How do I get an invite if I don't have any friends on my list? PCMag Digital Group. You can also enable or disable the, Alter the appearance of the Discord window or turn on Developer Mode. As expected with mobile apps, it doesn’t provide the exact same experience as on desktop - but it’s got the features you need most. There is a mobile app (which we'll dive into in more detail below), but most of the features work best on a computer. Once you do that, you'll have to pass a captcha – which is always annoying. Gaming is definitely Discord’s focus, at one point the service even gave free away PC games to paid subscribers before realizing it couldn’t beat Steam. He was previously the senior editor for, How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Find Free Tools to Optimize Your Small Business, How to Get Started With Project Management, use Discord to stream Jackbox games with your friends, Spotify Now Works With Gaming App Discord, Discord Goes Up Against Steam With New Game Store, How to Play PC Games on Mac Without Installing Windows, How to Connect a PS4 DualShock 4 Controller to a PC, How to Move PC Games to a Different Hard Drive, 8Bitdo SN30 Pro for Xbox Cloud Gaming on Android, The Best Controllers for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Cloud Gaming, The Best Flight Sticks for Microsoft Flight Simulator, 17 Steam Tips for PC Gaming Noobs and Power Users, How to Enable Parental Controls on Every Video Game Platform, 10 Tips for Successful Living In Animal Crossing: New Horizons. However, Discord is not locked down to any one system, unlike Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. How to Use Discord on a PC or Mac. If you're just getting into Discord as a one-off thing, you don't need to do this at all. How to Customize Your Profile Image To change your avatar on desktop, click the User Settings cog in the lower left corner of the app, then select the Edit button under My Account, and upload an image! However, you probably won't have to mess around with any of this to start, and where we would focus attention at first would be in Voice & Video. Change your username, email, avatar, and password, disable or delete your account, or enable two-factor authentication. Discord has told us that, according to internal polls, teenagers use Discord for everything from studying for classes to watching Netflix together. They will receive a notification if you mention them. Gamers may have created Discord, but don't let that scare you off. Crossplay already allows players of select online games to compete against opponents on other consoles, so Discord is perfect for groups of players who take advantage of that. This subscription grants you the ability to change your four-digit username tag, a Nitro badge for your profile, custom emotes you can use beyond their home server, and the power to turn animated GIFs into avatar pictures and emojis. The center of the screen is the chat messages. If you don't have a friend inviting you to a server, and you're just trying to like, see what all the Discord hype is about, you can hit the little looking-glass icon on the left-hand side of the screen to open up a server browser. (Access the, Edit apps and bots that you've authorized to your account. This article has been viewed 106,070 times. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, However, experiences such as conducting epic MMO raids or coordinating tactics with your teammates in shooters just weren’t possible in the era before online chat. When you click "create a server", it'll transition into a screen where you'll be able to choose a name for your server, along with upload a picture to represent it. There are servers out there with thousands and thousands of users – giant communities with all the bells and whistles you could hope for. Discord lets friends communicate directly via voice, video, or text, and join servers where larger communities can interact together. Now, if you already have an account and the mobile app, you can scan the little QR code to instantly log in. You also get two Server Boosts. 27 March 2020. There are some restrictions, of course: you can't have a system-wide push to talk and you won't be able to stream video to your channels. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. If you just want to use Discord on your iPhone or Android device, you can simply download it from the App Store or the Google Play Store. You can also set up SMS authentication instead directly from the mobile app (in case you lose access to either of the former methods). For my Minecraft Dungeons preview, I watched a presentation and asked the developers questions through a password-protected private Discord server. We're kind of in the middle of a thing globally, and while we're fighting it by social distancing, it's kind of hard to not completely lose it when you can't socialize with friends and loved ones. (Access the, Show when you're playing a game on your device and add games to your Discord account. Granted, online multiplayer isn’t always a pleasant experience, especially when it comes to communication. From there, you'll be able to invite specific friends or generate an invite link that you can send to anyone to have them join. Developers have been known to interact with users on verified Discord servers dedicated to their game. Say you have a group of friends you always play fighting games with. I don't mind seeing it, I just don't want to hear it. For advanced users, Discord doesn't place any real restrictions on what you can do. I am pretty sure you cannot DM people who don't share a server with you and are not friends with you. Once they do, all you have to do to join their server is to click the link, and it'll automatically send you to their server. On either version, head to User Settings > Account and click Enable Two-Factor Auth. In the app, when you open it you'll be greeted with a login prompt asking for an email and a password. Joining Discord is as easy as using the service on your desktop browser or downloading the free app available for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. There isn't any "follow" button or feed for single users. Once you click it, you can click to join the server. Receive news and offers from our other brands? You can click "join a server" and it'll ask you to enter a invite code, though it's easier to just, uh, click the link instead. It’s even more incentive for Discord users to make servers kind and welcoming, not hostile and toxic like other online gaming community spaces. However, any online community can take advantage of the features Discord offers. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. However, because Discord was created with gaming in mind, the most robust experience is going to be found on PC and Mac. If you want to open your own server for you and your friends, hit the plus-sign button to open your own server. From there you join a server by searching for one, accepting an invite, or creating your own. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. A server is made up of channels via which server members can communicate with each other through text, voice, or video options, such as sharing their computer screens. The website advertises communities for book clubs, dance classes, and digital conventions. Don’t worry if you can’t remember, that’s what the backup codes are for – though keep in mind those will change every time you reset 2FA. Discord is a particularly stellar alternative to the subpar voice chat app for Nintendo Switch Online. Is there a place for profile information on Discord? You can even give yourself a different nickname for each server you join. You will receive a verification email shortly. Right-click on a Discord user's name, or use the search function to search for a list of users in channels that you've joined. Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. If you're just chilling with your friends in the server, having Voice Activity enabled is probably fine: the background noise kind of adds to the experience. Keep an eye on your inbox! © If you’ve opted for 2-factor authentication (2FA), this can get a little trickier. There is no need for texts; you can direct message anyone on your server, so no there is no cost. To mute a server, right-click on the server icon and check the Server Mute button. This wikiHow teaches you how to get started with Discord on Windows or macOS. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. This will let you keep your place in any servers you join and to store all of your chats. On the bottom of the screen, where the microphone is located, click on the Settings icon. Also, it mutes everybody in the channel client-wise, not server-wise. Click on your avatar and click on. Discord offers both private and public servers. New York, Discord is also leaning harder on its non-gaming uses. In our time with Discord, we've had to deal with so many people with audio issues that it's not even funny. (Access the, Enable "Streamer Mode", which is useful if you play video games for a site such as YouTube or Twitch. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but in our experience, if you join a voice server with the wrong stuff selected, it's possible you'll have to completely quit out of the program and launch it again in order to get it working right. Streaming at source provides even prettier video quality. Discord is free to download and you can use it just fine without ever paying. You’ll have to run through either of the aforementioned apps to initially set up 2FA. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer. If you need a head-start on getting started using Discord, follow these steps. Or if you're on mobile, find them on the server list and click and hold their name, then scroll down. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. If you search something in the search bar up at the top right, the search results will appear on the right-hand side and hide the member list. To mute a channel in a server, right-click on the channel that you want to mute and check the Mute button. Discord is an incredibly powerful and customizable platform, which means you can create as advanced a community as your imagination allows. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. If you've been blocked by a user, any attempts to DM them will be met with an automated response saying that your message was not delivered. There's also an option to select your input mode, from Voice Activity to Push to Talk. If you want to unmute them later, just uncheck the button using the same steps. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Once you create an account and you're sitting in Discord, you'll probably notice that its a bit like a ghost town. You can all seamlessly use the same Discord server, launch and access it from any device, while you hop from smacking talking each other’s Street Fighter V skills on PlayStation 4 to cackling about the fatalities in the Xbox One version of Mortal Kombat 11. However, if you're gaming with friends, we'd advise selecting Push to Talk, to minimize the amount of distracting noises coming in. The browser version of Discord can't be accessed on a mobile device. 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