EPB Hosted UC vs Bark
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
EPB Hosted UC
This communication tool integrates voice calls and instant messaging with your business phone number. It allows you to see contact availability and message individuals or groups directly from your mobile device.
- Presence indicators
- Instant messaging
- Voice calls via business number
- Contact availability status
- Group messaging
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EPB Hosted UC is a softphone add-on to the EPB Hosted Solution platform of products. It integrates voice telephony with other communications technologies into an intuitive user interface. Features include: • Presence and IM: Shows which contacts are available, offline, or idle. Users can message individual users, multiple users or departments. • Voice Calls: Make phone calls directly from your mobile device using your EPB Hosted Phone business number. IMPORTANT NOTE: Users are required to have a Hosted Phone Solution VoIP account with EPB Fiber Optics to make calls.
Bark
This service helps families manage their children's digital lives by monitoring online content, managing screen time, and filtering websites. It alerts parents to potential issues like cyberbullying or adult content, offering peace of mind.
- Content monitoring for texts, email, YouTube, and social media
- Alerts for cyberbullying, adult content, and threats
- Screen time limits and scheduling
- Website filtering by category or specific sites
- Monitors 30+ apps and social media platforms
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Bark provides families with all the tools they need to raise kids in the digital age. Our comprehensive service lets you monitor content, manage screen time, and filter websites so you can get peace of mind while your child is online. CONTENT MONITORING Bark monitors your child’s texts, email, YouTube, and 30+ apps and social media platforms for issues like cyberbullying, adult content, sexual predators, profanity, suicidal ideation, threats of violence, and more. Parents receive alerts only when something potentially problematic occurs online. You won’t have full access to everything on your child’s phone — just the things you might need to know about. SCREEN TIME MANAGEMENT Families can set healthy time limits and create schedules for when their children’s devices can connect to the internet (through both cell service and Wi-Fi). WEB FILTERING Our web filter lets you select which websites your child can access on their devices. You can allow or block specific sites — or even whole categories like streaming services, online gaming, sexual content, and more. BARK TESTIMONIALS • "My wife and I LOVE Bark. We've had some tough but productive conversations with our 13-year-old son. It's proving to be extremely valuable." — Josh L. • “It’s just another set of protections we as parents give our kids for the digital environment (or as my 10-year-old calls it, a “cell phone seat belt”). My oldest is a 9th grader, and while I trust her, I’ve come to realize through the alerts that some of her friends aren’t truly her friends. It’s led to some amazing conversations about choosing friends wisely and recognizing toxic people. While she wasn’t for Bark at first, she’s since said she’s grateful that I saw those messages because it reaffirmed what she was feeling but didn’t know how to verbalize without sounding sensitive.” — Bark Parent • "Bark notified me that my young daughter had unknowingly revealed her phone number to strangers on Twitter. The fact that Bark notified me was impressive and led to an informative discussion with her the same day." — Jon B. • “Since Bark alerted us to the suicidal language used in the Google doc that was being used in a chat document with a friend, we have seen both a pediatrician and a licensed counselor. We are hopeful for a positive outcome. Thanks to Bark for letting us peek into our child’s mind!” — Bark Parent • “This app is a lifesaver! It has allowed us to catch so many “red flags” in the content my kids have accessed on their devices and in their interactions with friends and other people online that I wouldn’t have ever known about otherwise. The big difference between Bark and other “Parental Control” software is that Bark allows your kids to have so much more privacy. It doesn’t show you everything they do, but sends an instant alert regarding any activity that might be concerning. Highly recommended!” — Bark Parent With Bark, you can help keep your kids safe both online and in real life. Try it out for seven days absolutely free! Our Family Online Safety Specialists are standing by to help answer any questions you may have. Email help@bark.us or visit help.bark.us to get answers and advice from the Bark Team. Terms of Use https://www.bark.us/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: EPB Hosted UC at none against Bark's 4. EPB Hosted UC also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.3). Bark's advantage is ratings volume (36K vs 96) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Bark sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. EPB Hosted UC asks for nothing beyond the download.
EPB Hosted UC holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bark has 36K ratings behind it against 96, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 0% of EPB Hosted UC's written reviews are positive against 13% of Bark's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
EPB Hosted UC ships an update every 5 months, Bark every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | EPB Hosted UC | Bark |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (96 ratings) — better | 4.3 (36K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 12.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 96 | 36K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #69 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 100 MB | 53 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Electric Power Board | Bark Technologies, Inc. |
Customer experience
EPB Hosted UC
Bark
Bugs and requests
EPB Hosted UC
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Bark
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frequent disconnections and reconnections required
- Inability to monitor certain popular apps like TikTok and Snapchat
- Delayed alerts and notifications
- Unexpected phone performance issues like slower speeds and battery drain
Requested features
4 requests- Improve compatibility with iOS devices
- Provide cloud-based backups instead of manual device backups
- Add password protection to prevent app uninstallation
- Improve sensitivity settings and notification management
In-app purchases
EPB Hosted UC
No in-app purchases
Bark
- Bark Jr Monthly7 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Bark Monthly7 Days trial$14.991 Month
- Bark Jr Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
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- Bark Annual7 Days trial$99.991 Year









