Loading
Questions
The things people ask us most
If yours is not here, write to us. A person reads every message.
Why does BarkCheck take phone numbers out of messages?
Keep it here, or it did not happen. Everything said in the app is kept, timestamped and attached to the sit. Anything agreed somewhere else exists only in two phones.
A text message is not a record. Everything said here is kept, timestamped and attached to the sit. Anything agreed somewhere else exists only in two phones, and if the two of you remember it differently there is nothing to look at.
We cannot help with something we cannot see. When somebody asks us to look at a disagreement, what we can read is what is in here. A screenshot is a picture of a claim. If it matters, it belongs where it can be checked.
A missed meet and greet can only be excused one way. The single accepted reason for missing a meet and greet is that the owner called it off, and the only version of that we can see is the one done here. Call it off in the app and nothing is counted against anybody. Do it by text and there is nothing to point at.
A plan agreed by text is not the plan being signed. The sitter signs each task against the plan as it stands here. A change agreed in a message somewhere else does not reach that list, so the care happens against the old plan and the record says so.
Your record is what answers for you. Your score and your care record are built from what is written down here. Work arranged elsewhere earns you none of it, and a dispute about a sit nobody can see is one you have to win on memory alone.
Your number stays yours. A sit conversation here closes three days after the sit ends, and you can block any owner writing to you from your page at any time. Somebody who has your number has it for good, and nothing about a sit finishing changes that.
You can still swap numbers if you both want to. What you cannot do is expect us to know what was said on them.
What is BarkCheck, in one sentence?
An owner writes down how their pet needs looking after, texts a link to whoever is sitting, and every dose, meal and walk gets signed by name as it happens. Anything missed reaches the owner the same night.
Is it a place to find a sitter?
No. You find each other however you already do, and use this to keep the record. We do not match, hire, train, supervise, screen or vouch for anybody, and we do not run background checks. Decisions about who to trust are yours.
What does it cost?
Owners never pay. Sitters get 3 free sits ever, then $9.97 a month or $89.99 a year.
A sit counts once both sides have accepted it, and the charge is only ever checked when a sitter takes on a new one, so nobody is locked out of a job they are in the middle of.
Do I need the app?
No. A sitter can open the link in a browser and work the whole sit there. The app exists because a phone in a pocket is easier than a browser tab when you are standing in somebody else’s kitchen.
Can a sitter change the record after the fact?
No, and neither can we. A task signed late is recorded as late rather than on time, and a missed task stays missed even if the dose is given afterwards.
A sitter can write what happened beside a miss, and that explanation never changes their score. Nothing in our own staff tools can edit a care record either.
When is a task counted as missed?
When its window closes with nothing signed. A task given an actual clock time has twenty minutes; one filed under a part of the day — morning, evening — has a much wider window, because "morning" was always meant to cover a 9:30 breakfast.
One minute past its time a task turns amber on both screens, so the sitter knows before it matters and the owner can see the same thing they can.
What is the BarkCheck Score?
A sitter’s record as a single number: the tasks they signed against the tasks that came due, plus the ratings owners leave. Below 3 sits there is no score at all, because one missed dose on a first job is 0 and would end a career while measuring nothing.
Between 3 and 5 sits the number is shown with the word “New” beside it. Fewer than 5 sits behind it, so this number can still move a long way. A score of 100 looks the same whether three sits or three hundred are behind it, and the tag is the part that says which.
Below 90 the sitter is told before an owner acts on it, and owners decide who they hire. A score below 78 that stays there for 28 days locks the account: no new sits, off the directory, nothing deleted, and every sit already under way carries on. Nobody is ever locked without being warned first and told exactly what would happen.
Who can see my phone number?
A sitter gets the owner’s number once both sides have agreed to a sit, until three days after it ends. An owner never gets the sitter’s.
The sitter is the person alone in a stranger’s house, and a phone number is what turns a disagreement into being found. Owners reach sitters through the message thread, which also stays on the record.
Can I still message a sitter after the sit?
For three days after it ends, and then the thread closes. It opens again the moment you both agree to another sit, with everything you have already said still in it.
Agreeing to one sit is not agreeing to be contactable forever. If you want to book the same person again, send them a link — that is the thing both of you get to say yes to.
Are my messages private?
They are between you and the other party, and they are checked before delivery: phone numbers are removed automatically, and an AI model looks for abuse.
Anything reading as a medical problem, an injury, an emergency or a person in crisis is never held back.
What happens to the record if I leave?
Your name, email, phone and profile are erased and are not recoverable.
Your profile photo, home and page photos and library come off BarkCheck, and we keep the files in private storage.
The care records you were part of stay for 7 years without your name on them, then go too. They stay because a record is evidence for two people: if an animal was hurt, or somebody says a dose was never given, that record is what answers it.
Does BarkCheck handle payments between us?
Never. Sit fees and tips are arranged and paid by the two of you. If a sitter shows a Venmo or Zelle handle we display it and nothing more. We cannot see whether anything was paid.
Where do you work?
The United States only, for now.
Something is wrong. Who do I tell?
Write to us, or email support@wickedself.com. If it is about a particular sit, quote its six-character reference and we will find it straight away.
If an animal needs help, call a vet first and tell us afterwards.
Effective 14 August 2026