Discord
A guide for families with key information about ‘Discord’, including the age rating, key terminology, risks and instructions for enabling parental controls and safety settings.
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Discord is a free social media and chatting app that is popular with gamers, who use the platform to communicate whilst playing games. Many users enjoy chatting with and watching other gamers play and using the app to swap tips and share techniques. Chats can be either one to one or in a group or game-specific ‘server’ (community or friend groups). Popular online games, such as Fortnite have their own official Discord channels, where fans can watch each other play and talk about the game.
With over 150 million users in more than 80 countries, Discord has become a popular platform for gamers around the world to come together. Whilst Discord is mostly associated with gamers, the platform is also used by others to chat and interact on a range of other topics, ranging from fashion to sport, with thousands of channels available. Discord is available on Apple and Android devices, as well as computers.
Official age rating
The minimum age recommendation for Discord is 13, however it doesn’t have any vigorous age verification methods.
Discord updated its age rating to 17+ in the Apple App Store at the request of Apple. Apple stated that the higher age rating was necessary to reflect the use of offensive language and realistic violence contained within some games used on the platform. However, Google Play still rates the content on Discord as ‘Teen’. Despite the 17+ rating in the Apple App Store, Discords terms of service allows users to sign up to the app if they are over 13.
Find out more about age ratings in our ‘A parent and carer’s guide to age ratings of apps and games’.
How children and young people use the app
Discord sells itself as “a place that makes it easy to talk every day and hang out more often”. It supports multiple forms of communication, including video calls, voice chat and text so users have numerous ways of communicating with each other. It is particularly popular with young people who use it to connect with friends and share their experiences of their favourite games. The Discord community makes gaming more interactive and social for young people, especially for those who tend to play single player games or don’t have friends to play with in person.
Key features and terminology
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This is the user’s space where they hang out with friends. It is a designated virtual room for them and anyone they invite. Users can choose to set up servers for private groups ‘For me and my friends’ or for wider audiences ‘For a club or community’.
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You can add friends via your phone contacts, with someone’s Discord username and tag or via a nearby scan using your mobile’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to find nearby friends.
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Users can direct message each other in a private message. Users can also video call via their direct messages (DMs) or server’s voice channels.
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A group conversation that requires an invite to access the group.
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This is where users can interact with each other via chat or video.
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This means ‘Not safe for work.’ This is used to refer to adult content on the platform. Discord have added an option for 18+ users to label their content as NSFW, meaning users will be shown a warning message before viewing the content.
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This feature means users can easily find live audio conversations taking place on the platform.
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Allows users to share their screen with other users via direct message or server. This function allows users to watch the real-time gameplay of another user.
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A premium subscription service which offers users special features such as customised Discord tags, the ability to use custom emotes (static and animated emojis that users design themselves) in every server, a higher file upload cap and discounted server boosts.
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Users within the same server community can work together to purchase a ‘Server boost’, which offers collective features and upgrades for those users.
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Allows student users to verify their account with their school email to unlock an exclusive hub for students at their school. This allows users to join study groups or classes through the app.
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Players can now voice chat with anyone on Discord directly from an Xbox, rather than just via the app.
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An opt-in tool which helps parents and carers learn more about their child’s Discord activity and the communities they are part of. Parents and carers can view an ‘Activity feed’ and receive weekly email summaries about their child’s usage.
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Short for ‘robot’, bots on Discord are typically third-party extensions with a range of functions, from automatically moderating a chat with user-defined rules to creating welcome messages for new users to a server.
Potential risks
Content
It is recommended that parents and carers acknowledge the older age rating of 17+ used by the Apple App Store. Users on the platform are often discussing games that have a higher age rating than 13 and users are therefore exposed to more mature content. The app does have a ‘Keep me safe’ feature, which scans direct messages from everyone for explicit media content. However, users are easily able to disable this function. Users under 18 are also able to easily access the NSFW server by simply clicking ‘OK’ after receiving a warning message that it’s not suitable for users under 18. If you choose to allow your child to use the Discord app, it is worth finding out which games they are discussing and explore the age rating of these games via the PEGI website. This would give a better indication of the kinds of gaming content users would be exposed to and discussing. As with other chatting apps, it is also possible your child may stumble across inappropriate content in the form of bad language within chats. By restricting who your child can access on the platform, your child is less likely to experience language or behaviour that is not suitable for their age. However, it should be acknowledged that your child may still be exposed to inappropriate content by their known contacts.
Connecting with others
Discord recommends its users should be at least 13 to use the platform, but it does not offer any robust privacy settings which allow the account to be made private. This means that any users on the platform can see another user’s profile and contact them. Within the Discord app, users can interact one-to-one or in group chats with either people they know or with strangers. It is recommended that young people only chat with people they know in the offline world. This will help to limit the likelihood of being exposed to inappropriate content. Younger users should use the ‘Privacy and safety’ settings to manage friend requests. If your child is using the app in a public server (chat space within the game), it is advised that you supervise them in order to establish the types of engagements they are involved in. Speak to your child about the risks of chatting with strangers and explain the importance of not sharing any personal or identifiable information with other users within chats. Encourage them to tell you if they have been asked personal questions or to chat privately.
Parents should note that Discord have recently completely changed their reporting system so that each report is investigated individually to ensure appropriate consequences for users who misuse the platform. This now means users may be able to keep using the app, albeit in a limited capacity, even after being reported. Ensure any accounts that you or your child report are also blocked to help restrict the contact your child has with users they do not know or that make them uncomfortable.
User behaviour
If your child has a Discord account, it is important for you and them to be aware of what they share and the impact this will have on their digital footprint. Have a conversation with them to help them understand what is and is not appropriate for them to share and encourage them to share with their friends only. Ensure your child knows it can be difficult to keep ownership of any content once it has been shared online, as content can easily be copied and reposted without their knowledge and can then become difficult to remove from the internet.
Design, data and costs
Discord can be hugely popular with young people who love gaming. Like gaming itself, watching others game and chatting to them about it can be immersive and absorbing for young people, so they may need boundaries to stop them engaging in extended hours of chat.
There are several opportunities for users to make in-app purchases on Discord. Users can upgrade to a premium subscription called Nitro as well as purchasing server boosts. Speak to your child about in-app purchases and ensure they understand that real money is used to make purchases within the app. Most smart devices and computers allow users to set up in-app purchasing settings within their main settings menu. It is also important to check that the app is not linked to your bank cards or financial details.
Tips for keeping your child safe
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Whilst there is not one main privacy setting on Discord, there are some safety settings that can be used to manage privacy. This includes managing who can send friend requests to your child.
To manage friend requests:
- on the web version, open the settings menu by clicking on the cog symbol at the bottom of the screen (mobile device users can click on your profile at the bottom of the screen)
- go to 'Friend requests'
- by default, all settings are set to everyone
- options for ‘who can send you a friend request’ are:
- Everyone
- Friends of Friends
- Server Members
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There are several in-app safety settings you can use to make Discord safer for your child. By default, Discord allows anyone to be able to send and receive direct messages. Users under 18 are also automatically unable to join age-restricted servers or see messages that have been detected as inappropriate.
To filter explicit images and spam in direct messages (web):
- go into settings by clicking on the cog symbol at the bottom of the screen
- click ‘Privacy and safety’ then ‘Filter all direct messages’
To set ‘Safe direct messaging’:
- open the app and select ‘Settings’ and choose ‘Privacy and safety’
- to allow Discord to scan messages for explicit content you can choose from either:
- ‘Keep me safe’ which scans direct messages from everyone
- ‘My friends are nice’ which scans direct messages from everyone unless they are a friend (default setting)
- ‘Do not scan’ which means direct messages will not be scanned for explicit content
The changes will be applied immediately
If you would prefer for your child to not receive direct messages you can disable this function:
- open the app and select ‘Settings’ and choose ‘Privacy and safety’
- toggle ‘Allow direct messages from server members’ to off - this setting is applied when users join new servers and will not be applied to existing servers
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Users can report and block users who may be bothering them or behaving inappropriately on the platform.
To block a user:
- go to the user you wish to block by selecting the friend icon at the bottom and select the three dots icon
- select their name and then select the ‘Blocked’ option or ‘Remove friend’
To report a user/message:
- open the message you wish to report
- select the message and choose the three dots icon
- choose ‘Report message’, then select the reason for reporting from the following list:
- spam
- abuse or harassment
- harmful misinformation or glorifying violence
- exposing private identifying information
- something else
- provide further details when prompted
- confirm your choice
To report a user’s profile:
- open the profile of the user you wish to report
- click on the three dots icon then select ‘Report user profile’
- choose from the list provided the specific part of the profile you wish to report from the following list:
- their photo (avatar and/or banner image)
- their name (username and/or display name)
- their text descriptors (about me, status, and/or pronouns)
- follow the prompts to complete the report
Alternately you can complete Discord’s online reporting form. Note that you will need the ‘Message Link’ to report a message through this means. To do this you will need to open the message you wish to report and either long hold on the message or hover over it to select the three dots icon that appears. From here you will be able to ‘Copy Message Link’ so that you can paste it into your report form.
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To help limit the pressure for young people to be online and respond to messages straight away, Discord has some settings to help manage usage. ‘Activity status’ tells other users when you are online with a small green dot next to the Discord icon.
To turn off notifications:
- go to the app and select ‘User settings’ by clicking on your profile
- scroll down to ‘App settings’ and select ‘Notifications’
- toggle off the option to ‘Get notifications within Discord'
- scroll down and toggle off ‘Get notifications with your friends stream’
To disable ‘Activity status’:
- open the app and select ‘User settings’ by clicking on your profile
- scroll down to ‘App settings’ and select ‘Activity settings’ and toggle to off
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Account deletion means all of your information will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored.
To delete your Discord account:
- go to the ‘Settings’ menu and select ‘My account’
- choose ‘Account removal’ and select ‘Delete account’
- enter your password and your six-digit 2FA code
- select ‘Delete account’ to complete
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The ‘Family centre’ feature of Discord allows parents and carers to be informed of their child’s activity on the platform. The activity summary that is shared with parents and carers contains information on recently added friends, the servers joined or participated in, and the users messaged or called in direct group chats. To protect your child’s autonomy, the activity summary does not share the content of their messages or calls. Both adult and child will need to complete the set up through the Discord app.
To set up Family Centre (from teen device):
- open the app and go to your profile and scroll down to ‘Family Centre’
- select the ‘Connect with parent’ option, which will generate a QR code
- with the parent device, scan the QR code within the app, which will generate a connection request
- the connection request will appear on the teen device in the ‘My family’ section of the ‘Family centre’
- select the green tick and then ‘Accept request’ to accept the parent request
Both parent and child can cancel the family connection at any time by selecting the red cross found in the ‘My family’ section of ‘Family centre’.
Additional tips
Discord has developed its own designated safety centre for users to find out more about ways to keep themselves safe when using the app.
Discord has produced a guidance page dedicated to parents and carers to help them talk about online safety with their children. A ‘Parent Hub’ is also available, where parents and carers can find out more about how teens user Discord and some of the settings in place to protect younger users on the platform.