--- description: Find out why Bark Phone is one of the best inventions of 2023 title: Bark Phone: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5538a9cc4fb4bb26/698a418b096a9472b36ae3d7/best-inventions-backgrounds.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 24, 2023 # A Safer Smartphone Bark Phone by [Chris Stokel-Walker](/author/chris-stokel-walker/) ## Chris Stokel-Walker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Most kids want a smartphone; many parents are wary. Bark Technologies has a solution for teens and tweens: a customizable Android unit that lets parents manage contacts and track the device, while an algorithm monitors social media posts and texts for inappropriate content. And unlike other parental controls, “our algorithm is baked into the phone,” says Titania Jordan, Bark’s chief parent officer. “It can’t be removed.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324472/bark-phone/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324472/bark-phone/"},"headline":"A Safer Smartphone","datePublished":"2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T05:11:09.935Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324472/bark-phone/","keywords":["list","franchise","ecommerce","Magazine","best inventions","Best Inventions 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5538a9cc4fb4bb26/698a418b096a9472b36ae3d7/best-inventions-backgrounds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Stokel-Walker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-stokel-walker/"}],"creator":"Chris Stokel-Walker","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5538a9cc4fb4bb26/698a418b096a9472b36ae3d7/best-inventions-backgrounds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324472/bark-phone/","name":"A Safer Smartphone"}}]}] ```