will be intact)
Reminder: Unassigned devices will appear under the "Unmanaged" profile that is created for every user by default. Devices that do not need to be managed, can be added to the "Ignored" profile. You can find more information here.
FAQ
Tutorials
Technical Support
If you encounter any issues or have questions or feedback, you can do this in one of two ways:
- Vilo App: select the network, go to settings and click on "Submit A Log".
- Bark Dashboard: go to the "More" page and click "Help Center" to submit a request.
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