Back to School: Comparing the best kid-safe phones and options

If you're thinking about getting your child a new phone in time for the new school year, these companies promise to offer phones that are 'kid-safe.'

From Bark, to Pinwheel and Gabb we did the homework on the plans so you can figure out the right option for your family.

We found they all offer GPS tracking but there are differences, too.

"There's one phone called Bark, and this is something that lets parents manage screen time or block certain websites and track their kids location," said Abrar Al-Heeti with CNET.

With Bark, parents can approve app store downloads and it monitors messages, websites, and social media, as well as photos and videos - claiming to have the most coverage of any tool.

"It can flag any alerts to you if it notices anything suspicious that your kid may be encountering," said Al-Heeti. "And then the cool thing is, as your child gets older, you can also allow or remove certain features."

The Bark phone comes free with a Bark plan, but you can't choose the carrier. The starter plan is $39 a month but that does not include social media or a web browser. The advanced plan is $49 a month and does provide internet access. You can also get the Bark app for $14 for any mobile device.

" Pinwheel is a kids-safe phone product," Pinwheel CEO Dane Witbeck told the Troubleshooters.

Pinwheel phones have no web browsing or social media option and it allows parents to see a history of texts remotely. It's also vetted 1,500 apps available on the phone to help parents choose which ones their kids can access.

"We have five different models, which is another one of our differentiators," he said. "We have a lot of different phones. You can choose from everything from $99 to get started on the low end up through $599 Google pixels."

You can use any carrier, but on top of paying for the phone, there's a yearly Pinwheel subscription fee of $14.99 a month for the first phone. And Pinwheel charges $4.99 a month for additional phones.

"There's something called the Gabb Phone 4 ," added Al-Heeti.

This, like Pinwheel, is a more restrictive device with no social media or web browser. It does however come loaded with essential apps and then parents can add more.

"And then there's also a pretty cool app called Gabb Music +," said Al-Heeti. "And this is a clean music library, so there's no explicit lyrics in any of the songs that you'll see on this library. And then it also works kind of block any suspicious messages or images."

Gabb has three tiers, which include a watch for younger kids and the Gabb Phone 4 intended for kids ages 9 to 13 years old.

And then there is Gabb Phone 4 Pro.

"So if your kid's a little bit older, it's better for teenagers, because parents can actually allow certain apps still no social media," said Al-Heeti.

Right now you can get the Gabb Phone 4 for free when you sign up for a Gabb plan, which is about $25 a month. Otherwise, Gabb devices start at $150.