Frequently Asked Questions: Bark In-Home Parental Controls

Vilo Customers:

1. How does Bark In-Home Parental Controls work?
   Bark In-Home Parental Control works on all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi network. This is important because to make decisions about what can be accessed online, Bark In-Home needs to be able to handle all of your traffic. 
   When you try to access a website or app like Facebook or Instagram, a "request" is sent to facebook.com or instagram.com to access their content. This flows through Bark In-Home for a check-in based on the settings you've applied in your Bark dashboard; meaning some of the traffic will be blocked based on filtering rules, but others will pass through to the destination. 
2. Why is Bark In-Home only available in the US?
   We're limited based on regions that Bark is available in. Right now, Bark is only available in the US, South Africa, and Australia. We plan to add South Africa & Australia once we officially launch with distributors in those regions and have more product adoption.
3. Will Bark In-Home Parental Controls be automatically enabled?
   No. Vilo users will need access to the Vilo App in order to enable it for their networks and connect their Bark Accounts to their Vilo. Currently cannot be enabled remotely.
4. What current Bark product is this equivalent to?
   Bark Home, which means your Vilo users with children now get a nearly $80 value product to help protect their kids online - for free.
5. What if I already have a Bark Home device?
   You can either keep the current Bark Home intact without enabling Bark in the Vilo App, or get rid of Bark Home, and enable Bark In-Home Parental Controls via Vilo App.
6. Is Bark really free?
   Yes. Bark does have additional advanced parental control products available, but the network-based In-Home Parental Controls will be absolutely free.
7. Why am I being asked to confirm coverage? 
   If you try logging into Bark with a different account other than the one previously used to activate Bark In-Home Parental Controls, you must follow the activation steps to set up the new account.
   
8. Is this available for Vilo 5 and Vilo 6? 
   No. Bark is only available for Vilo 5 at this time.
9. Do I need a Bark subscription to use the Bark In-Home Parental Controls?
   No, you do not. You can create a brand new account or you can use an existing account during the setup process.
10. What should I do if I see the “Connection Status: Undetected” page during the Bark Home setup?   
    In order to activate Bark In-Home Parental Controls, you must be connected to the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi System. Once activated, you will be able to access your Bark account if you are connected to the internet.  
    
    
11. What should I do if I see the error page “Webpage not available” after enabling Bark in the Vilo App?
    • Due to different security settings for the in-app web browser, the webpage: “http://detect.network“ is blocked. Please use a different web browser to open the link and finish the activation. You will also need to make sure that you are connected to the same Vilo Wi-Fi system. Finally, you will see the “Welcome to Bark Home” page to set up your Bark account.
       
12. Why am I seeing Vilo Parental Controls instead of Bark In-Home Parental Controls after activation? 
    Currently, Bark In-Home Parental Controls are only available for users in the U.S. Please make sure your region settings are correct: 
    Android: Go to Settings ---> System ---> Language & Inputs 
    iOS: Go to Settings ---> General ---> Language & Region ---> Region  
    
13. Why am I being asked to log in again? 
    If the in-app web browser’s cookies have expired, or the application data has been cleared – the login page will appear.  
    After activating Bark In-Home Parental Controls, we recommend using the Bark Parental Controls app to manage Bark profiles and rules.
    
    
14. Why are some websites and apps - that I did not specifically block - showing as blocked when Bark-Home Parental Controls are activated? 
    Bark Home provides profiles that come with default rules, such as:
    
    Unmanaged:
    
    The default rules come set to block the following site categories: sexual content, drugs, alcohol, gambling, weapons, illegal, malicious, or hacking. 
    Search engines with SafeSearch enabled will not be blocked. These include Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo. Other search engines that don't support SafeSearch are automatically blocked (such as Yahoo).
    
    Ignored:
    
    If there's a device you don't want to filter, you can assign it to the “Ignored” profile. This will ensure that parents’ and guardians’ personal devices are not impacted. We recommend assigning networking devices like extenders, repeaters, switches, access points, secondary routers, cameras, and mesh satellite units to the “Ignored” profile. You can read more about Bark-Home Filter profiles here.
    If you still have questions about different profiles, please submit a request for further assistance via the Bark Dashboard —-> More —-> Help center  —-> Upper right corner (two horizontal lines) —->  Submit a Request. 
15. How do I disable Bark In-Home Parental Controls?
    You can disable Bark In-Home Parental Controls in the Vilo App by going to Settings > Bark Parental Controls. From here, you can toggle off the “Enable Bark” button.
16. What happens after disabling Bark In-Home?
    After clicking Parental Controls and going through the initial flow (Enable Bark, Go To Bark Home) you will arrive at the “Welcome to Bark Home!” Page. From here, you can choose “Yes, I’m already a Bark parent” to log back in with your Bark account. All profiles and settings that were set up will remain unchanged. 

Vilo Features That Are Not Compatible With Bark In-Home 

1. Does Bark In-Home work with Bridge Mode turned on?

• • No, Bark In-Home does not work in tandem with Bridge Mode. When Bridge Mode is on, the Vilo passes data and extends the Wi-Fi for the primary router. This means the rules setup via Bark In-Home will not work due to being bypassed.  

2. Does Bark In-Home work when Guest Wi-Fi is turned on? 

• • No, Guest Wi-Fi will not work when Bark In-Home is enabled. Please do not enable Guest Wi-Fi and Bark In-Home at the same time. 

Resources: 

• Managing Screen Time & Web Filtering Rules
• How to Identify Devices for Bark Home